Relic helmet identified with identification....

[FNG]

Well if the reality of war effects you in photos don't look .

My buddy just got this helmet also I know it's kind of odd but he just gets his care packages once a month from Russia. I posted a SS helmet but I wanted to post this. This was found with the little remains what was left of the German soldier because to me it looks like half his face was blown away along with his body. Looks like it was found with others but he received the helmet , a couple items and half of the other dog tag along with a photo of the German official records that was pulled after the group researched the dog tag. This was done by a professional outfit.
Pretty gruesome helmet though since a lot of the scalp is still inside of it. If you look at the dog tag it matches the document.

I just wanted to share it's just really interesting and if anybody could read the muster roll papers or whatever it is let me know what it says I appreciate it.

[Spenwil73]

Saw a Stahlhelm similar to this one not long ago, personally wouldn't want to keep one like this, far too sad for a guy like me. great stuff none the less.

[FNG]

Couldn't imagine these guys that look for the fallen soldiers and the time to carefully dig them up and identity them and re bury them. I give a lot of respects for the legit diggers.

[Spenwil73]

We are all aware of the term "Black Digger", sadly it has become quite commonplace and it will not end until every relic has been dug out of the ground.

[Willmore]

Hi there.

I’ve uploaded a guide to how the casualty cards are laid out. There are several different designs, but they contain the same information. When a soldier was killed in action these were filled out with basic personal information along with a cause of death. **** EDIT - on the visual guide, I’ve spotted a mistake. It should say COUNTY, not Country. My apologies!

I’ve added a # and number to the casualty card of the soldier from the photos so you can see the corresponding details below.

#7 His cause of death on the casualty card is listed as - Gefallen : I.G.Kopf = Gefallen : Infanterie Geschoß Kopf (Killed in action : Infantry shot head. So this would explain the damage to his skull.

#5 When he was killed in action he was serving with 7./Kompanie Infanterie Regiment (mot) 30 (7th Company of Infantry Regiment (Motorised) 30 of the 18. Infanterie Division (18th Infantry Divison).

Infanterie Regiment (mot) 30
Infanterieregiment 30 - Lexikon der Wehrmacht

The 18. Infanterie-Division (mot).
18. Infanterie-Division (mot)

#9 Is his erkennungsmarke (Dog tag) information.

Here are his details from the Volksbund (German war graves commission).

Surname: Zmuda #1
Forename: Alfons #2
Rank: Unteroffizier #6
Date of birth: 10.09.1916 #3
Place of birth: Trockenfeld? Helenthal #4
Date of death/becoming missing: 06.04.1942 #8
Place of death/becoming missing: Penna #8

Alfons Zmuda 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: Staraja Russa - Russland


Now, the only problem with situations like this is that his remains have been found and identified, yet he hasn’t been transferred to a military cemetery. Do you know what has happened to his remains?

[FNG]

This is why I love this forum. The knowledge of these members are awesome. Thank you for all of this. I'll have to give my friend this information, there were several found in the area maybe they are still processing them? I'm not sure. From the pictures I don't think there was much of him there. There was SS soldiers found near by also. I spared the other photos taken but it was well documented dig.

Maybe they wait if until they get a lot of remains and re bury them again.

[Willmore]

No problem Sir.

It’s really interesting and I would love to see all of the photos if possible. Im not sure of the procedure, but it would make sense that the authorities would wait until they have a large number of remains to bury at the same time. Hopefully another member could answer that question for us.

I had a search and found out that there were seven members of Infanterie Regiment (mot) 30 who fell on the 06.04.1942. Five from the 12th Company and two from the 7th, so if you need information on those soldiers let me know.

[Vocht]

Willmore, your skill in this amazes me.

[FNG]

That's interesting about the others. I'm sure they were in the same pit. One of those photos you can see some other helmets and I'm sure it's them. I can send you some more photos if you pm your email. Yes the other information would be great too.

[Willmore]

Hi FNG.

Here are the details of the other soldiers I mentioned. There are actually six soldiers (including Alfons) and not seven as I originally mentioned. This is because one of them had two casualty cards. This often happens and I’ve seen one soldier that had four casualty cards that contained the same information.

The entries on the bottom right of the casualty cards are interesting, because it says (apart from Friedrich Guderley), that they are buried in Grablage Heldenfriedhof Staraja, which translates to something like Grave site of the Heroes' Cemetery in Staraja Russia.

Here are the details

7./Kompanie Infanterie Regiment (mot) 30 (same Company as Alfons)

Friedrich Guderley
Birth date : 8 December 1919
Birth Place : Niedaschütz (Niebobschütz) Rybnik
Niedobczyce - Wikipedia
Military Rank : Obergefreiter
Erkennungsmarke : 737 - 3. N. E. Abt. 28 = 3./Kompanie Nachrichten Ersatz Abteilung 28 (3rd Company Signals/communication Replacement unit 28).

The entry at the bottom says Schwer verwundet : I. G. Kopf = Schwer verwundet : Infanterie Geschoß Kopf (Heavily wounded : Infantry shot head). His details show that he was wounded (possibly in the same action that Alfons fell) on 06.04.1942, but died at 9.30am the next day at H.V.Pl. Sanko. 2/18 = Hauptverbandplatz - Sanitäts Kompanie 2/18 (Main first aid station of Medical Company 2/18).