Shrapnel Damaged Possible KIA Soldbuch

[Fallschirmjager1941]

Hi All,

I Picked this piece up from the WAF a few months back, and thought I'd share it with all of you. The soldbuch belonged to gefreiter Josef Gerards who served with Grenadier Regiment 1051 of the 84th Infanterie Division. From what I can tell, Gerards was probably KIA or wounded while fighting in the Falaise gap in August of 44. Gerards doesn't appear in the volksbund database despite the obvious blood stained rear cover and serious shrapnel damage to the soldbuch, so perhaps he survived his wound. These scans make the rear staining appear far darker than it really is. When viewed in natural lighting the staining is quite clearly a blood hue.

Regards,

-Jake

[Gimmie]

If it were shrapnel damage wouldn't you think there'd be a bit of blood if this was on someones person?

Regards,
Bas

[Fallschirmjager1941]

The rear cover displays blood. I have seen other soldbuchs with battle damage with less blood, usually seen with bullet holes though.
For reference here is a similar soldbuch with shrapnel damage to KIA soldat: Soldbuch with an Interesting History - Page 2 - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

Regards,

-Jake

[MAP]

Nice interesting piece. You can see the book slowed down the piece of shrapnel. Maybe to the point of saving the soldier??? Guess we will never know.

[Gimmie]

The rear cover displays blood. I have seen other soldbuchs with battle damage with less blood, usually seen with bullet holes though.
For reference here is a similar soldbuch with shrapnel damage to KIA soldat: Soldbuch with an Interesting History - Page 2 - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

Regards,

-Jake

I see the stains now, yes, sorry for the preemptive response. Very interesting piece nonetheless. Of all the places the shrapnel could have hit it'd be right hrough the middle! Chilling item.

Regards,
Bas

[Gimmie]

Nice interesting piece. You can see the book slowed down the piece of shrapnel. Maybe to the point of saving the soldier??? Guess we will never know.

Possibly a prong shape. What would have slowed it down was the shrapnel itself going into the body. Thus the blood.

[MAP]

Possibly a prong shape. What would have slowed it down was the shrapnel itself going into the body. Thus the blood.

Not saying the soldier wasn't wounded, but the size of the hole decreases as it goes through the book. And thus maybe, just maybe lessening the impact....but just a guess/thought

[humble collector]

I like neat and odd pieces like this

[Anderson]

Could have been in his breast pocket. There are cases of a soldiers New Testament stopping a bullet, the paper pages acting like a laminated shield.

[Wagriff]

When I first looked at the page damage, it looked to me like a stabbing hole from a blade....