German Uni ID Challenge

[Lawdog]

I would have posted this on the new WWII reenactors forum but they arn't up yet.

I am doing some significant genealogical research and have come across a picture of my uncle Leopold in uniform 1944 when he would have been 16 or 17 years old. We have no documents to assist us and my mother has no idea of what unit he may have served in, and there are no other relatives left who can really assist with this. While my research on the military service of my other relatives is going well, I have hit a wall with this gent.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what I can learn from the uniform? I have a couple of ideas but I won't bias your response with them.

Hopefully the picture is attached.

Thanks

LD

[Fedayin]

It´s not a SS uniform, seems to be Wehrmacht. The Eagle with the svastika looks somehow strange, as if it was edited into the photo.

[Lawdog]

Originally Posted by Fedayin

It´s not a SS uniform, seems to be Wehrmacht. The Eagle with the svastika looks somehow strange, as if it was edited into the photo.

I have the original photo, and the eagle is there. It may have been my clumsy handling of "unsharp mask" that created some artifacts.

LD

[Fedayin]

I didn´t want to say that you manipulated the foto. Just looks strange somehow. May also be because of the bad uniform material that was produced at the end of the war.

Do you know where you´re uncle was? Western, Eastern or Southern battle area?

[Lawdog]

Originally Posted by Fedayin

I didn´t want to say that you manipulated the foto. Just looks strange somehow. May also be because of the bad uniform material that was produced at the end of the war.

Do you know where you´re uncle was? Western, Eastern or Southern battle area?

All I can tell you was that he was from Northern Austria (town of Raab) and he did not serve for long. My mother, who was younger than her brother, has no idea where he was sent when he went to war.

LD

[Oberst39]

Lawdog,

I have done extensive Military record searches on my family as well. This is ongoing as part of my Ancestrial research. You can write or email for german WWII military records at the following, however be aware that the correspondence you recieve back (records) will all be in German. I speak and read german so this was not a big deal for me.

World War II German military personnel may have service records at
Bundesarchiv - Zentralnachweisstelle
Abteigarten 6
52076 Aachen
<http://www.bundesarchiv.de/standorte.php>
or at
Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)
Eichborndamm 179
13403 Berlin
<http://www.com-de.com/wast/>
WASt holdings center on those reported to be prisoners of war
(POW), missing in action (MIA), or killed in action (KIA), and
also on members of the navy, though other records are also held.
The Bundesarchiv has no records for navy personnel. Requests
for information may be sent to either office; they will be
forwarded as needed to the appropriate office.


Hope this helps.

[mrgruber]

i do believe that near the end of the war some of the bages where printed or screened on to fabric and not embrodiered

[Krieg]

Seems like he is weaing an ordinary M36 unform. Heer
I cant really guess what unit exactly, but according to his shoulder boards its not infantry.
Infantry has white piping around the boards, the gent on the pic has darker piping.

Thats all I could come up with

i do believe that near the end of the war some of the bages where printed or screened on to fabric and not embrodiered

Yep, BeVo

[Ace of Spades©]

Well from the looks of things he would have the rank of Grenadier (private) since I can see any other badges. His collar tabs look white, so that tell that he is in the infantry, but unfortunately he is not wearing any piping on his epaulets, so we can’t be sure. I would take a stab that the picture was taken just after he finished or just before finishing basic combat training and if your information is right, at that time of the war there basic training would have lasted only a few weeks, then shipped strait out to the front, thus the reason why not piping.

His tunic is odd, since the amount of fabric between his buttons and his left breast pocket looks much too small...normally they would be a good 3" long, but in this case it looks like only 1" or less. To tell the truth his tunic looks a bit like an M35 parade tunic with pockets...but yea, I would say it looks most like a cheap end of war M36.

I’m going to make another stab at were he was deployed to, but don’t quote me on it... I’m thinking eastern front, since he is not wearing an issue shirt (you can see a partnered civi shirt pocking out). The reason is that they did not issue much other gear then and on top of that you said he was Austrian, so since he is not pure German, he would probably get even less. The issue shirts at the time M40 and + were pretty bad when it came to the cold, they were made (at the end of the war) really thin, so if you uncle really did get shipped out to the eastern front, it would make sense that he wore a warm civi shirt…

God...I guess this is what you get for working with re-enactors... Hope it helps.

[Lawdog]

Wow, thanks for the great responses and ideas for follow-up. You have provided a remarkable amount on information, re-enactors clearly know their stuff.

Off to the Bundesarchiv next.

If something else springs to mind feel free to let me know. A bag of medals and awards just came in from Austria, so that is the next project. The fun part is that they are from WWI and WWII and from at least four different members of the family, but no one can tell me much about which belonged to who. I love a good mystery to solve.

Thanks

Russ

[Oberst39]

Lawdog,

As for the bag of medals, the Bundesarchiv can provide you with a listing of all medals credited to an individual. You also have the right to request any medals that were issued to be reissued to you by the German Government. YES they do do this as I have a great uncle who served in the Luftwaffe Artillerie, he was taken as a POW after the war for a brief period of time and during that time stripped of all his medals. Because this was common directly after the war, you do have the right as an immediate relative to request the reissuing of the medals and documentation associated with the medals. There is a cost to this and quite a lengthy wait but it can be done. My great uncle recieved his Iron Cross first class as well as his Anti-Aircraft badge back and this was done about 15 years ago.

As for your picture, you cannot tell anything from the picture other than the type of uniform the individual is wearing. To guess as to where this individual served, what unit he belonged to and so on would be just that, a COMPLETE guess. I suggest you do contact the Bundesarchiv and start there as this would be the most appropriate first step to take in researching a individuals military record. Good luck and don't give up. It can be a frustrating task, trust me, I have been researching my family history for 20 years now.