Ralf Vetter was called up in October 1942, interestingly he was born in Helsinki, Finland.  Grenadier Regiment 326 – 198 Infanterie Division Wounded in 1943 in Russia with the above unit and received the Black Wounds Badge.  Grenadier Regiment 1121 – September 1944 – 553. Volks-Grenadier-Division After the start of the Battle of Lorraine on November 8, 1944, American units began shelling the positions of the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division on November 12, 1944. On November 12, the Americans continued their attack and broke into the positions of the division on both sides of Leintrey (about 40 km west of Sarrebourg), which had already suffered considerable losses again. Under the orders of Army Group G, the severely weakened division had to expand its sector into the Reclonville and Cirey areas. The division was subordinated to the 19th Army and was no longer operational. In mid-November 1944, the division had to face heavy attacks south of Blamont from the 79th US Infantry Division and the 2nd French. Repel Panzer Division. The strength of the grenadier companies had dropped to 4-8 men, the Grenadier Regiment 1121 no longer existed. On November 19, the attacking Allied formations were able to break through the front of the division in several places. Saint Georges was also taken by the enemy. A short-term marching battalion was added to the Grenadier Regiment 1119 and was completely wiped out in the fighting for Saint Georges. On November 20, the division was then included. The remnants of the division managed to break out of the encirclement via Niderviller (immediately on the Rhine-Marne Canal). According to AOK 19, the division was considered completely destroyed on November 20th. 1,300 men had escaped from the containment ring. On November 21, the division received 500 replacements from the Army NCO School in Bitsch. The following day, the divisional commander, General Bruhn, was taken prisoner. The division was taken over by General Höhne. The remnants of the division marched to Bitsch, where they were rallied. The Grenadier Regiments 1129 and 1121 were disbanded, the Grenadier Regiment 1119 still had the strength of a battalion. From Bitsch, the division was to be relocated to the Stuttgart area for refreshment. Due to a lack of personnel, however, it was immediately integrated into the defensive front on the Upper Rhine north of Karlsruhe. The division was now the XIII. Subordinated to the SS Army Corps and had a strength of one infantry regiment, two battalions from the Ettlingen NCO School, two replacement infantry battalions and various Volkssturm units. The artillery was a regiment with three departments (nine batteries) of different types of guns. Heavy weapons or anti-tank guns were completely absent. In early January 1945, the division received orders to cross the Rhine north of Strasbourg and form a bridgehead. Just one day later, it was under heavy Allied artillery fire. Then the division was taken back behind the Rhine and the LXIV. in the area north of Baden-Baden. Here the division became a corps reserve. On January 20, 1945, the division was assigned the Pioneer Battalion No. 405. On January 26, 1945, the division was transferred to the Pforzheim area for refresher training. In this refresher room, the division received teams born in 1927 and 1928 and the division was completely filled. At the beginning of March 1945, the division was transferred back to the Rhine and deployed there for defense. Here, too, they were again supported by Volkssturm units and fortress artillery. The planned training of the replacement did not take place because the soldiers had to be used to build the fortress. On March 24, the division received orders to move to the Höhenstrasse in the Weinheim-Heppenheim section of the Bergstrasse. On March 24, 1945, the division had a strength of 4,065 men. In the period from March 26 to 29, 1945, the right wing of the division was pushed back to Würzburg. On April 1, 1945, the division was ordered to retreat behind the Jagst. US troops focused on Crailsheim and took the town on April 6th. During the ensuing Battle of Crailsheim, the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division again suffered heavy casualties. On April 12, the US 10th Panzer Division broke through the division’s front near Öhringen. On April 16, Schwäbisch Hall was taken by US troops. The remnants of the division went back to Günsburg on April 22nd. The city fell to the Americans two days later. On April 23 the division still had a strength of 1,500 men, on April 26 there were still 600 men. On April 27, 1945, the division was finally crushed. A reorganization was planned as a division of the 33rd wave. Comments:  Sadly he pulled his unit page, he likely had something to hide. But an interesting Soldbuch to a Soldier born in Finland who fought for the German Army. 

