Soldbuch for a Fahrer on the Russian and and Italian Fronts

[James N]

I only resumed collecting TR material a few years ago, and had always been interested in humble field gear and the sort of things that were likely to be genuine, so began to assemble a representative collection, so needed a soldbuch. Of course, those have "gone through the roof" along with many other items since my early days of collecting back in the 1960's and 70's, so when I saw a "Buy it Now" on Ebay for $50 I jumped for it. As you might expect, it's not much to look at, and definitely has problems, but it satisfied my wants at the time. I thought I'd already posted it here, but see I was mistaken; I'm hoping to have luck finding out more about it like I did with the Wehrpass I posted earlier this week.

As you can see, aside from its fragility from being carried, it's unfortunately been "de-Nazified", and some fool has attempted to replace its missing swastika; the owner's photo likewise has been removed. Before I forget to mention it, an empty awards packet for a Westwall medal was tucked into the back flap. I have scanned all its filled-out pages, omitting only those deliberately left blank. It's been some time since I researched it using online information about Soldbuchs and Wehrmacht-Lexikon for unit information; if I report any of this incorrectly, please feel free to correct me!



Josef Stenner was older than many of his fellow soldats, born Nov. 11, 1904, and was married when he entered the service in 1942. A Fahrer, I presume he was a truck driver ( ? ) assigned to the 4th company of Fahr-Ersatz-Abtellung 12 which became attached to the 333d Infantry Division on the Russian front where it suffered so many losses it was disbanded - presumably Herr Stinner was not among the casualties!



Stenner received full compliments of uniform, weapons, and equipment, as shown by his extended summary.



Next, records of arms issued include both a K98k and an O.A. Gewher, presumably a G98; note that even the manufacturer and serial no. of his Seitengewehr were recorded: cof 3562w - wonder where THAT is today!

[James N]

Joseph Stenner apparently received a full dose of inoculations - they must've WORKED because all the pages for stays in hospital or Lazarrett are BLANK! Also, as befits a vehicle driver, he seems to have had perfect vision - and teeth, too because that page has also been left blank:



From what I was able to decipher from Wehrmacht-Lexikon, the remnants of the 333d Div. were reconstituted to become the 278th, which was sent to Italy where it surrendered or was overrun in the final days of the war.



These 2 pages I'm not sure about anymore - any ideas or information about them?



If I remember right, these relate to his leave in October, 1943; notice he was the reciepiant of a Fronturlauberpaket from the Fuhrer!

[hucks216]

I'm not entirely sure but with the weapons issue, O.A. could mean Oben angegeben which means 'indicated above' which in this case means another K98 issue.

Page's 20 & 21 were used primarily to record payments and items received by the soldier while serving with other units such as a depot or lazarett. However as these pages tend to have few entries they were also used as spare pages to record extra awards if page 22 was full or pieces of additional information.

Here is an example to a soldier who was trapped in the Stalingrad Pocket with payments from different units inside the pocket and authorities outside the pocket after he was flown out in January 1943...


Whereas this example shows page 21 being used to record Sturmtage for a StuG crewman...

[James N]

I'm not entirely sure but with the weapons issue, O.A. could mean Oben angegeben which means 'indicated above' which in this case means another K98 issue.

Page's 20 & 21 were used primarily to record payments and items received by the soldier while serving with other units such as a depot or lazarett. However as these pages tend to have few entries they were also used as spare pages to record extra awards if page 22 was full or pieces of additional information.

Thanks for the information! Another obvious thing about mine I forgot to ask, any idea WHY the Feldpostnummers have been eradicated? I presume Josef survived the war and continued to use the Soldbuch for identification, which would account for its disfiguring de-Nazification; would that have had any effect on the nummers as well?

[harryamb2]

like it.

[hucks216]

The Feldpost Numbers being crossed out was a security measure introduced during the war.

[bigmacglenn]

I've developed an increased interest in these lately (WWI versions as well), as each one provides us with the unique story of an individual caught up in the war...I notice an entry on page 17, listing service with 1./Fuzilier (???) Batl. 112...
Thanks for the great photos as well!
cheers, Glenn

[James N]

I've developed an increased interest in these lately (WWI versions as well), as each one provides us with the unique story of an individual caught up in the war...I notice an entry on page 17, listing service with 1./Fuzilier Batl. 112...
Thanks for the great photos as well!
cheers, Glenn

Thanks, Glenn - I think I had misinterpreted the Fz as Ez for Ersatz; it looks like Josef's luck as a behind-the-lines Farher must've finally run out!

[James N]

I've developed an increased interest in these lately (WWI versions as well), as each one provides us with the unique story of an individual caught up in the war...I notice an entry on page 17, listing service with 1./Fuzilier Batl. 112...
Thanks for the great photos as well!
cheers, Glenn

So far I'm having zilch luck locating Fz.-Batl. 112 in the Lexikon - any ideas on where it's to be found? Most of the infantry or grenadier units listed are regiments, as expected, and of the comparatively few battalions, none listed are designated Fusilier.

[hucks216]

Late war Füsilier-Btl's tended to be downgraded Regiments during a reorganisation. For example in October 1944 Gren.Rgt 1147 was disbanded and used to form Füsilier-Btl 1147.
However I don't think Fz.Btl relates to a Füsilier unit as the abbreviation for Füsilier is 'Füs.' not Fz. Fz could be the abbreviation for Fahrzeug which means 'vehicle' and would fit in with his previous assignments but that is just an educated guess.