Description
Herbert Otto Kurt Retzke
Born in January 1918 in Pommern, was a land worker until being called up in January of 1940.
He was issued the so called floppy Soldbuch model, in the Machine Gun Company of Infanterie Ersatz Batl 12, a replacement battalion which trained recruits before being sent to frontline units.
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/InfErsBat/InfErsBat12-R.htm
It seems he entered the field directly with this replacement unit in Feb 1940 – with Infanterie Regiment 487 (267 Inf Div)
Ab dem 10. Mai 1940 nahm die Division am Westfeldzug teil. Aus dem Raum Aachen marschierte sie als Armee-Reserve der 4. Armee nach Belgien über Maubeuge und Cambrai und Douai bis nach Avallon. Anschließend folgte der Einsatz zur Küstensicherung an der Kanalküste. Hier verblieb die Division bis Mai 1941. Am 26. November 1940 Abgabe eines Drittels der Division an die 321. Infanterie-Division. (Stab/467, III./467, III./487, III./497, II./AR 267)
By December of 1940 – Retzke would be transfered to Infanterie Regiment 588 – (321. Infanterie-Division)
An interesting point to note about his equipment issue, that in April of 1942, he was issued a aircraft recognition flag, such an entry I have never seen before in the Soldbuch. This flag, was applied to vehicles and tanks in order for the aircraft not to shoot on their own men.
Fighting in the central sector of the Eastern Front through to 1943.
It was here in central Russia Retzke was moved to another unit once again, this time around the end of 1941.
To, Infanterie Regiment 359 – 181 Infanterie Division – Stationed in Norway, (Drontheim) till September 1943 the Division would be sent to Montenegro. A timeline for the withdrawal from Norway to Yugoslavia where they where heavily engaged fighting Partisans.
1943/09/16 Oslo 1943/09/23 Stettin via Aalborg, Aarhus, Copenhagen 1943/10/10 Urosevac and Pristina, Yugoslavia via Warnemuende, Dresden, Bratislava, Vinkovci, Belgrade 1943/10/15 Kotor, Cetinje, Bar, Montenegro, Scutari (Shkoder), Albania.
Interestingly, Retzke was issued in the summer 1944 a full tropical uniform.
1944/11/20 Scutari, Podgorica (Titograd), Movement, antipartisan warfare C.O.: Gen.Lt. Eugen Bleyer, 1944/10/01-1945/04/26 Montenegro 1944/12/09 Titovo Uzice, Serbia Withdrawal, antipartisan warfare 1945/01/02 Rogatica, Gorazde, Sarajevo Movement, antipartisan warfare 1945/04/10 Zenica, Derventa, Bosnia Withdrawal 1945/04/26 Daruvar, northern Croatia Withdrawal
One thing is clear, that at some stage Retzke was in Germany in March of 1945, as he was in Hohenfels Wehrmacht base, and issued a full Sniper Kit, including the K43 Rifle with ZF43 Scope, Scope box, map case, 2 Magazines, one set of binoculars and leather pouch. All the cleaning kit for the Sniper set, a special pouch to hold magazines including 90 rounds of sniper ammunition.
It seems he was thrown into an ad-hoc unit near Hohenfels through to the Munich area, engaging with US Troops in the south of Germany.
By April of 1945, Retzke arrived in the Reserve Hospital in Cham with the Soldbuch wound code 9 – meaning Malaria.
By April of 1945, he was in Hotel Garmischer Hof which was set up as a hospital in southern Germany. Leaving in June of 1945 to a POW camp.
Comments:
Sniper Soldbuch – they are super rare to find. These do not come up in the market very often. Condition on this Soldbuch is heavily worn and is the first issue. The ZF43 scope was a very rare Scope and mounted to the K43 would have been a fearsome weapon.
