Identifying WW2 German serviceman's relatives.

[shed driver]

Bit of a long shot, but PH has never failed me so far!

My grandfather served in the Royal Artillery in WW2 - stationed in North Africa and Italy. He came home with a German Soldbuch - the ID card and record for the German services.

I have no idea whether it was in Africa or Italy where he got it, and it has got wet at some stage. I'd love to know if there was any way of deciphering the name and details from it and then seeing if it could go to any surviving family if they wanted it.



[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/rbP8o52N[/url][url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/fMc41siH[/url]

I've only jut started scanning it - I'm sure it should be possible to enhance or sharpen some of the images.

SD.

[BT Summers]

Best of luck with this, it looks like an uphill task.

You may be better off posting on a specialist site such as this one.

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/

[shed driver]

BT Summers said:

Best of luck with this, it looks like an uphill task.

You may be better off posting on a specialist site such as this one.

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/

Thankyou. That's this evening gone!

SD.

[TEKNOPUG]

Your grandfather was a German spy. This is his German ID card. He soaked it in water to avoid detection.

HTH

[Jader1973]

shed driver said:

Bit of a long shot, but PH has never failed me so far!

My grandfather served in the Royal Artillery in WW2 - stationed in North Africa and Italy. He came home with a German Soldbuch - the ID card and record for the German services.

SD.

My Mum’s father was in the RA in North Africa and Italy! He had a Luger and an Iron Cross.

I remember he told us they were loaded on to ships with no idea where they were going and spent weeks at sea before landing in North Africa.

Can’t help with the book, sorry.

[Eric Mc]

Jader1973 said:

My Mum’s father was in the RA in North Africa and Italy! He had a Luger and an Iron Cross.

Are you sure he was with the Royal Artillery?

[worsy]

Eric Mc said:

Jader1973 said:

My Mum’s father was in the RA in North Africa and Italy! He had a Luger and an Iron Cross.

Are you sure he was with the Royal Artillery?

Wehrmacht division?

[chopper602]

I doubt any relatives would want it.
Talking to the owner of a military museum collection in Belgium, a couple of years ago, he still gets binbags of Nazi uniforms and memorabilia dumped on his doorstep. Obviously found in the loft of an deceased relative and illegal in Germany. Rare things are added to the collection, much of it is burnt.

[Moulder]

Nice idea, but do you know how your grandfather came to have it?

I would think this could influence whether any family of the original owner would like to be contacted by you, or have the documents returned.

[Evoluzione]

chopper602 said:

I doubt any relatives would want it.
Talking to the owner of a military museum collection in Belgium, a couple of years ago, he still gets binbags of Nazi uniforms and memorabilia dumped on his doorstep. Obviously found in the loft of an deceased relative and illegal in Germany. Rare things are added to the collection, much of it is burnt.

Surely that would fetch good money on Ebay etc?

[alistair1234]

Evoluzione said:

Surely that would fetch good money on Ebay etc?

Don't think you can sell it on eBay, it's against their terms to sell war stuff.

[shed driver]

Moulder said:

Nice idea, but do you know how your grandfather came to have it?

I would think this could influence whether any family of the original owner would like to be contacted by you, or have the documents returned.

That's a really good point. He never spoke about what happened in the war to me or even to my father.

I have a memory of him watching "The World at War" one Sunday afternoon and just crying all the way through it.

SD.

[Bodo]

Our man was a member of Freiw. Stamm Regt. 3, which makes him a voluntary soldier of Russian, Ukrainian or central Asian Turkish descent, stationed in France, likely having dealt with the Résistance.

[Evoluzione]

alistair1234 said:

Evoluzione said:

Surely that would fetch good money on Ebay etc?

Don't think you can sell it on eBay, it's against their terms to sell war stuff.

No it isn't, it demands good money:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_n...

Someone's either dumb or someone's bullstting.

[hidetheelephants]

chopper602 said:

I doubt any relatives would want it.
Talking to the owner of a military museum collection in Belgium, a couple of years ago, he still gets binbags of Nazi uniforms and memorabilia dumped on his doorstep. Obviously found in the loft of an deceased relative and illegal in Germany. Rare things are added to the collection, much of it is burnt.

IIRC it's things with swastikas etc that are illegal to display, which makes selling problematic; humdrum everyday things like uniforms aren't, but are probably shunned by most as a bit embarrassing.

[Scoobman]

To add.

Freiw- almost certainly is an abveviation for the German word for volunteer. Followed by 'Turk'

So a Turkish volunteer

On the last scanned page,blacked out is the mothers maiden name and area lived in. (But not the fathers)

You might be best off leaving sleeping dogs lie.

Edited by Scoobman on Friday 10th September 04:37

Edited by Scoobman on Friday 10th September 04:39

Edited by Scoobman on Friday 10th September 04:41

[TEKNOPUG]

He was stationed in bhe, North East France, right on the German border.