Search for German units ww2

[Wolf]

Hello everyone,

for my research, I'm trying to find out two German units:

1) A unit stationed at Cap Ferret/Arcachon (nearest major town is Bordeaux) after the conquest of France and later fought on the Eastern Front

2) A Waffen-SS unit that was in Prague towards the end of the war in 44 or 45 and was taken prisoner by the US Army

Do you have any tips for me on where I can find out about something like this? Is there a special website for this or something similar?

I would be very happy if you could help me with this. Thanks in advance.

Best regards
Wolf

[Witt]

Do you have any more information that could help identify either unit? I do not know of any sites that would have this kind of information presented. I think the research will have to come down to tracing unit movements in the areas of question during a certain time frame. This could work pretty well and narrow both down to just a handful of potential units.

The Heeresküstenbatterie Cap Ferret was a German batterie situated on the coast of Cap Ferret. Could it be a flak unit that was stationed here after France then shifted to Russia for Barbarossa. The Arcachon Bay including the Cap Ferret spit and the Dune de Pilat was occupied by the 159. Reserve Division following the invasion. A couple men from Gasschutz Gerätepark 581 died at Cap Ferret during summer 1940.

As for the Waffen SS query, you are talking about the very end of the war during the Prague Offensive/Prague Uprising? Small parts of the 20. Waffen Grenadier Division attempted to break out west around Prague to surrender to the Allies. The “Das Reich” Division with little men and matériel left surrendered to the US Army outside of Prague as well.