Need Information regarding Bäckerei Kompanie 61/66 of the 11/116th Panzerdivision

[Anon]

Hello,

I would like to find information regarding Bäckereikompanie 61 and 66. My great grandfather was mainly in these 2 units but I don’t know anything about how he got his medals and where he maybe helped with fighting.

I thought about buying the wardiaries of the 11th and 116th Panzerdivision in hopes of finding information regarding the 2 mentioned Bäckerei Kompanien.
I would be very grateful If anyone maybe has books regarding the 11th or 116th Panzerdivision and could tell me if the 61 or 66 Bäckerei Kompanien are mentioned.
Please let me know if someone has any information regarding the two units.

Sincerely
Anon

[hucks216]

It is very unlikely that a written history of the units will have much of a mention of the Bäckerei-Kp as the unit was pretty small (compared to a regiment for example) and was behind the lines making bread etc. They may have been combed out from time to time to man the lines but if so then it will be the units they were assigned to that is mentioned. I have just checked the book 'Ghost Division' by A. Harding Ganz which is the 11.Pz.Division and there is no mention of the unit in the index and the same goes for 'From Normandy To The Ruhr' by Heinz Günther Guderian which covers 116.Pz.Division.
The only mention of them in the book 'Fire Brigades' by Kamen Nevenkin is to show what part of the division they belonged to.
I assume that your Great Grandfather was awarded the KvK II Klasse which would have been awarded for exceptional service provided but not in a combat role.

Have you tried to obtain a copy of his service record as it might show the dates he was awarded the medals? You can apply for them here:
Bundesarchiv Internet - Personal Documents of Military Provenance until 1945

[Carfin LEWYS]

Hello gentlemen,

In : "Verbände und Truppen der Deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939/1945" -

The supply unit 61 is subordinated to the 11 Panzer Division.

Best regards from Alsace , France.
Carfin.

[Anon]

Thank you both for the reply.
I know that he was awarded the ostmedaille and EK. 2 class for sure as I have pictures where I can see it. But I don’t know if he received anything more in the last 1,5-2 years of the war. I need to ask the Bundesarchiv for his Wehrstammbuch and other stuff.
He received the iron cross between the timeframe when soldiers received their ostmedaille and the end of October 1943.

I managed to get the war diaries of the 11 th Panzerdivision which are very detailed and mention partisan hunting and much more but there are many thousands of pictures of the documents and I only managed to go through 200 pictures. Until now I haven’t found the Bäckerei Kompanie mentioned but I have found other supply units mentioned already. As there are maybe 10.000 pictures or more (could only download 1 part of the several parts I received) I still have a lot to go through.

I still need to read other accounts of the Bäckerei Kompanie war diaries which I found but I looked at them quickly and they mention way more combat than I expected. Especially anti partisan operations and shooting at attacking aircraft with their Mgs.

Kind regards
Anon