KIA group with EKII and IAB

[HPL2008]

The new scans include some sections of the Wehrpass not seen in the first batch of scans.

I can't edit my original post anymore; so here is a slightly expanded and updated version that includes the "new" data:


Erich Piszczek was born in Düsseldorf on 4th December 1914. His parents were the saddler or upholsterer* Erich Piszczek sen. and his wife Auguste Piszczek, née Kleinschmidt.

Erich Piszczek was a natural-born German citizen. He was single and of Protestant faith. Originally a machine fitter by trade, he later became a policeman.**

Volunteering for the army at 20 years of age, he had a medical examination by the Düsseldorf draft board on 26th April 1935. He was found fit for military service and, for the time being, taken into the Ersatz-Reserve [i.e. the replacement reserves, consisting of men who were subject to conscription, but were neither on active status nor with any of the other reserve categories].

On 31st August 1937, he was called up for the cavalry regiment stationed at Paderborn with service scheduled to start in the autumn of that year.

Erich reported for duty with the 3. Schwadron of Kavallerie-Regiment 15, based at the Neuhaus-Kaserne in Paderborn. He remained with this unit for the better part of his active service, except for a period from 15th May 1936 through 1st February 1937, during which he was detailed to his regiment's armory.

After passing his medical entry examinations on 30th October 1935, he was officially taken into the army on 1st November 1935 (with service time counting since 1st October 1935) and took his oath on 7th Nov. 1935.

1st October 1936 saw his promotion to Gefreiter. This was the rank he still held when he was officially discharged on 5th October 1937 after completion of his two-year service term. (As part of the discharge formalities, he was lectured on security matters etc. by his commanding officer.)

Piscczek possessed a number of useful military skills and qualifications.
During his service time, he had been trained for a number of weapons: The Kar 98k rifle, the lMG 13 and 34 light machine guns, the P08 pistol and the cavalry sabre. He was also a qualified horseman.
Furthermore, Pisczek held a class III driver's licence [i.e. for motorcars] and was an assured swimmer, holding a Freischwimmer [lit. "free swimmer"] certificate, requiring 30 minutes of swimming in deep water.

The day after his discharge - 6th October 1937 - he was transferred to the reserves. The military agency in charge of him was the Wehrbezirksoffizier 3 of the Wehrmeldeamt Düsseldorf [recruiting district officer 3 of the Düsseldorf draft board], where he was registered the same day.
The next month, he moved to a new city: The Düsseldorf draft board de-registered him on 4th November 1937, with the draft board at Dortmund registering him on 22nd Nov. 1937.

From 5th May 1938 to 7th May 1938, he was called up for a three-day military exercise with the 8. (MG) Kompanie of Infanterie-Regiment 64, during which he served as a riding driver for horse-drawn vehicles.

On 4th April 1939, he took part in a Wehrversammlung [roughly "defense assembly", i.e. an obligatory assembly of reservists, which was used for administrative matters, security briefings etc.]



*) The German job description is ambiguous and can mean either.

**) His rank is given as Polizeiwachtmeister. The other documents tell us that he was later promoted to Polizei-Oberwachtmeister and finally Revier-Oberwachtmeister der Schupo. He had wartime service with Polizei-Regiment 28 (with which he served from an unknown date but definitely by November 1942 and up until the end of the war).
Mr. Piszczek survived the war; spending time as a POW from 10th May 1945 through 2nd Nov. 1945. By 1980, he lived in Bonn.

[pavelhyde]

Thank you again for all your information! I read your post several times, it's so interesting.

Was the 28th polizie regiment a SS regiment? When I googled it to find some history on it, it brought me to a page saying "SS-POLIZEI-REGIMENT 28 TODT"

[HPL2008]

Was the 28th polizie regiment a SS regiment? When I googled it to find some history on it, it brought me to a page saying "SS-POLIZEI-REGIMENT 28 TODT"

Polizei-Regiment 28 "Todt" was raised in 1942. With a Himmler decree of 24th February 1943, all police regiments were re-designated as SS-Polizei-Regimenter.

This reflected the close ties (and partially common command structure) of the SS and the police and was also done "in recognition of the police regiments' commitment in times of crisis on the Eastern front".

The regiments remained part of the order police, though.