Description
A sad Soldbuch story,
On the 13.9.1945 – Wolfgang Rohl died in the Prisoner of War Camp in France (St.Medard-en-Jalles, Gironde). He is buried today in the German Military Cemetery in Berneuil. On the page 1 his POW Number and date of death are noted. As well as a Red Cross early hard paper scan of his death certificate.
The Soldbuch is a first edition issued to Rohrl as a private in August 1939.
Rohrl was born in Pettendorf, and was married, it is unknown if he had children. But the Soldbuch must have been returned some time in 1946/47 to his wife in Amberg. In terms of Soldbuch entries, he was from the first day involved in the war raised the ranks from private to Oberfeldwebel And won the following medals throughout his service:
- War Merit Cross Second Class with Swords – 26.7.1940
- Iron Cross Second Class – 14.3.1942 – 11 Panzer Division
- Eastern Front Medal – 17.7.1942 – Interesting entry, that he was awarded it in July of 1942, but did not get it till 25.July 1943!
- War Merit Cross First Class – 1.9.1944 –
Issued by Unit: 135037 – Under the 11th Panzer Division –
The 11th Panzer Division was part of Case Blue from June 1942 onward, participating in the capture of Voronezh and the drive towards Stalingrad. It avoided being entrapped with the 6th Army in the city but suffered substantial losses during the winter of 1942-43. It was engaged in the failed relief attempt on Stalingrad and then participated in the defence of Rostov, which allowed the German troops retreating from the Caucasus to escape.
Which he served with till late 1942 before moving to Feldzeug Batl 23. This term “Feldzeug Batl” includes the troops of an armed force entrusted with the repair of technical equipment, especially in the army. They operated under Heeresgruppe G – By order of April 28, 1944, Army Group G was set up in southern France. This was subordinate to the 1st Army on the Atlantic coast and the 19th Army on the French Mediterranean coast. After the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944 and the Allied landings in southern France on August 15, 1944, the army group withdrew fighting to Lorraine, Alsace and the West Wall until early autumn 1944. Here it was renamed Army Group G. In November 1944 heavy fighting against the 3rd US Army followed. In January 1945, parts of the army group took part in the German Ardennes offensive (Operation Nordwind). In March 1945, the units of the army group were expelled from the left bank of the Rhine and had to retreat to southern Germany. By the end of the war, the remnants of the army group had been pushed back to the northern Alps, the Ore Mountains and the Bohemian Forest.
According to this website, the POW Camp 183 – https://www.sudouest.fr/gironde/saint-medard-en-jalles/le-camp-de-prisonniers-en-memoire-9047010.php
“Then the course of history was reversed and the Germans became the prisoners of the camp… sometimes guarded by the Senegalese. Anecdote: former colonial prisoners paraded through the streets of Saint-Médard after the Liberation.
The story ended worse for the Germans than for the Africans: 490 defeated Reich soldiers, prisoners in the Germignan camp, died there in 1945, probably from an epidemic of typhus.”
There was an outbreak in 1945, around 490 prisoners died. It is likely this is what happened to Rohrl, although we will never know because no cause of death was given. We do know the camp was also used for working which included the demining of the area from UXO.
Final comments:
A very sad story, he survived the Eastern Front, and after being captured in France dies at the end of the Summer of 1945. In the back cover a dried leaf can be found, likely from his time as POW.
