A Berlin soldiers story.

[Woolgar]

What a nice little grouping you have found Dave!

It great piecing together a soldiers career, I am into that at the moment with SS stuff

Nick

[sandgroper]

Thanks Nick, it is a great little grouping and you are dead right, it's great finding out a bit of info about the bloke. Just thinking that this bloke was right there as the third reich came to an end is fascinating. He must have experienced some horrific scenes.

[HPL2008]

The soldier's name was Erich Walden.

He was born in Hennickendorf, county Nord-Barnim on 22nd Aug. 1911 and married to Margarete Walden neé Schlauss; they lived at Edisonstr. 58 in Berlin-Oberschöneweide. He was no church member. His civilian occupation is given as Sachbearbeiter, meaning some kind of clerk in a mercantile or administrative role.

Walden was registered with the Wehrmeldeamt Berlin-Neukölln [Berlin-Neukölln Draft Board] under the personal number Berlin V 11/245/20/6.

His training/replacement unit was the 1st Company of the Pionier-Ersatz- und Ausbildungsbataillon 23 Berlin-Spandau [Engineer Replacement and Training Batalion 23 Berlin-Spandau] (ID tag no. 8552).
He went to the field with the 1st Company of the Pionier-Sperr-Batalion 968 [Engineer Blocking Battalion 968] (personnel roster no. 133).

His rank was Pionier, i.e. a basic-level private in the Engineers' branch.

Walden was wounded by a through-and-through gunshot wound to the upper thigh. Initial treatment included a morphine injection for the pain and a tetanus shot.

[sandgroper]

Thank you very much for that translation, that's fantastic! You are a champion Andreas! Would there be any way of knowing where he was treated for his wounds?

[robin morley]

Great grouping Dave. I am always on the look out for Battle of Berlin items, just missed a great Volkssturm grouping for the Battle of Berlin so not overly happy. Enjoy your group and I hope the research goes well.

[HPL2008]

Would there be any way of knowing where he was treated for his wounds?

Entries for treatment in military hospitals would be on pages 12 and 13. If these are blank, I honestly don't know how this could be researched.

Oh, and by the way:

The tag with the red border and the Laufzettel tag appear that this gentleman was wounded. The first appears to be some type of hospital wound tag and the other is a "Chit" for the hospital.

Sorry, but not quite. The tag with the red borders is a Begleitzettel für Verwundete [tag for wounded personnel]; these were filled out and issued by the medical officers at the aid stations in the field after initial triage and treatment and prior to transfer to a field hospital. This one in particular was issued on 23rd April 1945.

The other document has nothing to do with wounds/treatment at all. It is simply a control slip given to soldiers upon reporting for duty with their unit or prior to leaving their unit (initial call-up, transfer from/to another unit, going on/returning from leave, going to/returning from a hospital etc. etc.) and used to document the various stations/departments they had to report to for the necessary administrative and logistical proceedings.
Walden is classified as a Neuzugang [= new entrant]; his control slip has been signed by the Rechnungsführer [= accountant- and pay NCO], Fourier [= quartermaster NCO], Kammerunteroffizier [= supply NCO] and the Waffenunteroffizier [= ordnance NCO].

[sandgroper]

Thanks once again Andreas, I really apreciate your translation of these documents, I don't believe I could have done this myself with google translate, I've not found it to be especially accurate, or at least when I've tried using it nothing it comes back with seems to make sense. I'm going to make a modest donation to the running of the forum now as a small way of expressing my appreciation for the help I've received from you all. Thanks to you all, in particular Andreas,you've helped me out on several occasions mate, thank you.
Cheers,
Dave.

[sandgroper]

Small donation made, thanks to all.

[HPL2008]

Thanks once again Andreas, I really apreciate your translation of these documents, I don't believe I could have done this myself with google translate, I've not found it to be especially accurate, or at least when I've tried using it nothing it comes back with seems to make sense.

You're welcome, Dave!

Quite right; online translation tools are no replacement for actually learning a language. In my experience, they are only useful for catching the general drift of a text. When it comes to nuances, specialized vocabulary and terms with multiple meanings for whose translation it is necessary to understand the exact context in which a word is used, they are utterly worthless and simply no replacement for the good old Brain 1.0.

Perhaps of interest to you and the membership in general, here's a (digitized, but otherwise decidedly old-school) reference tool which can be very useful in working with German documents; the 1944 German Military Dictionary published by the U.S. War Department:

https://archive.org/details/TM30-506

Enjoy your upcoming fishing trip!

[Sveimhugi]

Hi
Very nice collection

I speak german, but the handwriting is really really hard to make out. At least for me.

But! On the note with the red/orange lines on the edges there is a field called "Verletzung" or Injury, but i cant make what is written there, in sorry, but you where wondering about if he survived. Hes injury must have been very severe.

Ive have never seem these notes before and know nothing about them but it seem to me that you can pull the red stipes off ? (From what I can see fro those pics)

If thats the case this may give u a litte clue..

On the top of the same note it says:
"Nichttransportfahig : ZWEI roter streifen - Unable to move/transport, TWO red stripes"
"Trasportfahig : EIN roter streifen - Can be moved/transported, ONE red stripe"
"Marchfahig : KEIN roter streifen - Can March/walk NONE/NO red stripes"

Since it still has it stripes it dosent look the good for this chap.
But this is just guessing, like I said, never seen one of those before, but if u need some more specific translations, just let me know, but this handwriting is not he easiest. Its better in the Wehrpass it self

Skál!