Description
Helmut Weiss was born on the 5th of December 1927, in a town formerly called Leipe-Petersdorf near Breslau, today Lipa Piotrowska in the District of Wroclaw Poland. Helmut lived with his parents Adolf (Farmer) and Martha.
Helmut at 16 years old worked on the Railways in Breslau, his ID for the German Railway system in Breslau Bahnmeisterei, the Main Railway Works can be seen in the photo section.
Six months later, he would be in Gardelegen, Germany as a new recruit in the Fallschrimjäger (German Paratroopers). Helmut was issued his Official Military photo Identification, known in German as the Soldbuch on the 28.9.1944 on base. The photo added to the Soldbuch shows Helmut in a standard Tunic although there are no shoulder boards or collar tabs to compliment his uniform. This could be for the fact that either they did not have them at the time when issuing his uniform, or the fact that recruits earned their insignia after training. He is still only 16 years old.
In Gardelegen, the Germans had raised a force of 30,000 of fighting age into the 1st Fallschrimjäger Armee (First Parachute Army).
On the 1st of November 1944 – Helmut had finished his two months basic training and was sent to another replacement unit (Fallschirmjäger Ersatz und Ausbildungs Regiment 1).
By late December Helmut was assigned to a frontline unit, Feldersatz-Regiment der Fallschirm-Armee, 1. Fallschirm-Armee. Stationed in Dinxperlo, a town in the Netherlands on the German border.
Helmut was not assigned directly to the fighting regiment but a replacement regiment. By December Helmut received his last transfer to Fallschim Lehrgruppe Ausbildungs Kommando, Fallschirmjäger AOK near Muenchen-Gladbach, Germany.
Weiss is still only 16 years old; he turned 17 in December of 1944.
Germans Taken By Surprise – Operation Grenade 1945
Weiss was Killed in Action at 17 years and 2 months old on the 27th of February 1945, by US Troops during Operation Grenade.
Weiss was likely killed by the shrapnel seen that passed through the Soldbuch, the Soldbuch was usually held in the front Tunic Pocket. Clearly the blood staining from when it was also removed from the Tunic Pocket. Wiess has a marked grave in Germany today. See the link below from the German War Graves Commission.
US XIX Corps’ attack from their rapidly-acquired bridgehead soon swung east, throwing the German defense plan off balance, and catching their reserves in mid-maneuver.
The 29th they took Juelich and pushed on to take Muenchen-Gladbach on March 1st, while the 30th overran the Hambach Forest, and guarded the right flank of the Corps until VII Corps finally came up alongside. The 2nd Armored, committed on the fifth day of the attack, drove between Muenchen-Gladbach and Neuss, to reduce Uerdingen, while the 83rd, which had attacked along with them, pealed off to the right to reduce Neuss and be the first American troops to reach the lower Rhine. The 95th Division was thrown in eventually and cleaned up the left bank of the Rhine from Uerdingen to Rheinhausen. This battle drove the attack deep into the heart of Germany for the first time, and the Corps Artillery was able to fire across the Rhine into the steel plants of the Ruhr. Here, too, for the first time, the men of the Corps began to see the hordes of slave-workers used by the Germans in factories and on farms, and effects of the bombing with which our Air Force had crippled German industry.
The attack was over in ten days, and XIX Corps had 11,000 prisoners, 353 towns, and over 300 square miles of territory to its credit. The enemy had rushed more of his best troops into battle: 9th Panzer, 11th Panzer, 130th Panzer Lehr, elements of the 2nd Parachute and 15th Panzer Grenadier Divisions. They had been cut up, driven back, and in some cases, completely destroyed.
Operation Grenade on Youtube
Note the young soldiers expected to fight the US Army.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R89fzTqn0KA
Graveyard Details and Links on the German War Graves Commission for the information they have on Wiess.
https://mags.de/Medien/2._Downloads/6._Gr%C3%BCn/1._Friedh%C3%B6fe/1._Ehrenfriedh%C3%B6fe/Namens-_und_Grablageverzeichnis_Soldatenfriedhof_M%C3%B6nchengladbach-Hardt.pdf
https://kriegsgraeberstaetten.volksbund.de/friedhof/moenchengladbach-hardt-kriegsgraeberstaette
https://www.volksbund.de/erinnern-gedenken/graebersuche-online/detail/b4d66e5e99a3ee7bd9e8ed3455ccef2a
Links used to write the listing
https://www.ww2.dk/ground/fallschirm/fsarmy.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Parachute_Army_(Wehrmacht)
https://www.militaria-fundforum.de/forum/index.php?thread/412910-hauptuntersuchungsstelle-der-fallschirm-armee/&postID=2959344
Final Comments
Soldbücher with such a story do not come up very often. Wiess was 17 years old, and the factors surrounding the keeping of the Soldbuch are unknown. It was highly likely a trophy item taken after his death, or taken when buried. We will never know, although what is clear is that he was identified and buried in Germany after the battle.
This is a museum grade item for the top FJ Collection.
This was the last breaths of the German Paratroopers on the final stages of the War in Germany 1945.
