Can someone decipher what’s written in this wehrpass ?

[Anon]

Hey,

I am hoping somebody can tell me what this says. It has to do with something in Finland and is written in German.

Thanks

[Willmore]

Hi anon.

Sometimes it helps to show additional pages of the Wehrpass to see what units the soldier belonged to because this can help pin down a location too.

Einsatz Finnland
15.11.42 - 22.5.43 - Stellungskämpfe am Werman abschnitt
3./Kompanie Feldersatz Bataillon z.b.V.
13.5.43 - 5.7.43 - Stellungskämpfe in Nordfinnland

The word is Werman, so a section of the front.

The Verman (Russian: Верман, Finnish: Vermanjoki) is a river in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. For much of the Arctic Campaign of World War II stretches of it formed the front line, and much fighting occurred there.

In the northernmost sector of the Continuation War, the part of the river in the area around Kandalaksha defined the front line from September 17, 1941 until September 1944. On both banks of the river there are numerous ruins of military installations, fortifications, trenches, and fences left over from this war.

On the left bank of the river near the highway bridge is a monument in the form of a black obelisk. The obelisk bears the inscription "Soviet soldiers – victors of the Verman Front" and displays the names of the dead and maps of military operations. A little east of the river on the road to Kandalaksha there is a mass grave.
Verman (river) - Wikipedia

The XXXVI. Mountain Corps was formed on November 18, 1941 in Northern Norway by renaming the Higher Command z.b.V. XXXVI. At the time of renaming, the corps was on the Wojta River in the Werman section.
XXXVI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Kind regards,

Will.

[BlackCat1982]

Anon, I think that we would love to see more of your Wehrpaß. I'm sure member Jan would find it of interest.

[Anon]

Hello Willmore,

Thank you very much for the information. Here is a picture of the units he was in. Finally I can look into it a bit more where he was exactly. I have some pictures of him in Finland and there you are able to see some hills (maybe mountainous region depending on how you define hills or mountains.) and a river or lake. Maybe this is the river you mentioned.
One question still remains thought. My great grandfather died in east Prussia and he was awarded the Infanterie assault badge in silver and the iron cross second class. But as you can see his time in east Prussia was never mentioned in the wehrpass, same as his medals. It just stopped after Stellungskämpfe in Nordfinnland. Why didnt they mention the medals or other battles in there?

Best regards
Anon

[Anon]

Hey, I think I did write this jan guy a private message when I saw him asking about Finland veterans but he never replied. Don’t know if he never received it or what.

[Willmore]

Hello Anon.

Thank you for the extra photo.

His regiment was part of the 20. Gebirgs-Armee, so it would make sense that you have photos with mountains.
Die 20. Gebirgs-Armee der Wehrmacht

Grenadier-Regiment 324
Grenadier-Regiment 324

163. Infanterie-Division "Trabender Elch"
Lexikon der Wehrmacht - 163. Infanterie-Division
163. Infanterie-Division

1944 -
Deployment in the Alakurtti/Kandalakscha area. By armistice negotiations between the Finns and the Soviet Union, triggering of operations "Birch" and "Northern Lights". Retreat fighting in the Kandalaksha sector, at Alakurtti, Kairala and Salla. Defensive battles in the Korja-Salla area, at Kemijärvi, at Kemijoki and at Ivalo. Retreat battles on KavasjokThe division is pulled out and transferred to Larvik on the Oslofjord. Sea transport to Denmark and refresher in the Aarhus area.
Die 163. Infanterie-Division der Wehrmacht

Alakurtti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alakur...ural_locality)
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/2...-Alakurtti.htm

Kandalagscha (Kandalaksha)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandalaksha
https://www.kolatravel.com/kandalaksha.htm

As for the medals and his service in Prussia not being mentioned was probably due to admin issues. For example when a soldier was transferred to another unit his Wehrpass would normally be sent to his new unit, then the company clerk would update the information. But with the chaos of war these updates were sometimes not done for various reasons. It could have been the case that it was 'lost' in the system and didn't arrive at his new unit or the fighting was so heavy that there simply wasn't time to update the information.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Anon]

Wow, simply amazing! Thank you so much for the time you put into this. I tried to research on my own but I was never sure if I was on the right path. Especially because his death notice came from a unit with number 35865 D and that comes back to grenadier regiment 234. In his wehrpass it says grenadier regiment 324 with the number 565/43 so I thought he made a mistake and switched up the numbers behind grenadier regiment. But I guess in the couple months after his last wehrpass entry where he fought (death notice is from 26.10.1944) he got assigned to a new unit which had nearly the same numbers. That’s why I was confused and I thought I made a mistake while researching.
I truly appreciate your effort! Now I know a lot more about my great grandpa.
Thank you so much.

Greetings
Anon

[Willmore]

Hi Anon.

I am happy to help and because it is your great grandpas Wehrpass, it makes it all the more special.

His transfer to Grenadier Regiment 234 would probably explain why the Wehrpass was not updated. It seems the Regiment were involved in heavy fighting and were trying to hold back the Russians.

Grenadier Regiment 234 was in East Prussia during the autumn of 1944 so that fits perfectly.

I found this information -
Order of the Day by J. V. Stalin (October 23, 1944), addressed to Army-General Chernyakhovsky, announces that troops of the Third Byelorussian Front, having launched an offensive, supported by massed artillery and aircraft, have broken through the permanent, deeply echeloned German defences covering the frontier of East Prussia and invaded East Prussia to a depth of 30 kilometres along a front of 140 kilometres. In the course of the offensive, troops of this front captured the powerful strongpoints of the enemy defence Schirwindt, Naumietsis, (Wladislavow), Willuhnen, Virbalis (Verzhobolovo), Kibartai (Kibarty), Eydtkuhnen, Stallupoenen, Milluhnen, Walterkehmen, Pillu-poenen, Wysztnyec, Mehlkehmen, Rominten, Gross Rominten, Vizhayny, Schitkehmen, Przerosl, Goldap, Filipow and Suvalki, as well as some 900 other populated places, of which more than 400 are on the territory of East Prussia. The Order mentions 133 commanders of troops, artillerymen, tankmen, airmen, sappers and signallers whose units and formations have distinguished themselves.
A salute of 20 salvoes was fired from 224 Moscow guns.
Order of the Day October 23, 1944

Grenadier-Regiment 234
Lexikon der Wehrmacht

56. Infanterie-Division
56.Infanterie-Division - Feldgrau
Die 56. Infanteriedivision der Wehrmacht

Once again, thank you for sharing this with us Anon.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Anon]

Very interesting, when I have time I will read through all the links you kindly provided. Now I know the whole trip he took and how he ended up in east Prussia as his final resting place.
I only wanted to know one word that I couldn’t read and ended up with the whole story, which I probably couldn’t have researched on my own without feeling doubts that I am on the wrong track.
So thanks again!

Best regards
Anon

[BlackCat1982]

I can understand the confusion as Grenadier Regiment 324 never left Norway and surrendered to the British there in May '45. Lucky there was mention of his fate and the FPN to identify the unit. A super piece of family history to be the custodian of.