Sorry, but no; that's not what it says.by Stewy S
Sorry, but no; that's not what it says.
Obergefreiter Franz Fischer of 2. Sanitäts Komapnie 256.
Name: Franz Fischer
Date of birth: 01.7.1918
Place of birth: Jahnsfelde
Death/missing date: 11.6.1944
Death/missing place: Witebsk
ertrunken: verunglückt - an accidental death by drowning
Buried in a plot at a Heldenfriedhof westlich P.K. Straße 40km südlich Witebsk.
25 yrs old and he drowns by accident ....... no way for a soldier to die!
" I'm putting off procrastination until next week "
I totally agree there. Witt and me collect death cards and both of us have posted examples in the death card thread to soldiers that have drowned. When you start to research using casualty cards you see some incredible causes of death. The one that sticks in my mind is a soldier that was killed by a horse.
Kind regards,
Will.
Four years ago my wife was kicked in the face by her horse! Just a glancing blow but tore her lip and broke several teeth. They are powerful beasts!! ( Luckily she recovered with a few crowns and minimal scars )
" I'm putting off procrastination until next week "
Wow, she is a very lucky lady for sure!
It does not seem right for one to fight at the front for years and then perish due to any unfortunate accident. Whether that be by drowning, friendly fire, vehicle crashes, an incident with a horse, etc.
Franz Fischer was lost to such an accident possibly due to the culture at the time, as I have previously brought up. That is that the ability to swim did not seem to be as important for the youth of the Depression Era as it has become today. I know this is evident in the US and I expect it to be similar in Germany and the other countries of Europe.
I read that swimming was practiced in the Hitler Jugend although I do not know the veracity of this claim. If true, this would still exclude those that came of age before required HJ service. I believe the only American servicemen that had any swimming advancement outside of recreational experience were the seamen and naval aviators. Otherwise I think people had very little experience or ability in bodies of water with any significant area or depth. I can imagine the desperation faced many times when troops had to cross rivers to avoid capture. German veteran accounts I have read about troops in the east trying to cross a rover en masse to avoid Russian capture. They would note that some men would strip down and ditch gear before crossing while others would attempt to cross while fully equipped. Many never resurfaced after submerging in their kit and others would drown.
Even in this area of the United States, Minnesota and Wisconsin which are both lands of ten thousand lakes a piece and also split by the largest river, the Mississippi, there are many older people that do not know how to swim. My grandpa had learned to swim before the war by swimming nude at the YMCA. It was a few decades before more people knew how to swim, and the YMCA had swim trunks available. As a contrast, I know a Korean War vet that lives on the Mississippi River and is a very good swimmer. His boat died in the back waters so he swam who knows how far through the swamp before crossing the ~0.45mi (0.72km) main channel to his house. Successfully crossing this channel stretch that often has a strong current and is used by barges and recreational boats of all sizes. He was only about 90-years-old at the time.
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