Description
Unit Motto: Schnell wie ein Windhund, Zäh wie Leder, Hart wie Kruppstahl, Windhund Vor! – “Fast as a greyhound, tough as leather, hard as Kruppsteel, Greyhound forward!”
Soldbuch opened on the 4th of October 1941 with Kf.Erst Abt 26 in Euskirchen, Germany.
Issued to Driver – Ferdinand Offermanns born April 1922, in Köln (Cologne) Germany, he was born into a Protestant family and worked in his civilian life as a Postal Worker.
It seems his driving skills were very good and was then sent to a Motorcycle and side car unit tasked with providing recon activities.
Promotions
1.10.1942 – Stab – Kradschützen Btl 165 – Gefreiter
1.11.1943 – Stab – Panzer Aufklärungs Abteilung 116 “Windhund”
Awards
1.December 1943 – Wounds Badge in Black – Injured in Ukraine – 14.12.1943 – MP Bullet in the left lower leg – Lubltz – (CZ) – moved with Hospital Train to Bad Griesbach, he was released from hospital Pützchen on July 1944 and rejoined his unit.
18.June.1943 – Iron Cross First Class and Second Class – Rare entry both at the same time – with Kampfgruppe Eusermann (see below)
1.9.1944 – Iserlohn Germany – Panzer Assault Badge in Silver & Eastern Front Medal
AWARDS PAGE – Security stamps were somewhat tampered with. If he got these awards or not or tried to hide it for a while we will never know sadly.
Kradschützen Btl 165 – 16th Panzer Division History
The 16th Motorized Infantry Division, nicknamed Windhund (“Greyhound”), participated in the Balkans campaign in 1941 along with the 16th Panzer Division (see above). It took part in Operation Barbarossa with Army Group South later in the year. It advanced on the Caucasus with elements coming to within 20 miles of Astrakhan in 1942 – the most easterly point reached by any German unit during the war.
»Kradschützen-Bataillon 165«
• Oberst Eisermann, Johannes;
• Hauptmann/Major Brede, Hans; 1942
• Hauptmann Ganter, Gustav; Herbst 1942 bis 16.04.1943, gefallen
The 16th Panzer Division served as a reserve in Romania during the Balkans campaign in 1941. It then participated in Operation Barbarossa with Army Group South, also in 1941.
A Kampfgruppe of 16th Panzer Division, led by Count Strachwitz, reached the outskirts of Stalingrad on 23 August 1942, brushing aside the sole Soviet defences, anti-aircraft guns manned by female factory workers[1] (possibly the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment). The 16th Panzer Division was encircled and ultimately destroyed at Stalingrad during the winter of 1942–43.
Interestingly, Kampfgruppe Eisermann in early 1943. A full history of the tasks that the unit undertook can be found on this great resource /forum: https://www.wehrmacht-forum.de/index.php?thread/3708-16-infanterie-division-mot-16-panzer-grenadier-division-116-panzer-division-die/
Panzer Aufklärungs Abteilung 116 “Windhund”
By September 1944, Offermanns had rejoined his unit, missing the units destruction in Normandy.
By 21 August 1944, the “Greyhound Division” was down to 600 men, 12 tanks, and no artillery. It was the only German unit garrisoning Aachen on 13 September 1944 when the US 3rd Armored Division began its assault on the Westwall and by 22 September 1944, the US First Army’s initial attempt to breach the German defenses had been thwarted. Shortly before the fighting began, the divisional commander, Generalleutnant Gerhard Graf von Schwerin-Krosigk, was relieved of his command by Hitler for ordering an unauthorized withdrawal from the city.
Offermanns unit was equipped with both Sdkf 222 Converted Panzerspähwagen Sd.Kfz.231
Windhund Sdkfz in Bovington Tank Museum in England.
From late September through October, the 116.Panzer-Division was inDüsseldorf reforming and was refitted to a total strength of 11,500men and 41 tanks. Returning to the Aachen area from the reserve, assigned to Georg Keppler’s I.SS-Panzer-Korps, the division made an unsuccessful attempt to stop the US XIX Corps on 10 October 1944 and subsequently withdrew before the city fell to the Allies on 21 October 1944.
