Looking for Grand father ( with very little to go on .

[xguardian]

My grand fathers brother lived until '03 however we were not allowed to ask about war because he had horrible memories from 5 years forced labor in russian captivity . To this day we do not know how he ever got back being a carpenter.

my mom has little memory because she was ~ 8 at the time.

No one else is alive that was old enough at the time.

Here is what I have ( already contacted wast no response yet ).

Born april 8 1910
He lived in what my family refers to Wuppertal-barmen on cooper strassa .
he rode or drove a motorcycle side car.
his brother wrote before he died that he thinks he was going to Ladoga area when they last spoke and he went MIA there but his dates were all wrong so not so sure how reliable his memory was .
My mother told me as she remembers from her child hood that her mother was pregnant but a way from having her sister who was born in Oct 44 when they got the notice that he was MIA. Later she was told that he had gone to were " no one came back and Hitler would not let them have any food because if they could not win they did not deserve to eat.

the best i can come up with unless there was a battle I do not know of in early 1994 near ladoga where everyone was lost then the only thing that fits my moms memory was korsun pocket .

any one have any ideas

[xguardian]

After reading the memoirs of my great uncle Werner , I have been eaten up with wanting to know more.

Read things that my mother could never talk about , understandably.
I read that his sister in law contracted and died of typhus after being raped by Russians. After thinking about it , I realized it was not just his sister in law it was my grandmother .


Just astonished at how sterilized everything I learned in school was. Seeing how it effected real people is so amazing to me

[Tom Houlihan]

Guardian, are those memoirs published, or just in rough form?

[xguardian]

they are just in rough form that his wife was smart enough to record when he would ramble after waking from a nightmare .
she move away after he died I was supposed to get all his pictures he had put away but I have yet to receive them.

[Schaefer76]

Hello,

Current waiting time at the "Deutsche Dienstelle" is about 1 year.

I hope you will find what you are looking for.

Cheers,

Rob

[Hans]

Surely not a year. I normally receive advice within a couple of months re my relatives. Has been as little as 4 weeks and one of my cousins in Germany who researched his father on my behalf had an immediate turn around. Probably depends on how much info. is given to them by the enquirer and the language used. If not the next of kin you also need to get permission from them, as in the case of my uncle, where my cousin had to either give his authority or make enquiries on my behalf. However, they are very busy. My last enquiry in November last year brought a response in February this year.

- Hans

[xguardian]

the real question I was posing I guess is were there any battles that no one or very few came home from near Ladoga early in 44 ?

I know Russian offensive started there and was huge defeat for Germans but they had the Notice prior to then . MY great uncle thought he was there but I am not sure about his memory .

[xguardian]

Well well received some of my great uncles stuf. He got red cross trace in 78. Will scan it when I return home7m
He was in fusilier bataillon infanterie- division der227

Died in marz 1944

[Schaefer76]

Surely not a year. I normally receive advice within a couple of months re my relatives. Has been as little as 4 weeks and one of my cousins in Germany who researched his father on my behalf had an immediate turn around. Probably depends on how much info. is given to them by the enquirer and the language used. If not the next of kin you also need to get permission from them, as in the case of my uncle, where my cousin had to either give his authority or make enquiries on my behalf. However, they are very busy. My last enquiry in November last year brought a response in February this year.

- Hans

Hi Hans,

I dont know when you did send the last search request to the Wast. Personaly I have sent the last four in October 2010. So far nothing. I call them about every 2 months to check but its still in the works. The requests before that took about 6 to 12 months aswell.

Best wishes

Rob

[Hans]

Hi Rob,

As I stated, my last enquiry was in November 2010. Reply was in February 2011. I guess it depends on the variables involved, ie. information supplied, language used, relationship, possibly even rank. I know it took a lot longer to get information on my Obergefreiten father than it did on my Generalmajor great-uncle. Most important thing I find is patience as I work my way through family history. And then there is the cost involved. Ach Du Lieber, best not to think about that side of things.

Best,

- Hans

[fridgeman]

The Div.-Füsilier-Btl. 227 was a reconaissance unit, equipped with motorcycles. Until 1942 it was even a bicycle bataillon
I really dont want to imagine to scout enemy lines on a bicycle.

[xguardian]

wow did you get that before I sent you red cross trace ? at the time I did not know he was in 227 infanterie

[fridgeman]

Yes i did, but you mentioned a Füssilier-Btl. and a 227. already at 14th march. Because i knew i had heard this field units numbers before, and i was curious, i started a quick search and came up with something. After that i recieved your e-mail and the red cross trace.

[xguardian]

just saw where i did post it oops