Description
Soldbuch of Gefreiter Anton Hackl
Hackl was enlisted into the Wehrmacht on the 20th of Jan 1943. He would serve in a few frontline units during the war, including a short service in 1944 with Jäger Regiment 40 and Jäger Regiment 25 (42 Jäger Division) first in Croatia where Hackl contracted a contagious disease (Soldbuch Code 12) and was sent to a field hospital for two months. He would later rejoin his unit in Italy in the area of La Spezia in September 1944.
After a period of rest at home on leave Hackl was sent to Hungary where a new unit was being formed.
November 1944, Hackl was posted a new unit, to the Stabs Company of Grenadier Regiment 991, (277 Volksgrenadier Division) he was issued warm clothing including extra pullovers and a Camo net. All in preparation for the Ardennes Offensive about to begin.
At the beginning of the Ardennes Offensive on December 16, 1944, the Regiment had the task of penetrating the enemy front line between Hollerath and Udenbreth, taking the villages of Rocherath and Krinkelt and advancing to Vervier via Elsenborn. By December 20th, the two villages could be taken with heavy losses. A further advance was no longer possible.
The stall at Elsenborn would go down in infamy as a hard fought battle, from video games to numerous mentions in books Grenadier Regiment 991 was at the heart of the battles fighting alongside the Waffen SS and other elite formations against tough US resistance.
At the beginning of January 1945, the regiment received replacements from Navy and Air Force soldiers with little training. In the fighting for the villages of Rocherath and Krinkelt, the regiment suffered heavy losses again. By the end of January 1945 it had been pushed back to its original position. Here the regiment was disbanded after the death of the regiment commander eastwards Krinkelt.
It was somewhere here in the cold weather that Hackl was so sick from frostbite (Soldbuch wound code 33) that he was withdrawn from the frontline and arrived in a Wehrmacht hospital on the 4.2.1945 in Ibbenbüren, behind the frontlines.
On the 16th of March 1945, Hackl now recovered after a short stint in hospital as well as 8 days with his family on leave he would arrive at his new unit, Alarm Bataillon 462 stationed in the town of Znaim (CZ) he was issued a K98 rifle on the 2nd of May 1945 likely to form some sort of last stand resistance.
Hackl must have survived the war, he is not listed on the lists of those killed.
