WW2 German Death Card of Afrika Korps member Johann Sterrer.
Johann was born on November 25th 1917. During the war, Johann served in a Grenadier Regiment and was a member of the Afrika Korps. He was serving in Tunisia when he was killed on April 23rd 1943. The card states that he was killed near Jefna, west of Mateur.
Hi there.
Name: Johann Sterrer
Rank: Gefreiter
Birth Date: 25 November 1917
Birth Place: Schörfling, Obereck Vöcklabruck
Military Unit: 4./Komp Feld Bataillon T I
Death Date: 23 April 1943
Death Place: Jefna Stellung (position) Westlich Mateur
His death is noted as Gefallen: Handgranat Brust (Killed in action: Hand grenade Chest)
Jefna -
Jefna Map - Railway station - Tunisia - Mapcarta
Mateur -
Mateur - Wikipedia
The T in his unit stands for Tunis (Feld-Bataillon Tunis) -
Tunis Field Battalions were German provisional infantry battalions active in 1942–43 in North Africa.
Tunis Field Battalions - Wikipedia
The following is a brief summery of the battle that Johann fell during.
The Jefna position, one of the strongest German defenses in all northern Tunisia, included two heavily fortified hills lying a mile and a half west of Jefna Station and commanding the Mateur road: Djebel el Azzag (Green Hill) on the north of the road and Djebel el Ajred (Bald Hill) on the south.
The plan of attack for the 9th US Infantry Division:
The 39th Regimental Combat Team was to strike at the Djebel Ainchouna strong points north of Jefna.
The 47th Regimental Combat Team was assigned to make a holding attack against the Jefna position.
The 60th Regimental Combat Team and the Corps Franc d’Afrique were to drive eastward against the more lightly held positions on both sides of the Sedjenane River.
For this, the 9th Infantry Division was moved two hundred miles north where II Corps mounted a drive on Bizerte. The 9th Division put its main effort into the successful flanking attack on Jefna. Farther to the north, the 60th Combat Team and the Corps Franc carried out an operation which extended the flanking movement all the way to the coast and insured that no part of the Axis line would escape pressure. This operation took place in the scrub-covered mountains north of the Sedjenane Valley.
The attack in the early hours of 23rd of April, 1943 opened with a tremendous fire barrage. For the 9th Division, the density of artillery was an estimated one piece per 630 yards of front. This measurement was not only found in the number of guns, but also in the volume of rounds fired! 40,576 Field Artillery rounds were fired in the 9th Infantry Division sector. 10 per cent of these were smoke shells.
Kind regards,
Will.
Tunisia | 9th Infantry Division in WWII
Thank you, always appreciated!
I am happy to help and thank you for posting another very interesting death card for us!
I was looking up the TI and I found that they were assigned to Division von Broich/von Manteuffel. So I’m guessing this is what he was in at the time of his death?
Tunis Field Battalions - Wikipedia
He should have been according to the information - Tunis Field-Battalion T1, assigned to Division von Broich/von Manteuffel, formed from Africa Draft Replacement Battalion A16. But when you click on the link and look at the order of Battle, T1 isn't on the list for some reason. But yeah, I would say that he was in Division von Broich/von Manteuffel.
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