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Soldbuch to soldiers missing in action

Article about: Hi, This may be a silly question and please be patient as I'm new to this but while looking through various sellers websites I have come across soldbuchs to soldiers missing in action and wh

  1. #1
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    Default Soldbuch to soldiers missing in action

    Hi,

    This may be a silly question and please be patient as I'm new to this but while looking through various sellers websites I have come across soldbuchs to soldiers missing in action and where no body has been recovered. So how can the soldbuch still exist, wouldn't it remain with the body?

    Regards,

    Russ

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  3. #2

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    I should imagine the soldbuch was recovered by comrades and then the position of the body lost. Soldiers were often buried on or near battlefields and their locations are now not known.

  4. #3

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    Also lost or dropped on the ground ...anything could of happened at any given time in battle or just walking.

    its as easy as losing a few dollars in your pocket.
    It is not the size of a Collection in History that matters......Its the size of your Passion for it!! - Larry C

    One never knows what tree roots push to the surface of what laid buried before the tree was planted - Larry C

    “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” - Winston Churchill

  5. #4

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    Quote by douglas2496 View Post
    I should imagine the soldbuch was recovered by comrades and then the position of the body lost. Soldiers were often buried on or near battlefields and their locations are now not known.
    But in such cases, they would still be recorded as KIA rather than MIA.

    A more plausible scenario is that the Soldbuch was taken off a dead body not by his comrades but by an enemy soldier as a souvenir without the deceased's own forces ever learning about his fate, thus recording him as MIA.

    But in any case, and just to avoid confusion, are we really talking about Soldbücher rather than Wehrpässe here?

  6. #5
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    Yes we are talking about Soldbucher, not Wehrpasse.

    My concern is that as a new collector of Soldbucher I do not want to make a rookie mistake of buying something that shouldn't exist.

  7. #6

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    Can you obtain a photo and post it here ?
    It is not the size of a Collection in History that matters......Its the size of your Passion for it!! - Larry C

    One never knows what tree roots push to the surface of what laid buried before the tree was planted - Larry C

    “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” - Winston Churchill

  8. #7

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    Thanks for clarifying.

    A Soldbuch was a soldier's primary military ID and had to be carried at all times. So, yes: If a man was killed or captured without his actual fate becoming known to his own troops (thus getting him listed as MIA), he would generally still have his Soldbuch with him at the time.

    A Soldbuch that has an actual German entry identifying the holder as MIA could be only one that was lost or thrown away and later found by other German troops (but not taken off the wearer's dead body as he wouldn't he listed as MIA then). (Soldbücher getting thrown away at the point of imminent capture happened if men had reasons to fear for their lives due to their unit affiliation or military occupation, for example in the case of SS troops, military policemen or snipers). The Wehrpaß, on the other hand, was kept by the unit and always had the holder's MIA or KIA status entered; that's why I asked about those.

    Otherwise, the souvenir scenario I outlined above would explain how such items could wind up on the collectors' market. But of course, in that case, there wouldn't be any kind of MIA entry in the document and it could only be identified as belonging to an MIA soldier by researching the holder.

    As Larry said, can you provide examples for such offerings?

  9. #8
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    "Body not recovered" is a term that the Volksbund uses for soldiers who have not been found/moved to a registered military cemetery yet as well. there may be a rough location recorded of where the soldier was buried in a field grave or where he was killed/last seen alive. A lot of guys research the name in the Soldbuch on the Volksbund database, and get these results.

  10. #9
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    Hi again,

    Sorry it's taken a while but an example of a 'write up' I was referring to is as follows,

    'Soldbuch to Unteroffizier Heinz Marcioch. First issue from September 1939. Originally drafted by the Heer, this Gelsenkirchen born laborer joined the Luftwaffe in 1940. After training with the Kampfliegerschule 4 in Thorn and a Kampfbeobachter school, Marcioch was allowed into the Kampfgeschwader 27 "Boelcke" in 1941. After the start of Barbarossa, the KG27 was moved from its Battle of Brittain positions in France to the Eastern Front. There, Marcioch quickly assembled a large number of "Feindflüge" (enemy missions) and awards: the EKII and Frontflugspange in September 1941, the EKI and Beobachterabzeichen in November 1941, adding to a total of six awards, including two earlier shooting awards.
    On March 26th, 1942, Heinz Marcioch was on board the Heinkel He 111 H-6 with marking "1G+GM" of his Staffelkapitän Oblt. Kurt Hartwig, 4./KG27. The airplane was shot down in the area of Staraja Russa (south of the Ilmensee), and the crew was never found. Marcioch is still reported as MIA on the Volksbund grave database.
    The Soldbuch is a 100% complete and in very good condition. A portrait photo was never inserted at this earlier stage of the war.'

    From my little knowledge the soldbuch looks fine, and everything appears as it should but I can't understand how it could have survived?

    Thanks again for your help.

  11. #10

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    Such a description is possible by some research into an owners Soldbuch after the facts. If a German died and it was possible for his Soldbuch to be recovered then it was and returned to the company for processing and eventual return to his family (although not always possible or practical).

    If the Soldbuch of Heinz Marcioch includes a contemporary note that he was MIA then that suggests that this is a copy or duplicate Soldbuch. If the Soldbuch gives his death date then it is also likely that it was a duplicate located after his death.

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