Complete Wehrmacht Soldbuch and other Documents

World War II German Military
#1

Hey guys, I recently found a complete ‘Wehrmacht Soldbuch’ (Identification and Service book) of one of my grand-uncles (Whose service I had known nothing about), as well as a 1942 ‘Rückkehrer Ausweis’ (Returnee ID) of a Polish employee (of German descent) of my Grandaunt & Granduncle’s farm and an original 1926 ‘Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs’ (Constitution of the German Empire [Weimar]) for schoolchildren.

I’ve taken High-Res pictures of every 2 pages of the ‘Soldbuch’ (17 pics) and ‘Rückkehrer Ausweis’ (3 pics), as well as two pictures of the ‘Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs’, so if you want to see them I’ll post them here (Including translation for anything I can decifpher).

For now, I’ll just post the first picture of the ‘Soldbuch’ as a clickable thumbnail.

If you guys want, I’ll add little notes translating what each means to the picture(s), as I did with the ‘Rückkehrer Ausweis’.

#2

Nice documents!

“Gas mask size 1” it says, I didn’t even know there were different sizes for gas masks.

The owner of the Soldbuch was an engineer it seems.

#3

Correct. He was a professional smith before (and after) the war, too. When you look through all the equipment he was issued, you can tell that it wasn’t until the very end that he was even issued a rifle!

The Soldbuch has a ridiculous amount of information in it - all equipment he was ever issued, all units he was in, times in the hospital, teeth replaced, specification for glasses if he needed them, vaccination, etc. You can almost reconstruct his entire time in the Army through it.

Interestingly enough, he even managed to get a War Merit Cross II. Class in 1945 in what must have been one of his only engagements throughout the war.

#4

By looking at the photo and by his first unit (Bau-Ersatz-Batallion 12) I’d say he was an older fellow by that time already.
Concerning the KVK II you should check if he was awarded the version with or without swords. If it’s the one without he possibly had not to endure any engagements after all.

#5

He was born in 1907, so he was 32 when the war started, and was drafted 2 years later, in 1941. I’ve attached the page with his first few transfers. As you can tell, the page is full - there’s another page later in the ID that continues his transfers.

#6

One of his front units was Pionier-Batallion 376 (of 376. Infanterie-Division), this unit was annihilated twice, in Stalingrad (January 1943) and in the Southern Ukraine (August 1944), he was lucky!

#7

Well, I hope for him he wasn’t a member of those units during those engagements. He wasn’t issued any winter clothing/mittens/hats during his entire time. I’m amazed by your ability to decipher those writings, though - I’m having an amazingly tough time reading this stuff.

#8

Here’s a couple more pages:

His equipment & weapon history, as well as the last unit transfers.

#9

The gun listed is the Mauser 98K rifle and its bayonet (Seitengewehr 84/98).
If he won the War Merit Cross 2nd Class, it was not for bravery in combat but for merit in a non-combat situation. The Swords version was awarded for soldiers (combatants personnel).

Nice soldbuch!

Douglas

#10

Thanks.

It had the Swords, though.

#11

Oh yes. I’m in our companies ERT team (Emergency Response Team… HAZMAT) and we do have different size gas mask. Has to be that way to make an effective seal on the mask to the face. Can’t have a leak with such as clorine around!

Deaf

#12

Well, with $534 Billion in Military Spending, it would be a real bummer if the US couldn’t afford different sizes for their gas masks, haha.

Keep in mind that compared to today, Gas masks in WW2 weren’t quite as sophisticated, so seeing them available in different sizes isn’t quite as self-evident as one might think at first.