Description
Born in Germany in 1924, Gefr Schirmer was enlisted in late 1942.
What is amazing about this Soldbuch is the two extras added into page 1 allowing him to wear the following special insignia:
With the Panzer Brigade 108 – he was permitted to wear the “Deaths head” – November 1944
With 116 Panz Div – “Windhundabzeichen” – October 1944.
He served in various units which seen combat:
1. MG Kp, Grenadier Regiment 89 –
2. Panzer Grenadier Regiment 79
3. s.Pz Grenadier Kp (gp) – Panzer Brigade 108
4. Panzer Grenadier Regiment 60
Other entries worth noting:
Issued Iron Rations 2.1944 and 8.1944.
Armed with: 98k, also had previously ac43 P38 Pistol,
Wounded: 31d – Shrapnel – 14.3.1944
Awards: War Merit Cross with Swords – 116 Panzer Division
History:
Panzer Brig 108
US tank troops had penetrated the West Wall in the area northwest of Bitburg – Wallendorf on September 14th and 15th, 1944. The brigade was unloaded on September 19, 1944 in the Manderscheid – Daun / Eifel area. The brigade had just been unloaded and was immediately launched into a counterattack. The reinforced Panzer Division 2108, in cooperation with Hauser’s Panzerkampfgruppe from the Panzer Lehr Division, broke through the narrow, approximately 7 to 8 kilometer deep attack wedge in the area west of Bitburg and threw the enemy back onto the West Wall. The brigade, which was fully assembled on September 20, 1944 for a planned relocation to southern Alsace, in the Burgundian Gate area, was turned north at night to the Nijmegen – Arnhem area. The extent of the British air landing at Arnhem had become known. The 107 Panzer Brigade was already fighting there in the area northeast of Nijmegen. From September 22nd and 23rd, 1944, the brigade was deployed at the Reichswald, in the area west of Kleeve-Süd, southeast of Arnhem. After the counterattack was stopped southeast of Arnhem, a defensive battle followed in the Aachen – Würselen area from October 6th to 12th, 1944. The brigade was recognized for this operation in the Wehrmacht report. The brigade attacks as part of the 116th Panzer Division and manages to retake and occupy Würselen under cover of dusk. At the beginning of October, the high command of Army Group B also ordered the integration of combat troops into this division. The brigade then moves on to defense in the Würselen area. As a result of immediate and violent counterattacks by the Americans, parts of the Panzer Division and the Panzergrenadiers were surrounded by strong mechanized forces in Würselen in the following days. After a breakout with heavy losses, the brigade was pulled out of the front after hard fighting northeast of Aachen – Geilenkirchen.
