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[Willmore]

4./Kompanie Infanterie Bataillon 550 z.b.V. - Matthias Ringlstetter



Name: Matthias Ringlstetter
Rank: Gefreiter
Birth Date: 31 July 1914
Birth Place: Eglsee/Oberpf.
Military Unit: 4. Kompanie Infanterie Bataillon 550 z.b.V.
Death Date: 8 November 1943
Death Place: Schariki

His cause of death is noted as Gefallen: Granatsplitter Rücken.



Matthias Ringelstetter has not yet been transferred to a military cemetery set up by the Volksbund.
According to the information available to us, his grave is currently in the following place: Scharki / westl. Witebsk - Belarus

Infanterie-Bataillon z.b.V. 550 -
Infanterie-Bataillon z.b.V. 550 - Einheiten des Heeres - Forum der Wehrmacht

[Willmore]

4./Kompanie Infanterie Bataillon 560 z.b.V - Anton 'Toni' Herrmann





Name: Anton Herrmann
Rank: Schütze
Birth Date: 23 April 1907
Birth Place: Holler
Military Unit: 4./Kompanie Infanterie Bataillon 560 z.b.V.
Death Date: 3 February 1944
Death Place: 10km ostwärts Bolst Lepaticha

His cause of death is noted as Gefallen: Artillerie Geschuß Volltreffer.



Anton Herrmann was not recovered during our re-interment activities. The planned transfer to the collective cemetery in Kropywnytskyji - Sammelfriedhof Ukraine was, therefore, unfortunately not possible. His name will be recorded in the cemetery's memorial book.

Infanterie-Bataillon z.b.V. 560 -
Infanterie-Bataillon 560 z.b.V. - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Infanteriebataillone z.b.V.500, 540, 550, 560, 561, 609 consisted of soldiers which were condemned to probation. These units were supplied and treated nearly as normal units but used for special dangerous "missions". Usually these soldiers had to make their probation in their field unit and were transferred to these Inf.Btls.z.b.V. when their unit was not at the front or did no actions where the soldiers could stand the test.
German Penal Battalions - Axis History Forum

Probation units of the Wehrmacht -
Bewahrungseinheiten der Wehrmacht - Sonstige Einheiten - Forum der Wehrmacht

Die Bewährungsbataillone der Wehrmacht -
Bewährungs-Bataillone der Wehrmacht - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Other examples of Wehrmacht penal unit death cards -

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[BlackCat1982]

The sterbebild of Anton Herrmann clearly illustrates the occasional practice of painting over a uniform onto a picture that presumably showed him in civilian dress originally.

[Willmore]

The sterbebild of Anton Herrmann clearly illustrates the occasional practice of painting over a uniform onto a picture that presumably showed him in civilian dress originally.

Hi BC.

I wonder if he was not allowed to have an official uniform photo taken because he was in a punishment unit. Looking at his erkennungsmarke entry (2./Kompanie Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 500), he might have been sent to this unit straight from civilian life. If this is not the case, maybe soldiers were issued a new erkennungsmarken when they were transferred as part of their punishment.

Kind regards,

Will.

[BlackCat1982]

Hi BC.

I wonder if he was not allowed to have an official uniform photo taken because he was in a punishment unit. Looking at his erkennungsmarke entry (2./Kompanie Infanterie Ersatz Bataillon 500), he might have been sent to this unit straight from civilian life. If this is not the case, maybe soldiers were issued a new erkennungsmarken when they were transferred as part of their punishment.

Kind regards,

Will.

That is possible Willmore, although I've seen Wehrpaß issued to members of punishment battalions with portraits of the holder wearing uniform? It may also be that the family wanted to show that he'd died a soldiers death in combat for the Fatherland and as such was "entitled" to wear uniform. I don't suppose we will ever know, but it's an interesting item.

[Willmore]

9./Batterie Marine Flak Abteilung 705 - Karl Seitz (Killed during Operation Chariot, the Commando raid on St Nazaire, France).



Name: Karl Seitz
Rank: Marine Artilleristen
Birth Date: 14 Dec 1921
Birth Place: Schwerstettin Ob Baÿern
Military Unit: Kdo 9./Batterie Marine-Flak-Abteilung 705
Death Date: 28 March 1942
Death Place: St Nazaire, France

His cause of death is simply noted as Gefallen (Killed in action)







Karl doesn't have an entry on the Volksbund.


Background of the raid -

Operation Chariot was an audacious Combined Operation raid on the port of St Nazaire in German occupied France. Packed with tons of high explosives, the destroyer, HMS Campbeltown, was rammed into the gates of the only dry dock capable of servicing the German battleship Tirpitz. Such was the damage, the dry dock was rendered unusable for the remainder of the war.

In the second week of January 1942, the powerful German battleship, Tirpitz, moved from the Baltic, through the Kiel canal and north to Trondheim on the Norwegian coast.

From there, it had the potential to break out into the North Atlantic and to wreak havoc on allied Atlantic convoys. C in C Home Fleet, Admiral Tovey, opined that to sink the Tirpitz would be "of incomparably greater importance to the conduct of the war than the safety of any convoy." Churchill shared this view, commenting that "the entire naval situation throughout the world would be altered."

