Large Document Group for one German boy growing up to become a soldier: HJ, Wehrmacht, Russian POW

[bigmacglenn]

It's from a young lady...suggests a friendship rather than a romance...
Dear Phil,
A small memento and well-wishes for the time ahead, not to forget her while he's out in the world...
cheers, Glenn

[avenger]

More photos from the set for anyone interested. I took pictures of most of the rest of the items, which I'll post tonight, and may need to break it up and finish tomorrow:

[avenger]

Some letters from the set, and pics of the journals. I've not had a chance to try and translate anything here, who knows what's in it:



A slip of paper that was in the black journal (with the pencil):







A postcard:

[avenger]

Philipp's soldbuch (the pages with entries on them):

























Note on page 23 below, the final entry was written in by Philipp, which Google translates as "Holiday forever!" A fitting, happy, and optimistic end to such a tumultuous young life's beginning.



The only post war photo of Philipp, happy at home with his new sound system (I believe), enjoying a life without war for the first time:



Tomorrow I'll post the rest of the set's contents. This involves the certificate and medal for what I think is Philipp's father's Tapferkeits Medal, and a wehrpass and WW1 military pass, documents, and testimony for perhaps some police case, all related to a man whose connection to Philipp is not immediately clear.

[kradman]

Very nice group and a interest look at someones service and POW life after the war thank you for sharing it with us

[avenger]

Continuing with the set, these are the items I believe are associated with Philipp's father:

[avenger]

These items are for a man named Franz, whose relation to Philipp is unknown. Perhaps an uncle, who knows. He has a wehrpass that is mostly blank, a WW1 military pass, and a police document I believe, along with a couple of wills by the looks of it whereby his mother leaves him and his siblings her estate:









WW1 military pass (the pages with entries on them):

[avenger]

The police document (Croatian?) and wills:











And the last document I have to share, is an ID for Philipp's mother:





------------------------------------------------------------------------

FIN

[SteveR]

Outstanding acquisition sir.

[avenger]

Was looking over Franz's WW1 pass. On pages 10 and 11 where there is the large insert, I recognize some of these battles. He saw a bit of action it looks like, if I understand this insert right. Here's a close photo of the activity list:



And I notice one of the battles was "Flandern". I don't know who Franz was or his relation to Philip, but I recall in the piano lessons I took back in college, I had to learn this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKEynoTwp8

The battle list as I can manage to translate looks like below. No awards stand out to me though, which seems odd if he participated in so many battles. Perhaps he wasn't a combatant?

mitgemacht gefecht:

stellungskämpfe bei arras
kämpfe vor der siegfriedstellung
frühjahrsschlacht 1917 bei arras
stellungskämpfe bei Verdun
Grenzschutz a.d. belg. holl. grenze
schlacht in Flandern
stellungskämpfe in Ardois
aufmarsch g. große schlacht in Frankreich
angriff a.d. Scarpe
kämpfe zwischen Arras und. Albert
Schlacht bei Monchy - ????
Kämpfe vor der Siegfriedfront

Google:

battle participated:

Trench warfare at Arras
fighting against the Hindenburg Line
Spring Battle 1917 at Arras
Trench warfare in Verdun
Border Patrol A.D. border belg. Holl.
battle in Flanders
Trench warfare in Ardois
march g. great battle in France
attack A.D. Scarpe
Fighting between Arras and. Albert
Battle of Monchy - ????
Fighting against the Siegfried Front