Post your death notices

[Martin3]

Not the sharpest picture, and unfortunately the card is a little dirty, but a remarkable one, showing Wikkert in his Tarnschlupfjacke and wearing his Stahlhelm.
Although the picture is blurry, the Handschar collar patch is visible.
Wirkert was decorated with the EK II, Verwundeten-Abzeichen and the Bandenkampf-Abzeichen.
He died at March 23, 1945, according to the notice, while fighting Partisans.

[Willmore]

Hi Martin.

No casualty card unfortunately, but here is an entry from the Volksbund -

Name: Georg Wirkert
Date of birth: 26.03.1920
Place of birth: Kirchberg
Death/missing date: 25.03.1945
Death/missing place: nicht verzeichnet
Service rank: Obergefreiter

Georg Wirkert is buried in the military cemetery in Bocholt, Germany.

At the time of his death Georg must have been fighting with a different Division, because the Handshar were in Hungry in March 1945 and he died in Germany.

13.Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS "Handschar" (kroat.Nr.1) - Feldgrau

I had a search online and actually found this information that mentions Georg -

Important note: Wirkert was pictured on his death card in a "Handschar" uniform (with no decorations visible) and it was stated that he was a holder of the Bandenkampfabzeichen. However, although he obviously served in the "Handschar" at some point of his military service, I'm quite sure that if he indeed earned such a decoration, he earned it while serving in a different unit (as far as I've noticed, "Handschar" and "Prinz Eugen" men, who exclusively fought partisans, weren't awarded the Bandenkampfabzeichen; also, Wirkert, killed in March 1945, was buried in Bocholt, far from the operational areas of the "Handschar" Division).

Die Bandenkampfer - Holders of Bandenkampfabzeichen - Page 29 - Axis History Forum

Kind regards,

Will.

[Kilian]

Something does not add up. Three different dates of death.

The left page of the death card mentions that he died on 23 March 1945 at the age of 26. The right page says “gef.” (gefallen /kia) on 26 March 1945.

The Volksbund entry says Wirkert was born on 26 March 1920 and he died on 25 March 1945, so still aged 25.

Place of birth also does not match. The death card says Inzing, the Volksbund says Kirchberg. These are two different places in Austria.

And I don’t believe the were many partisans to fight in Bocholt.

[Martin3]

That is a lot of interesting information you surfaced, Will! Thank you very much!
I could not find a picture with Find a Grave, so I have to visit Bocholt myself in future.
If the information is correct, only 84 WW2 German soldiers are buried at Bocholt.
'On the Main Cemetery of Bocholt are 742 German war graves (Kriegsgräber) from the First World War and 84 from the Second World War.'

Thanks again for the trouble and the link! I will read it thoroughly. I did not know of that thread on Feldgrau, that info is very welcome.

Thank you!
Martin

[Martin3]

Hi Killian,

Well noticed!
I would think the family knew best where he was born and the card is right, but the Volksbund knows best where he died, but that is an assumption.
Remarkable... I didn't notice, but indeed!

[Kilian]

Maybe these were different persons. I don’t know how common the name Georg Wirkert is/was in Austria.

[Witt]

Name: Willy Dauth
Date of birth: 25.5.1920
Place of birth: Floha
Death/missing date: 4.1.1942
Death/missing place: Narastellung 25km südostwestlich Moshaisk

Gefallen: infanterie geschuß kopf (shot in the head)
A Gefreiter in 2./Sturmgeschütz Abteilung 201




Name: Gerhard Metzig
Date of birth: 11.9.1922
Place of birth: Floha
Death/missing date: 6.1.1942
Death/missing place: Werchnjaja-Ljubowscha

Gerhard died almost three weeks after being wounded in the back by grenade splinters. He was a Funker in 2./Nachrichten Abteilung 134.




Name: Rudolf Schütze
Date of birth: 6.4.1915
Place of birth: Plaue-Bernsdorf
Death/missing date: 15.1.1942
Death/missing place: Toworkowa

Gefallen: infanterie geschuß kopf (shot in the head)
A Feldwebel in 1./Infanterie Regiment 465




Name: Hans Lange
Date of birth: 20.12.1920
Place of birth: Floha
Death/missing date: 16.1.1942
Death/missing place: 5km südostwestlich Kamiahly

Gefallen: artillerie geschuß bauch
A Schütze in 9./Infanterie Regiment 32


[No casualty card or Volksbund entry for Kurt Scheibe.]