Four separate attempts to bomb the Tirpitz failed, with the loss of 12 aircraft. A different strategy was required.

The Germans needed dry-dock facilities on the Atlantic coast, before the battleship could be deployed effectively against allied convoys and the only suitable port was St. Nazaire. It lay on the north bank of the River Loire about 6 miles from the river mouth, which itself was about 6 miles wide.

The Planning Division in the Admiralty, conceived the idea to destroy the lock gate at St Nazaire which would render the dry dock unusable.

Operation Chariot - St. Nazaire, 28th March 1942




Location of St Nazaire, France.

St Nazaire Raid - Wikipedia




Position of Marine Flak Abteilung 705 is circled in red, note its proximity to St Nazaire.

Estuary Approach


Marineflakabteilung 705 -

Formed in Saint-Nazaire-Montoir in the Pays de la Loire Region of France in May 1941. It was formed as Marineflakabteilung Koch but renamed Marineflakabteilung 705 in August 1941. The Abteilung was subordinate to the Seekommandant Loire, then to the 22. Marineflakregiment & finally to the V. Marineflakbrigade.

Marineflakabteilung 705


22. Marine-Flak-Regiment -

Formed 11.41 in St. Nazaire. In 4.43 redesignated V. Marine-Flak-Brigade. Consisted of:

Marine-Flak-Abteilung 703 (St. Nazaire)
Marine-Flak-Abteilung 705 (St. Nazaire)
Marine-Flak-Abteilung 809 (St. Nazaire)
Subordinated to Seekdt. Loire-Gironde

Marine-Flak-Regimenter - Feldgrau


Datasheet Air defence (Before 01-04-1943 the air defence was controlled by 22. Marine Flak Regiment) -

Note: The sources are contradictorily about the number of gunbatteries of 705 Marine Flak Abteilung. We believe there were 6 gunbatteries (1., 2., 3., 4., 5., 7.) and 1 searchlightbattery (6.). Number 7. gunbattery was located at Aine.

https://bunkersite.com/locations/fra...e/data-air.php


Outcome -

With the dry dock put out of action, the St Nazaire raid had been a success, but this was achieved at a high cost. Of the 612 men of the Royal Navy and commandos who took part in the raid, only 228 men returned to England. Five commandos escaped via neutral Spain and Gibraltar with the help of French citizens, 169 men were killed and 215 became prisoners of war.

The explosive charges in HMS Campbeltown detonated at noon on 28 March 1942 killing a party of 40 senior German officers and civilians who were on a tour of the vessel. It is estimated that German losses were 360 men killed during the raid, or by the subsequent explosion of the Campbeltown.


Additional information -

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/ar...on-st-nazaire/

http://operation-chariot.org/

https://www.commandoveterans.org/Chariot

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2021/...int-nazaire-2/

https://www.commandoveterans.org/operation_chariot

[Martin3]

The sterbebild of Anton Herrmann clearly illustrates the occasional practice of painting over a uniform onto a picture that presumably showed him in civilian dress originally.

Now that is something I never realised before. I had several Sterbebilder on which the collars looked retouched, and I always thought it was a cover-up during or after the war for some reason. But I never realised that a complete uniform was painted on the picture?
I had a few with clearly covered SS symbols, that made sense to me. Right after the war, it wasn't exactly something to advertise that your beloved one served with the criminalized SS.

Let me check if I still have one...

Martin

[Willmore]

Now that is something I never realised before. I had several Sterbebilder on which the collars looked retouched, and I always thought it was a cover-up during or after the war for some reason. But I never realised that a complete uniform was painted on the picture?
I had a few with clearly covered SS symbols, that made sense to me. Right after the war, it wasn't exactly something to advertise that your beloved one served with the criminalized SS.

Let me check if I still have one...

Martin

Hi Martin.

Here is an interesting side by side comparison of a before and after photo edit (from post #687).



Kind regards,

Will.

[Martin3]

Yes, that is a great example!

Here is a set of two brothers I still have:

[Willmore]

It is always poignant to see examples for brothers.

Here are the details for Karl.

Name: Karl Flöck
Rank: Gefreiter
Birth Date: 2 Feb 1922
Birth Place: Kärlich Koblenz Land
Military Unit: 3./Battarie Gemischte Flak Abteilung (Mot) 46 / 3./Batterie Flak Regiment 46 (mot) (Trop)
Death Date; 11 Oct 1942
Death Place: Italienisch Lazarett Bengasi

His cause of death is noted as Kraftfahrunfall (Motor vehicle accident)









Karl Flöck is buried in the military cemetery in Tobruk, Libya.
Endgrablage: auf diesem Friedhof.

Here is the Volksbund entry for Fritz (Friedrich)

Name: Friedrich Josef Flöck
Date of birth: 12.05.1926
Place of birth: Kärlich
Death/missing date: 03.1945
Death/missing place: bei Marcali
Service rank: Unterscharführer

Friedrich Josef Flöck is buried in the military cemetery in Böhönye (Hungary)

During the re-interment activities in his original burial location, it was not possible to identify him without any trace of doubt, so he has been buried as an "unknown soldier" in the cemetery Böhönye.

Kind regards,

Will.