Here we have a Soldbuch issued to Johann Blunk born in 1922. Blunk was issued his Soldbuch in January of 1943, with “Brandenburg” (47681K). Awards: Italian German Africa Campaign – 5.9.42 Wounds Badge – 8.10.1942 Africa Korps Armband – 9.9.42 Infantry Assault Badge – 31.3.43 Entries: Arrived in Africa – 13.11.1941 (Brandenburg) 45432 – 13. Kompanie Lehr-Regiment Brandenburg z.b.V. 800 Arrived in Europe – 9.9.1942 – 16163 – 5. Feldlazarett 542 Arrived again in Africa 27.1.1943 Page 8 – Allowed to wear the Afrika Korps Armband. Blunk contracted Malaria in Africa in August 1942, and was flown back to Germany. Equipment Issued by following units 38951 – Verband 805 Sonderverband Brandenburg – (10.1942), 44414 – Abteilung von Koenen Lehr-Regiment Brandenburg z.b.V. 800, then  Stab III u. 1.-4. Einheit (= A-D) Verband 804 Sonderverband Brandenburg (02.43) Signatures: Verband 804 Sonderverband Brandenburg – Oberleutnant Hans von Blödern (12.08.1913 – 02.07.1944) Born in Swakopmund Africa,  Killed in action Lieno 1944 Unit History The Brandenburgers (German: Brandenburger) were members of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht special forces unit during World War II. Originally, the unit was formed by and operated as an extension of the military’s intelligence organ, the Abwehr. Members of this unit took part in seizing operationally important targets by way of sabotage and infiltration. Being foreign German nationals who were convinced Nazi volunteers, constituent members had lived abroad and were proficient in foreign languages as well as being familiar with the way of life in the area of operations where they were deployed. The Brandenburg Division was generally subordinated to the army groups in individual commands and operated throughout Eastern Europe, in northern Africa, Afghanistan, the Middle East and in the Caucasus. In the later course of the war, parts of the special unit were used in Bandenbekämpfung operations against partisans in Yugoslavia before the division was reclassified and merged into one of the Panzergrenadier divisions in the last months of the war. They committed various atrocities in the course of their operations. In Africa: When the Afrika Korps shipped out to Libya The Brandenburgers also went there. The men raised as 4 companies of Special Tropical Units, were made up of fluent speaking English or Arab members. They used captured British vehicles to operate behind enemy lines in raids and reconnaissance missions, mirroring the actions of the British LRDG. Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel at first disapproved of the Brandenburgers but after he saw the damage inflicted by the LRDG and Stirlings SAS, he realised their value and accepted their unorthodox methods. The unit was charged with disrupting the British lines, but it was difficult to supply them and to provide transportation, so most men were either killed or captured.   Oberleutnant von Koehnen of 13. (Tropen) Kompanie, Lehrregiment z.b.V. 800.  13. Kompanie In the context of Operation CRUSADER, the Brandenburger played a small role.  by the use of ULTRA intercepts and with the help of posters on the Axis History Forum. They had been requested to support the planned attack on Tobruk, possibly by a seaborne landing. A relatively small force was sent under Oberleutnant von Koehnen. This was from 13./Lehrregiment 800 Brandenburg z.b.V.[4], and had been sent directly from Catania in Italy by plane on 14/15 November. The remainder of this company stayed in Italy, and was ready to be moved at the request of the Panzergruppe, although there are indications that this was not going to be possible before February 1942, maybe due to the transport situation following the destruction of the Beta/Duisburg convoy on 8/9 November 1941. The strength of this detachment was likely 1 Officer, 11 non-commissioned officers, and 70 men. It appears that this detachment was then rushed to Benghazi to shore up the defenses there, and maybe split up on the way, with part of it remaining in Agedabia under the command of an men called Doehring, maybe a senior non-commissioned officer. On 29 November, von Koehnen was in Benghazi with 1 officer, an unknown number of non-commissioned officers, and 31 men. The remainder of the company was at the time in Italy, with a strength of 3 officers, 31 non-commissioned officers, 159 men, and with 17 lorries, 8 cars, and 3 tractors. It is possible that another company (11./LR 800) arrived in Benghazi as part of Sonderverband 288 (see this older post). During the main battle these units seem not to have been engaged. They were basically immobile, and had little or no heavy weapons. It appears that they conducted an operation on 22 January 42 during the counter-offensive. My guess is this would have been a small operation, maybe using English-speaking soldiers wearing Commonwealth uniforms to confuse the Commonwealth forces by giving wrong traffic directions (always a favourite) or impersonating officers to give false orders. It would seem that Blunk was captured in Africa and was taken POW.

