Description
SS Soldbuch issued to SS Rottenführer Paul Unbehau
Paul Unbehau was born on the 26.6.1924 in Erfurt, Germany into a Catholic family.
Unbehau served with the Luftwaffe till mid 1944, before being transferred to a Waffen SS training school for Communications in Unna, Westfalen.
According to his Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe issued driving licence he was with the unit Luftnachrichten-Regiment – I. Jagdkorps.
On the 21st of August 1944 his SS Soldbuch was issued, in Unna, Westfalen with SS Nachrichten Ausbildungs Abteilung 2, on the 4th of September 1944 he was issued a complete SS Uniform.
Equipment
Issued a K98 Rife, and a nice entry was another SS Helmet on page 13!
Unbehau joined his frontline unit:
SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 25 – Stab III (12th SS Panzer Division ‘Hitler Jugend’)
In September, SS-Obersturmbannführer Hubert Meyer was placed in command of the division. In November 1944, the division was sent to Nienburg in Germany, where it was to be reformed. The majority of reinforcements were transferred from Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine personnel. Hubert Meyer was replaced by SS-Obersturmbannführer Hugo Kraas, and the division was attached to the 6th SS Panzer Army of SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, which was forming up for Operation Wacht am Rhein (Battle of the Bulge), a large-scale offensive to recapture Antwerp and halt the Allied advance. The operation opened on 16 December 1944, with Kampfgruppe Peiper from the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler breaking through the American lines with some difficulty. After the 12th SS reached the front, it was met with heavy resistance from American troops stationed on the Elsenborn Ridge. Despite repeated efforts, the division could not budge the American defenders. As a result, the division was ordered to swing left and follow the advance line of the remainder of the 1st SS Panzer Division. American troops prevented the division from reaching its objective, and after the destruction of Kampfgruppe Peiper from the LSSAH, the advance of Dietrich’s forces was altogether stopped. On 8 January Hitler gave the authorization to withdraw. The attack was ultimately a failure. The 12th SS had been severely mauled, with only 26 tanks and assault guns and an average of 120 men remaining in each battalion. In total during the offensive the division had lost 9,870 men which included 328 officers and 1,698 NCO’s. By 28 January 1945, the 12th SS, along with all the German forces, had been pushed back to its starting positions.
On 14 January 1945, Dietrich’s 6th SS Panzer Army was ordered to Hungary where it was to take part in an offensive to recapture the Hungarian oilfields and open the way to Budapest, where 45,000 men of the IX SS Mountain Corps had been encircled. While the division was in transit, the IV SS Panzer Corps launched several unsuccessful relief operations. The division, alongside the LSSAH as a part of I SS Panzer Corps arrived in Hungary in early February 1945, a few days before the city fell. The division next took part in Operation Spring Awakening, another operation to retake the Hungarian oilfields. The attack got underway on 6 March 1945; after initial success, the combination of the muddy terrain and strong Soviet resistance ground them to a halt. On 16 March, the Soviet forces counterattacked in strength, driving the entire southern front into a retreat towards Vienna.
On the 22.04.1945 – Unbehau was killed in action in the town of Oberwölbling, Austria.
The actions are described well here:
https://www.truppendienst.com/themen/beitraege/artikel/vorstoss-entlang-der-traisen/
The Soviet forces took Vienna on 13 April. Retreating through Odenburg and Hirtenberg, the division reached Linz, Austria near the American lines. On 8 May 1945, 10,000 men of the division surrendered near the town of Enns to the troops of the 65th Infantry Division commanded by Major General Stanley Eric Reinhart.
