Wehrpass - 298th*8th*102nd Infantry Divisions

[KatManDude]

The last of my 3 Wehrpass' for my Russian KIA group...this one doesn't have many entries but following the unit info was a challenge as he was assigined to three different divisions as a Panzer Jager

brief details
* Rudolph Witschel born Sep 24 1921, from Oels-Breslau-Silesia
* called up Feb 11, 1941, trained in Strasbourg France from Feb 1941 to Aug 1941
* assigned to the 298th Infantry Division Aug 1941 - Jan 1942 * served in the 525th Infantry Regiment 525/14th motorized Panzer Jager kompanie (equipped with 9x pak37 & 3 LMG)
* he received no awards and one promotion

they spent that time fighting in the Isjum Ukraine area...suffering heavy losses they were then reorganized in Dec 1941 to the 8th Light Infantry and then the 525th regiment was split off and assigned to the 102nd Infantry division..

all of that shuffling took 6 months and he was the assigned to the Rzhev Salient from June 1942 to Aug 1942 when he fell in action on Aug 3rd, possibly due to a massive soviet bombardment and counter-offensive launched on Aug 4th...while in the Rzhev area he was with the 84th Infantry Regiment /14th Panzer Jager kompanie(partially motorized-equipment unknown)

any additional info or corrections would be appreciated, thanks !....my last one until I come across a new one

inside front


personal details


call up day


pak37 training


unit info


activity info


gefallen


start location of 298 ID / IR 525 /14th PJ Kompanie activity

end location


the location(lower left) of the 102 ID / 84 IR / 14th PJ Komapnie near the time of his death

[Willmore]

Another really interesting Wehrpass and you are going to have to hunt your next one down for us to look at at.


Page 3, section 7 of the Wehrpass initially states he was single (Ledig), but was married (verh = Verheiratet) on 1.8.1941. So he wasn’t married longer before he shipped out and was killed in action 13 months later.


15.8.1941 - 30.8.1941

Marschbataillon z.b.V 1088

I couldn’t find any references to this unit, but here is some information about what it did. A "Marschbataillon" is just a temporary formation which organises the transport of replacements.
marschbataillon or marsch-bataillon - Feldgrau.net

z.b.V is an abbreviation for zur besonderen Verwendung (For special use).

The information below came from a really interesting document that I use, it explains about replacement troops eg Ers Kp (Ersatz Kompanie).

Inf.Pz.Jäg.Ers.Kp (Infanterie-Panzerjäger-Ersatz-Kompanie) Infantry antitank replacement company. This unit sometimes appears as the 14th company of an infantry replacement regiment and in any case bears the number of such a regiment, by which it is controlled. (Page 36)
https://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/digi.../2020/download

[Willmore]

He had two casualty cards with identical information. I find it a good way to practice reading different handwriting styles when multiple examples are found for the same person.

The casualty cards states his cause of death as -

Gefallen : B Spl. Kopf, Hals, Kinn

Gefallen : Bombe Splitter Kopf, Hals, Kinn

Killed in action : Bomb Splinter Head, Neck, Chin