Could someone please help me?

stabsgefreitenwitt · Post by **stabsgefreitenwitt** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:17 pm

We just found all my Opa's stuff from the war, medals and such that he hid away from us for years citing he didnt want to talk about it. well now hes dead (RIP) and happened to accidently find it. I cant read 2 of the three medals but one is an Iron Cross 2nd class with a document accompanying. It says he was a Stabsgefreiter (staff lance corperal) under which it reads :Stabbsbttr.I./Art.Rgt.131. None in my family knows exactly what stabbsbtter.I. is for. We know it was issued by the Generalleutenant and Kommandeur of the 12.Inf.Div. I am looking for ANY information on this if anyone can help me. Thanks alot!

edit: if this is in the wrong section could someone please tell me how to change it?

Jason Long · Post by **Jason Long** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:26 pm

Stabbsbttr. is the staff battery or headquarters. In this case it's for the HQ of the 1st Battalion of 131. Artillery Regiment.

Jason

stabsgefreitenwitt · Post by **stabsgefreitenwitt** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:37 pm

thanks Jason. What exactly is a Artilery unit? what does a staff lance corperal exactly do?

Jason Long · Post by **Jason Long** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:45 pm

Artillery is the big guns. Cannons, etc. In your Opa's case 105mm or 4.1 inches. Look it up on Wiki if you want more info.

I have no idea what his exact duties were. He could have been a ckerk-typist, an orderly, a driver, the guy who made the coffee every morning. But they didn't exactly just hand out Iron Crosses so he had to have seen some combat up close and personal.

Jason

tigre · Post by **tigre** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:11 am

Hello stabsgefreitenwitt; just to have an idea, an artillery regiment had the following organization (in this case it was the AR 13 belonging to the 13 ID Mot) as 1939:

Regiments-Stab und Nachrichten-Zug

3 x Motorized Light Artillery Battalion - leichte Artillerie-Abteilung (mot.), with:

Battalion Staff - Abetilungs-Stab, with:

HQ Battery - Stabsbatterie
Signals Platoon, Artillery Liaison Troop and Motorized Survey Troop - Nachrichten-Zug, Artillerieverbindungstrupp und Artillerie-Vermessungs-Trupp (mot.)

3 x Light Battery - leichte Batterie [4 x 10.5cm leFH 18 each].

1 x Motorized Heavy Artillery Battalion - schwere Artillerie-Abteilung (mot.), with:

Battalion Staff - Abetilungs-Stab, with:

HQ Battery - Stabsbatterie
Signals Platoon, Artillery Liaison Troop and Motorized Survey Troop - Nachrichten-Zug, Artillerieverbindungstrupp und Artillerie-Vermessungs-Trupp (mot.)

2 x Heavy Howitzer Battery - schwere Batterie [4 x 15.0cm sFH 18 each].

1 x Cannon Battery - Kanone Batterie [4 x s 10.0cm K 18]

Motorized Observation Battalion 13 - Beobachtungs-Abteilung 13 (mot.), with:

Battalion Staff - Abetilungs-Stab, with:

Signals Platoon, Weather Platoon, and Printing Troop - Nachrichten-Zug, Wetter-Zug, und Druckerei-Trupp.

Motorized Survey Battery - Vermessungs-Batterie (mot.)

Motorized Sound Ranging Battery - Schallmeß-Batterie (mot.)

Motorized Flash Ranging Battery - Lichtmeß-Batterie (mot.)

So if he was in the HQ battery your Opa could be either a signal man, a liaison troop or a man within the survey troop for he earned the EK 2 Class. So instead of a motorized unit the I./ AR 131 (Light Artillery Battalion) was more likey a horse drawn unit within the 131 ID I think.

A 10.5cm leFH 18 in firing position on the edge of a wood somewhere in Poland 1939.

Source: http://www.angelraybooks.com (actualmente off-line por venta del sitio).

Cheers. Raúl M

.

Simon Orchard · Post by **Simon Orchard** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:11 am

If you could post pictures of what you have we could tell you much more.

The Iron Cross document. You say it was signed by the commander of the 12 Infantry Division? That's interestng as artillery regiment 131 belonged to the 131 Infantry Division, however it wasn't unusual for units to get temporarily put under command of other divisions. Is the document dated to 1944? Mid '44 perhaps? The reason being both divisions served under the same corps then and would account for this.

A stabsgefreiter was a special rank for those soldiers who had served a certain number of years and who were not suitable for promotion to NCO rank (unteroffizier). There were similar ranks at other levels amongst the NCO ranks, unterfeldwebel and stabsfeldwebel.

The organisation of your Opa's battery and battalion would have differed slighty to that posted above as he belonged to an infantry division rather than a motorised infantry division.