Wehrpaß to a Pioneer

[BlackCat1982]

Another Wehrpass for presentation with my attempt to decipher it. Any corrections and additions are greatfully received. I hope you find it as interesting as I do.



Kurt Wilhelm Sonntag was born on 27th July 1900 in Leipzig and later educated at the Höhere Bürgerschule there. He appears to have been quite the academic, being able to speak both French & English. Languages that may well have come into use later in his life. In line with the accepted practise at the time he stated that his religion was, gglb.- gottgläubig. The Wehrpass was opened on 18th February 1938. At this time Kurt was a single man, however this has been later annotated to say that he married on 1st October 1938 and subsequently two children were added to his family.



His active service appears to have begun much earlier, with the first entry dating from 4th June until 9th December 1918 belonging to a Pioneer Battalion with roster number 22. On 2nd August 1939 Kurt was a member of 4th Kompanie of the Training Strassen Bau Btl 544 with the rank of Soldat and trained to use a rifle. Subsequently units listed are:



1st September 1939 – 12th February 1941: 1 Kompanie Strassen Bau Btl 544 roster number 53.
13th February 1941 – 14th February 1941: Genesenden Kompanie, Ersatz Abt of Bau Ersatz Btl 3.
3th July 1944 – 3rd July 1944: Bau Pi Ers u Ausb Btl 4, Stammkompanie/Orschatz
7th July – 9th July 1944 – 2 Kompanie Bau Pi Ers u Ausb Btl 4.
10th July – 28th November 1944 - 1 Kompanie Bau Pi Ers u Ausb Btl 4.
29th November 1944 – 12th December 1944: 1 Reserve Kompanie Bau Pi Ers u Ausb Btl 4.
13th December 1944 – 13th February 1945: 1 Marschkompanie Bau Pi Ers u Ausb Btl 4.
14th February 1945 – 5th May 1945: Heeres Bau Pi Brigade 107.




Pages 32-33 of Kurt Sonntag’s Wehrpass give an idea of his place in history. Active service begins in Poland on 1st September 1939 – 28th October.
On 29th October 1939 during the Phoney war period in the West Kurt has moved to Jülich, a town in the district of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia.

On May 10th 1940 Hitlers assault on the West begins and once again Kurt is involved.
11th – 13th May 1940 – Verfolgungskampfe, persuit fighting Eastern Belgium and over the Albert Canal.
12th May 1940 – Tank battle, Hanut-Gembloux
15th May 1940 – Breakthrough at Dyle-Stellung.
18th – 19th May 1940 - Verfolgungskampfe, persuit fighting over Senette un Dendre.
20th - 23rd May 1940 – Battle on the Schelde.
5th – 8th June 1940 – Breakthrough battle on the Somme and Oise.
9th – 11th June 1940 – Persuit over Cise and Curcq.
12th – 15th June 1940 – crossing the Marne.
15th June 1940 – Crossing the Seine and persuit over the Seine.
22nd June 1940 – Persuit b.a. the Indre.
22nd June – 2nd July 1940 – Security at the demarcation line.
2nd July 1940 – Coastal protection France, Channel and Atlantic coast.



Perhaps it was as a result of witnessing events from September 1939- June 1940 that Kurt trained as a paramedic in October 1940.


February 14th 1945-March 31st 1945: Defensive battles in Slovakia.
4/1/45-4/5/45: Deployment in the rear army area.
4/6/45-5/8/45: Position building operation in the rear army area, A.O.K 8/B, A.O.K 6.

[Willmore]

Hi BlackCat.

A really nice Wehrpass, thank you for sharing it with us.

At the bottom of page 21 I read Lehrgang für Truppenentgiftungstrupps (Course for troop decontamination squads). I have never seen that entry in a Wehrpass before, very interesting.
Truppen-Entgiftungs-Trupp - Ausbildung - Sanitatswesen - WEHRMACHT-FORUM.DE

Kind regards,

Will.

[BlackCat1982]

Thanks Willmore. I hadn't really noticed the reference to Truppen-Entgiftungs-Truррs, but as it implies that the team was made up of "6 Mann (darunter 1 Sanitäts-Dienstgrad oder Krankenträger)". Perhaps Kurt was the medically trained part of such a team?

What I wasn't sure about was that he had been through Poland and France then appears to have left the services only to be recalled in 1944, which seems odd unless he was wounded but there isn't any reference to back this up.

[Willmore]

Hi BlackCat.

No worries.

I am not familiar with this kind of unit, but what you say would make sense to me with his medical training.

It is interesting and one possible clue about an injury or illness could be that he was posted to a Genesenden Kompanie. Also, I wonder if his civilian job had something to do with it. I would read his job as beamter, so some kind of civil servant.
What does beamter mean?

[BlackCat1982]

I think Beamter can be translated as being a civil servant. There is something written underneath but I’ve not worked it out yet.

[Willmore]

It is a tough one, maybe Verw. Beamter = Verwaltungsbeamter.

[BlackCat1982]

I think you may be correct. Sadly verwaltungsbeamter isn’t much more help as it seems to translate as an administrative official. Thanks for your scrutineers eyes.

[Paul D]

When i was learning German i was told by one of my German Vet friends that Beamter translated as an " Official " so yes verwaltungsbeamter is an admin Official .