Name: Otto Karisch
Date of birth: 27.8.1899
Place of birth: Dresden
Death/missing date: 18.1.1942
Death/missing place: Kriegslazarett 1/605 (mot.) Polozk

A Gefreiter at Stalag 354




Name: Herbert Müller
Date of birth: 5.4.1906
Place of birth: Paunsdorf
Death/missing date: 8.2.1942
Death/missing place: bei Usadischtsche-Goruschki

Gefallen: handgranate
An Unteroffizier der Feldgendarmerie in Ortskommandantur I (V) 310


[No casualty card of Volksbund entry for a Peter Heiß with this information]



Name: Erich Wittig
Date of birth: 1.9.1912
Place of birth: Plaue-Bernsdorf
Death/missing date: 27.9.1939
Death/missing place: Germersheim

An Oberjäger in 5./Gebirgsjäger Regiment 138




Name: Harry Meyer
Date of birth: 9.8.1921
Place of birth: Chemnitz
Death/missing date: 18.3.1940
Death/missing place: Dresden

verstorben: lungenoedem (pulmonary edema)
A Schütze and Fahnenjunker in 1./Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 32




Name: Martin Wildenhain
Date of birth: 9.5.1901
Place of birth: Berthelsdorf (Rochlitz)
Death/missing date: 1.4.1921
Death/missing place: Freiburg Stadt und Kreiskrankhaus

Verstorben: Magenbluten (stomach bleeding)
A Schütze in 3./Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 394




Name: Hans Kempe
Date of birth: 22.9.1908
Place of birth: Hohenfichte
Death/missing date: 25.8.1941
Death/missing place: Gröditz-Reppis

Unfall. Verstorben: Schußverletzung der rechtes Schlüsselbeins (accident. gunshot injury to the right collarbone)
A Schütze in 4./Landesschützen Bataillon 396

[BlackCat1982]

This is also a special one to me: Gefreiter (!) Berno Heilig, Beobachter in a Sturzkampfgeschwader. He washed up on the Dutch shore of Noordwijk and was buried first at Katwijk, where I live. After the war he was reburried at Ysselsteyn, section TBB3-31.
A large card, glued to paper, and on the backside of the paper is a picture from Benno glued.
The family made a lot of work from the cards, this is not your average death notice. They all have a real photograph!

Full name: Berno Heilig
Born: 21 Mei 1921 Augsburg, Stadtkreis Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany
Died: 19 Okt 1942 (leeftijd 21)
Found: Noordwijk aan Zee, Noordwijk Municipality, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. (His body washed ashore at Dutch coast near Noordwijk on 24/11/1942)
First buried: 29/11/1942 N.H.cemetery Katwijk
Reburied: 16/01/1952 Ysselsteyn Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Ysselsteyn, Venray Municipality, Limburg, Netherlands
Lot TBB-3-31
Memorial place-ID 71375551

Plane data: JU088 A-4 werkenr: 142224.
Plane crashed into North-Sea.
Berno Heilig was on his second mission on enemy airspace.

Een herinnering aan een jonge vlieger - Katwijk in Oorlog

If any other information surfaces about Berno Heilig: my mates an me would be very interested!
I don't want to be impolite, but is there information to be found at Anchester? I was not aware of this possibility, but I got rather excited when I browsed through this section!

Good to see the chronology from initial marker to his final place among kameraden at Ysselsteyn. There is probably a casualty loss card on Ancestry, Witt or Willmore may be able to locate it for you.

[BlackCat1982]

B. Heilig was from 6/KG-6 (October 1942 based in Dinard)
Ju 88A-4 Werk # 142224 "3E + DP" (lost 10/19/42)
19 October, 1942 pilot Uffz. K. Fischer and the following crew, cause unknown (Ju 88 Loss List). His Ju 88 crashed into the North Sea off the Dutch coast (DeSwart). Added: Remaining crew: Gefr B.Heilig, Obs (KIA, bur Yssel TBB-3-31, washed up at Noordwijk 11/24/42); Uggz G.Aisenpreis, R/O (MIA) and Gefr E,Sarfert, Gnr (MIA) (SGLO).

[Willmore]

Something does not add up. Three different dates of death.

The left page of the death card mentions that he died on 23 March 1945 at the age of 26. The right page says “gef.” (gefallen /kia) on 26 March 1945.

The Volksbund entry says Wirkert was born on 26 March 1920 and he died on 25 March 1945, so still aged 25.

Place of birth also does not match. The death card says Inzing, the Volksbund says Kirchberg. These are two different places in Austria.

And I don’t believe the were many partisans to fight in Bocholt.

Hi Killian.

The Volksbund entry seemed to be the closest match and I did check for additional information, but there was nothing to be found unfortunately.

You bring up some interesting points, but you often see mistakes between sources of information, especially on death cards.

An example of a date being wrong can be seen in the link below. The year of birth has been changed using ink -

Post #643 - 5./Kompanie Reserve Gebirgsjäger Bataillon 99 - Josef Mehr
Post your death notices

Here is another strange example where information didn't seem to match at first -
Sterbebild, Casualty card and Volksbund anomaly

The places of birth do not match, but he may have been born in Kirchberg, but actually lived in Inzing.

Kind regards,

Will.