Original Vietnam War USAF 31st Fighter Wing Headquarters Lighter ‘SUPER ACE Japan’ 31st SFW Crest ‘Return with Honor’; Personalized to ‘Major H.M. McFann’ who was Lt. Col. Harry Miles McFann of Tulsa, OK (b. Jun 24 1918 – d. Jan 29 1997), WW2 Notable Pilot who was awarded the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross for action taken aboard B-17 Paper Doll 96th Bomb Group during a bombing raid of Schweinfurt, Germany and appearing on the front page of Stars & Stripes under the headline ‘Navigator Flies Bomber Home with Pilot Dead Co-Pilot Hurt’ Oct 23, 1943 – Sir Winston Churchill personally congratulated Lt. McFann the day after; Good Issued / Used Condition as Photographed lots of thumb wear and light enamel damage as seen – functionality untested, Recent Collection Acquisition; Presented as Acquired (print of the obituary, unavailable online – acquired from The Union County Genealogical Society included, Stars & Stripes for reference, not included), Rare – Excerpt from Air Force Magazine ‘Back to Schweinfurt’ by Barrett Tillman Aug 21 2018 – STRUGGLING HOME However, the Americans got little respite on the egress as some German fighter groups flew far from their bases in the Netherlands and northern Germany. 1st Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 2 flew 180 miles to the 3rd Division’s outbound track. Generalleutnant Adolf Galland, commanding Germany’s day fighters, wrote, “We were able to break up several bomber formations and to destroy them almost completely. The approach and return routes were marked by the wreckage of shot-down aircraft.” Some of the fallen Flying Forts had strayed far afield. A 305th BG bomber, Lazy Baby, landed wheels up in Switzerland. Far in the opposite direction, another Chelveston aircraft was shot down near Hamburg, apparently trying to make it to Sweden. Even nearly home, losses continued. Almost out of fuel, the 303rd BG crew of the battle-damaged Cat-O-Nine Tails bailed out over England. All fliers landed within four miles of the crash, in a Risley resident’s backyard. Paper Doll of the 96th Group, three months old, returned with a dead pilot and badly wounded copilot. The navigator was Lt. Miles McFann, a prewar private pilot who got her down at an RAF field. He recalled, “We could have bailed out, instead of risking a crash-landing. I suppose a lot of fellows wouldn’t want to take a chance on having a navigator act as pilot, but they weren’t sticking because of their confidence in me. They all knew that [Lt. Robert] Bolick was dead inside that ship, and none of us was going to bail out and leave him in there. We just wouldn’t do it.” Some 2,900 airmen flew the mission, of whom 648 were listed killed, wounded, or missing in action; a staggering 18 percent casualty rate.The 1st Division took the heaviest losses by far: as noted, the 305th BG wrote off 13 bombers while the 306th lost 12. In contrast, the entire 3rd Division lost 15. Eighth Bomber Command listed 60 Flying Forts missing, plus five that crashed in England, with seven written off as “Category E,” or damaged beyond repair. All told, a horrific total loss of 72 bombers. Of the remainder, about three-quarters bore battle damage. Aircrew gunnery claims were typically extravagant; understandable with multiple B-17s often engaging the same fighters. The original figure was an unrealistic 288, reduced to 186 “confirmed” fighters downed. In fact, the Luftwaffe lost 53 aircraft with 29 aircrew killed or missing and 20 wounded. (Excerpt from Air Force Magazine ‘Back to Schweinfurt’ by Barrett Tillman Aug 21 2018)