In late October, the US 28th Infantry Division was holding Schmidt when Generalfeldmarschal Walter Model committed the 116.Panzer-Division tore-capturing the city. From 4 November to 8 November 1944, the division sustained a loss of only 15 tanks while successfully seizing Schmidt in what became known as the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest. The 116.Panzer was then sent to Cologne later in the month.
Assigned to 5.Panzer-Armee, LVIII.Panzer-Korps, the 116.Panzer began preparations for Operation WACHT AM RHEIN, subsequently re-named AUTUMNMIST, on 16 December 1944 when it was sent to the Ardennes assembly area. Enroute, the Greyhound Division had participated in the fighting which resulted in the St. Vith salient. Sweeping past the city to the south, St. Vith fell to the 5.Panzer-Army on 23 December 1944, creating the”Bulge”. It then spearheaded the southern prong of the Ardennes offensive, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge, in December 1944, again suffering heavy casualties, and was withdrawn to Kleve, along the border with Holland/Netherlands, in January 1945.
On 17 December 1945 they captured a bridge over the Our River at Ouren, but it was too damaged to support heavy equipment, so 16. Panzer-Regiment (Kampfgruppe Bayer) was forced to retrace their steps and cross the Our at Dasburg. Having reassembled at Heinerscheid on 18 December the division spearhead captured Bertogne on 19 December. However, the Ourthe River bridge there had been destroyed. Instead they withdrew to Houffalize and continued west on the north side of the Ourthe and captured Samree in the evening of 20 December.On 21 December 116. Panzerdivision crossed the Soy-Hotten road and attacked Hotten. Their attack on Hotten meet fierce US resistance and was repulsed. They were ordered to again retrace their steps and return to La Roche where they crossed to the south side of the Ourthe and continue westward. For the next several days the division was completely worn down in continuous combat against the US 84th Infantry Division in the area of Verdenne and Marenne, between Hooton and Marche-en-Famenne. The division switched over to the defensive by the month’s end.
The First Canadian Army and British XXX Corps commenced Operation VERITABLE on 8 February 1945, facing the division as it defended the damaged Roer River Dams and by 3 March 1945, the US Ninth Army had linked up with the British and Canadians, trapping the 116.Panzer-Division inside the Wesel Pocket. On 5 March 1945, the division withdrew across the Rhine and destroyed the bridge behind it. Now part of the XLVII.Panzer-Korps, under General Blaskowitz’s Armeegruppe “H”, the division was ordered to halt the advance of the US 30th Infantry Division south of the Lippe Riveron 24 March 1945. Positioned near the Dutch-German border, the Greyhound Division’s Panzergrenadier-Regiment 60 commenced its assault the next day and by nightfall of 26 March 1945, the division had thwarted the US 30th Infantry Division’s breakout attempts. By 28 March 1945, the division held Dorsten but was outflanked when the British 6th Guards Armoured Brigade bypassed the city. By 4 April 1945, the division had been ordered to hold a new defense line facing north behind the Rhine-Herne Canal, in order to reinforce the north face of the Ruhr Valley.
By 18 April 1945, all resistance in the Ruhr Pocket ceased, and the remnants of the division, along with their commanding officer, surrendered to the US Ninth Army.
It seems Offermanns was captured by US Troops – he died in his home town of Köln, on the 27th of January 1981.
Interesting points to note in the Soldbuch
It seems that in January of 1945, he was in the same hospital (Res Laz Lüdenscheid) as the unit commander – Offermanns was given reichsmark for his 340 Belgian Francs.
Knights Cross Winner Signature – Eberhard Stephan – Signed the last page whilst still in hospital (Was Offermanns also wounded again?). Major Eberhard Stephan (17.07.1910 † 22.10.2008) earned the Ritterkreuz on January 12, 1945 as Major und Kommandeur of the Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 116 of the 116. Panzer-Division.
“Eberhard Stephan was awarded the Knight’s Cross for his actions during the Ardennes Offensive for successfully capturing and then defending the bridge at Heinerscheid over the Our River, preventing an Allied breakthrough.”
Final Comments
What a Soldbuch story, this guy survived both the Eastern and Western Fronts. His Soldbuch is highly desirable.
