Soldbuch - Wehrpas differences

[bob32268]

New guy here. What is the difference between a Soldbuch
and a Wehrpas? I have a Wehrpas and it seems quite
detailed. Soldier was from Regt. 755 which is part of the
334 infantrie division.
Tks,
Bob

[JimboCymru]

Hi there :-)
A soldier's Wehrpass was handed in when the member joined the armed forces. They were then allocated a Soldbuch to carry with them (at all times!) throughout their military career. Once their period of service was completed the Soldbuch was handed in and the Wehrpass was returned. To illustrate this, a Wehrpass generally shows the member in civilian attire, whereas the Soldbuch, generally, shows the member in uniform.

The Wehrpass does contain much of the same info as the Soldbuch, esp active service (including prior service in WW1, Spanish Civil Ware etc if applicable), medals and awards, training, unit postings and so forth. The Soldbuch covers these areas, but also contains a great deal of 'routine' military-specific info to do with parading, sickness, pay etc.

There are some good websites around, some even explain the type of content that can be found on each page. Unfortunately, deciphering an individuals' handwriting can be very, very difficult - sometimes impossible!

Hope this helps. I am sure some of our other contributors might be able to further elaborate.

Cheers
Jimbo

[hucks216]

Additionally both have their pluses & minuses - a wehrpass will list the dates of when a soldier was with a certain unit, whereas a soldbuch won't - you have to go through the soldbuch looking at when things were entered to work out basic dates for such things. A wherpass will list when a soldier was KIA & sometimes where he was KIA, whereas generally a soldbuch won't.
See here for an ongoing debate about the two on another forum...

Soldbuch vs Wehrpass - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

[bob32268]

To Huck and Jimbo:
Thanks very much for the info on the Wehrpas and
Soldbuch. It was very good to finally learn what they
were and what was in them.
Thanks,
Bob32268