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Engineer's Wehrpaß From Fulda
This is my first Wehrpaß, so I was interested in discovering how to read it as well as the personal information it contained. I suspect it's pretty ordinary as these things go, but I thought it was interesting nevertheless, and it's in good complete condition, unlike the Soldbuch I have.
Herr Karl Ader is shown as a 32 year-old farmer, born Feb. 2, 1905, making him a little older than I would think usual, so the pages for service in the Reichsarbeitsdienst are blank.
The folded paper below is what can be seen in the pocket inside the front cover in the picture above, and is his medical record, including all the fillings in his teeth! According to this, his Korpsgrosse was 165 cm and 64 kg, making him of moderately small stature, around 5'6" and 140 lbs. On a page near the back I didn't bother to copy, his sizes are shown as Gasmaske 2; Stahlhelm 56; Mutze 56;Steifel 27; and penciled in, blutgruppe: A.
Last edited by James N; 11-22-2014 at 06:55 PM.
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11-22-2014 05:19 PM
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Karl seems to have gone through the normal series of promotions at appropriate intervals, becoming succesively Oberpionier, Gefreiten, and Obergefreiten, the last April, 1, 1943.
From what I can decipher from Wehrmacht-Lexikon, Karl's service as a Festung Bau-Pionere from April 5, 1941 to at least April 20, 1944 was actually all within the same unit, which underwent the usual name and number designation changes. He seems to have been lucky at first, for Festung Bau-Batllion 220 was assigned to the West in France. At some point, however, his luck ran out, and I'm a little confused. According to the Lexikon, the unit went to the Ost; elsewhere, it says to the Balkans, which I suppose could easily be considered part of the East, though to me that suggests Russia. At any rate, before his departure, Karl was examined for either tropical diseases, or maybe his susceptibility to them, which he passed. Unfortunately, I cant figure out what happened to him after the final posting; does anyone have any ideas about this?
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Nice example of a Wehrpass. While combat related examples are sought after it is easy to forget that there were many many other soldiers without whom the Wehrmacht couldn't function.
First of all, the signature on page 1 is that of a Major Rademacher. He first registered for service in 1938 but wasn't called up until 1941 hence the civilian photo. If he was already serving in the Wehrmacht when he was registering then the photo would probably show him in uniform.
To begin with in 1938 he was assigned to Ersatz-Reserve II (Untrained conscript, partially or non-qualified, under age of 35) but fit for military service (Tauglich). He had undergone his first medical examination on 8th April 1937.
After a further medical on 24th April 1940 he was then assigned to Ersatz-Reserve I (Untrained conscript, fully qualified, under age of 35) and fit for combat service (K.V. - Kriegsverwendungsfähig).
He started his service on 15th January 1941 and had his swearing-in ceremony on the 30th January 1941.
To answer your queries, Frieda was his wife and that section on Page 4 that mentions her is where it was required to record the address of his closest relative/Next of Kin. The cross next to his mother's details do indeed show that she had died in 1908.
According to Lexikon it states that in October 1944 Fest.Pi.Stab 29 were located in Austria (Steiermark) and was under the overall command of Inspektion der Landesbefestigung Ost.
As there is no end date for his final assignment to Fest.Pi.Stab 29 the chances are that he survived the war. I have checked the Volksbund Database and he isn't listed as KIA/MIA although that is not definite. The database isn't complete and there might not of been time to fill in his WP if he had been killed in the last days. But I would say that he survived.
Does the WP have any award entries and a campaign listing?
Last edited by hucks216; 11-23-2014 at 11:33 AM.
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by
hucks216
Nice example of a Wehrpass. While combat related examples are sought after it is easy to forget that there were many many other soldiers without whom the Wehrmacht couldn't function.
First of all, the signature on page 1 is that of a Major Rademacher. He first registered for service in 1938 but wasn't called up until 1941 hence the civilian photo. If he was already serving in the Wehrmacht when he was registering then the photo would probably show him in uniform.
To begin with in 1938 he was assigned to Ersatz-Reserve II (Untrained conscript, partially or non-qualified, under age of 35) but fit for military service (Tauglich). He had undergone his first medical examination on 8th April 1937.
After a further medical on 24th April 1940 he was then assigned to Ersatz-Reserve I (Untrained conscript, fully qualified, under age of 35) and fit for combat service (K.V. - Kriegsverwendungsfähig).
He started his service on 15th January 1941 and had his swearing-in ceremony on the 30th January 1941.
To answer your queries, Frieda was his wife and that section on Page 12 that mentions her is where it was required to record the address of his closest relative/Next of Kin. The cross next to his mother's details do indeed show that she had died in 1908.
According to Lexikon it states that in October 1944 Fest.Pi.Stab 29 were located in Austria (Steiermark) and was under the overall command of Inspektion der Landesbefestigung Ost.
As there is no end date for his final assignment to Fest.Pi.Stab 29 the chances are that he survived the war. I have checked the Volksbund Database and he isn't listed as KIA/MIA although that is not definite. The database isn't complete and there might not of been time to fill in his WP if he had been killed in the last days. But I would say that he survived.
Does the WP have any award entries and a campaign listing?
Thank you SO much for your quick response! Unfortunately, only his promotions are shown, not awards nor campaigns. There was another page that largely duplicated the information regarding assignments, but that was about all. Oh, and he received weapons training only on the G.98.
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