Researching Grandfather's military service

[hickory]

Have started researching family history - have little info on my Grandfather's service in the military. He spoke very little of it.

We have pictures of him in 1934 "submarine training' and Arbeitsdienst (Labor Service) ski course outing in Riesengebirge

I know that he began in civil service Oct. 1, 1938 at
Feste Funkkempfangsstelle Breslau

At the end of 1938 they moved to Striegau

Know that he was an electrician and he did mention that he worked with radio/morse code during war.

Through photos, some of the cities he was on leave or stationed in during the war: Euskirchen, Duren, Frankfort-Am-Main, Kassel/Eschwege

I also have a copy of his Soldbuch-Ersatz Nr. 16
Erkennungsmarke: F.H. St. 88
Wehrnummer: Bunzlau Bu 13/3/7 FW
Zustand.Wehrers Dienststelle: WMA Schweidnitz
O.U1, den 29.Mai 1945
I./Geb.Jg.Rgt. 137
3. Kompanie
Oberleutnant u. Komp.-Chef.

A copy of Certificate of Discharge by the Area of Control Commission from the First German Army at Ebersberg (Munich):
discharged June 20, 1945 From the 2 G D (Dettendorf Separation Center) (we believe he was in Italy and surrendered to Allies)

Any help or guidance in helping me put together some information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[militaryfotocolector]

i think the 137th g.j. was in finland area,.... evacuated to denmark, :

1945

Datum Armeekorps Armee Heeresgruppe Ort
Januar W.Bef. Dänemark Dänamark
Februar z. Vfg. 1. Armee G Saarpfalz
März LXXXII 1. Armee G Hunsrück
April XIII 1. Armee G Süddeutschland

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... Inhalt.htm

[hickory]

Thank you for your response. I will use that info to research.

[Alex Dekker]

Also, get your hands on 'Die Geschichte des Heeresgruppe G'written by Bettinger. It's a day to day account which mentions every fight/division/KG, etc. which were under HGru. G. A great book, publsished by Helios Verlag.

[hickory]

Thank you for reference advise.

[Alex Dekker]

No problem, I used this book to check for my own grandfathers division .

[Lorenz]

Whoa! Not so fast.

He was an electrician who worked with Morse code and was stationed with a Feste Funkempfangsstelle (fixed or stationary radio intercept station) in Breslau, his EKM is for Funkhorchstelle 88 (Radio Intercept Station 88) and his photos all seem to be of German cities - no foreign cities.

There is rather strong evidence here that your grandfather was an electrical installer. This was a highly skilled trades vocation and a valuable asset to the German war machine, too valuable to be used in a mountain infantry unit at least until the "letzte Aufgebot" (the last call-up) toward the end of the war. It was only then, when the machine was desperate for manpower, that the skilled technicians were briefly trained as riflemen and sent to the front. It is not until 29 May 1945 that he is identified with I./Geb.Jäg.Rgt. 137.

So, it could very well be that he remained mainly in Germany as a civilian or military electrical installer for most of the war and it was only toward the end (maybe fall 1944 or a little later?) that he was removed from his technical job and transformed into an infantryman for duty at the front.

I think you need to search for more family and German government data on him before plunging into wartime histories of the 2. Geb.Div. (GJR 137 belonged to the 2nd Mountain Division throughout the war) and Heeresgruppe G.

Lorenz

[hickory]

Thank you Lorenz. Your thoughts reflect those that our family has discussed, but then when we saw the I./Geb.Jag.Rgt. 137, we wondered if he could have been involved with communication on the front. In the 1942 census in Striegau his vocation is listed as "Angestellter" not "Soldat". They lived in apartments of the "government" in Striegau along with other Angestellters.
I have recently looked at other family documents that I had never seen before, and the ones pertaining to my grandfather include documents of his early training in electricity in Bunzlau as well as certificates of training and commendations from the USAF.
I found a piece of paper that my grandfather had made a chart of service (probably for pension application):
1927-1931 - Bunzlau - Electrical apprentice
1931-1933 - Bunzlau - "Gelegenheitsarbeiten" work opportunity
1933-1934 - Tammendort/Haynau - electrician - Electrical installation company
Oct. 1934 - June 1935 - Labour Service - Kretschamberg
July 1935 - Oct. 1936 - "Wehrdienst" (Military/National Service) Liegnitz
Nov. 1936 - Sept. 1939 - Angestellter - Feste Funkempfangstelle - Wehrmacht - Breslau, then Striegau
Oct. 1939 - June 1945 - "Wehrdienst mit vollem Angestellten-Gehalt
July 1945 - Feb. 1952 - 85th Air Base Group, Depot - "Amerik Luftwaffe"
He never spoke of any details of where he was at during war, and that is now my objective.

[hickory]

Woops I hit the submit button before I was ready
My grandfather worked for the USAF at the Erding Air Base.

This may not be area of the forum for this question, but perhaps I could be directed to the right one, to get advice or direction on how to obtain copies of my grandfather's military info. We know that he would be gone for periods of time and then be on leave either back in Striegau or in other cities. Would that be something that would be documented?

This site has been such a wealth of information. It is on my list of "treasures". Thank you so much.

[Lorenz]

Oct. 1939 - June 1945 - "Wehrdienst mit vollem Angestellten-Gehalt

Yes, indeed, you have your work cut out for you. If you have no more than the quoted portion above, and you have already been to WASt, then you are out of luck unless you can find some old wartime letters that have his Feldpostnummer and accounts of his whereabouts or other family records.

One bright spot: he certainly wasn't doing anything nefarious during the war, otherwise he would have ended up on the CROWCASS lists and that would have prevented him from getting the postwar job with the USAF Air Base Group.

L.

[hickory]

You mentioned two things that I have not heard of: WASt and CROWCASS lists. Can you explain these? Thank you.

[Lorenz]

WASt Berlin:
Deutsche Dienststelle
(formerly Wehrmachts-Auskunftsstelle)
Eichborndamm 167-179, 13403 Berlin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_D ... lle_(WASt)
http://dd-wast.javabase.de/
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/ ... ost2719364 (This thread discusses the difficulties facing the collector who attempts to obtain information about TR individuals from WASt and BA-MA Freiburg.)

WASt is where family members go first. They will have a few helpful tidbits on Grandfather in their records and might even have more than a few. See the wikipedia link above for details. Contact WASt using their e-mail form. Be prepared to prove your wife's relationship to him.

CROWCASS is an acronym for Consolidated Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects. It was prepared monthly and then quarterly by the United Nations War Crimes Commission between 1945 and 1948. There were some 40 editions and collectively they contain hundreds of thousands of names, perhaps 600,000 in all. This, too, can be Googled for additional information.

L.

[Lorenz]

Oops! He's YOUR grandfather, not your wife's. Sorry 'bout that. Got this momentarily confused with another individual's case which I'm working on that is very similar to yours.

L.

[Lorenz]

Some more information that might be useful:

Finding information on an Army (Heer) individual - see Post #2 in this thread:
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/ ... p?t=244248 and,
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/ ... p?t=266432 (Post #3 for reserve officers, NCOs and lower ranks).

[hickory]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Now I will get busy researching. Will let you know...