WWII Wehrmacht Soldbuch – Oberschirrmeister Krzisinski – KIA Rhine Crossing March 1945 – US 45th “Thunderbird” Infantry Division – Gernsheim, Germany – Rare
$575.00
Description
This is a rather interesting Soldbuch, issued to Krzisinski in 1943, when serving with the Pioneer Batl 134.
The unit served under the 134 Infanterie Division
From June 1941, the 134th Infantry Division took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union as part of the Army Group Center. In December 1941, the division was involved in the Battle of Moscow. Together with the 45th Infantry Division, she was temporarily surrounded as part of the 2nd Army at Livny and lost a large part of her artillery. The division was destroyed in the Soviet Bobruysk Offensive, part of Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944.
Krzisinski arrived at the Hospital in August of 1944, with a wound code 34, meaning an accident.
He was awarded the Eastern Front Medal and the War Merit Cross with Swords.
March 1945
The very nice late war ID permit for the area he was allowed to travel in was key in understanding where he was in the last days.
With the Pioneer Ausbildungs Batl 837 in Gernsheim on the Rhine River.
He is mentioned on a Memorial next to the graveyard, where he is buried beside. His brother was KIA,
What happened on the 26th of March 1945 in Gernsheim?
On the 26th of arch 1945, the 179th Infantry Regiment “Tomahawks” of the 45th “Thunderbird” Infantry Division crossing of the Rhine River on March 26, 1945 as part of the US 7th Army attack to breech the river. The Germans fell back destroying the bridge, which till today was never repaired and is left as a memorial to the horrors of war. A memorial to the US Soldiers can be found next to it and they have a breif synopsis of the the attack across the Rhine.
https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=2207&MemID=2908
When studying the KIA lists for the Town in March of 1945, it is clear that the only German Soldiers killed defending the town were all Pionner/Sappers. A handful of Germans were killed there, including a list of Civilians caught in the Artillery strikes in Gernsheim.
List can be found here:
http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/dkm_deutschland/gernsheim_wk1u2_hess.htm
Here is the combat diary of the 179th Inf Regiment Us Army, they mention in depth the attack on Gernsheim.
https://worldwartwoveterans.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-story-of-a-regiment-a-history-of-the-179th-Regimental-Combat.pdf
US Hero at Gernsheim on the Attack !
http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=1571
