Family on the East Front?

[V]

I was wondering if any of our German or Russian forum members had family who served on the Eastern Front?

And if so, where and when?

[Mafiozox]

Well, im not russian or german, but my grandpa was a polish-russian jew. lived around bialistok area, when the germans came he was forced to work in some tinkering factory, one day he got beaten so hard he lost his right eye.

in early 1945 his camp was liberated, and he joined the Red army because he spoke fluent german and russian. he told me how they tracked germans, and asked them if they're nazis, when the german said no, he told them to take off their shirt, if they had the SS tattoo.. you know what happened to them.

[Michael Dorosh]

Andreas has a relative who had been in an artillery obervation battalion - a link to his site is up at der Kessel.

[daft]

My grandfather fought in the Finnish Army wich is kind of the Eastern Front I suppose.

[Count Zero]

Originally posted by daft:

My grandfather fought in the Finnish Army wich is kind of the Eastern Front I suppose.

Same here... I´m only half-überfinn tough

[Blackhorse]

Both my uncles fought on the Eastern Font.

The oldest was an Aufklarer in the 3rd Motorized Division from the beginning. He was wounded and evacuated prior to the encirclement of 6th Army. He was never able to rejoin his comrades and was subsequenty assigned to a regiment in Italy. He fought in the withdrawal from Italy, and then faced the Yanks on the Western Front. At war's end, he and his crew abandoned their Achtrad and walked to areas where they could search for family or friends. He was never captured or processed. It's a damn interesting story to hear him tell of the struggle to find kin folk after they had all been displaced.

The youngest was an Infantryman in the 26th Dom Division. He was captured in 1943 outside Smolensk. My mother and her parents thought he was dead. In 1946 they learned he was alive. In 1948, he returned home to them.

Both are still alive, and both are remarkable men.

The youngest lived out a longtime dream of his a few years back. He swam the Volga. (He was a POW there and helped rebuild Stalingrad. I imagine the desire to swim the river was born during those days, as he never saw it while serving.)

[The Commissar]

My grandfather from my father's side served through the last bits of '44 and through '45. Stormed Berlin.

I keep meaning to ask him which division, army, etc. he was in but I dont get to talk to him nearly as much as Id like to.

[ham]

My grandfather from father's side joined up as a volunteer to Finnish Army and fought in the continuation war untill got wounded.

[ October 12, 2002, 07:40 PM: Message edited by: ham ]

[gunnergoz]

My Ukrainian wife's family lost 7 of 9 men in the war. The 2 male survivors died in recent years.

The surviving females still cringe when they hear German spoken.

BTW, the Russians say that 95% of the males who reached age 16 in 1941, did not survive the war. An entire generation wiped out, in other words.

Soooo...first hand war stories are hard to come by nowadays. That's why we must treasure any survivors we know or meet, and I applaud any attempts made to get their stories documented before its too late.

[gunnergoz]

Originally posted by The Commissar:

My grandfather from my father's side served through the last bits of '44 and through '45. Stormed Berlin.

I keep meaning to ask him which division, army, etc. he was in but I dont get to talk to him nearly as much as Id like to.

Commissar, you'd best take advantage of the time you have left with your grandfather, it's a gift that can be withdrawn any day. Do him honor and take the time to take down his story while you can. And thank him for the rest of us, when you do.

[Andreas]

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Andreas has a relative who had been in an artillery obervation battalion - a link to his site is up at der Kessel.

Observation, even.

Unteroffizier Biermann, Beobachtungsabteilung 26, Baltic States and Leningrad/Wolchow June 1941 - Feb/March 1944. Then seriously wounded (Heimatschuss - he still carries the bullet around), served the war out in Denmark, near Viborg. Deserted shortly before the end, and walked home, arriving in June 45 as the first returning soldier in the village. Decorated with EK I, EK II, Verwundetenabzeichen and the infamous Gefrierfleischorden.

[V]

Thanks for the info, guys, and keep them coming.

Also, I did not mean to limit this to only Russians or Germans. Just interested in hearing any little stories or histories of any of you who might have had family on the East Front, of any nationality.

Thanks again.

[JunoReactor]

Originally posted by Blackhorse:

.......

Both are still alive, and both are remarkable men.

.......

Glad to hear that; their stories are certainly touching. One swimming the Volga, and the other going to look for family relatives right after he lays down the gun... One feels the raw human substance of war even in the few paragraphs you have written.

[killmore]

Polish GrandFather server in Polish army. In 1939 he fought his way to Rumania...

Then France,Britain, Italy (Monte Cassino)

[killmore]

My Grandmothers brother died in T-34 near Kiev (1944). His crew claimed 3 german tanks in previous battles

[ParaBellum]

My grandfather served in the 5.Gebirgsjäger Division. He participated in the greece campaign and survived the bloody invasion of Crete.

In 1942 the division was transferred to the russian front where it operated in the Leningrad/Wolchow region until 1943.

The division was then transferred to Italy where it participated in the battle for Monte Cassino.

Only recently I discovered a few photos from this time, one showing him and two comrades in front of their bunker "Rosi" (short for my grandmother's name) in Russia.

[Lah]

My Grandad was on the western front with the BEF and got evacuated from Dunkirk. My Grandmother said he had suffered shell shock, apparently he got split from his unit and on his own came across a French farmhouse, the family were sat down to dinner but all dead I think from the vaccum blast of a shell close by. When she visited him in hospital she said a guy in the ward was still clinging to his tin hat on his head and no one could take it from him.

My Grandad went back over with the Middlesex regiment in 1944 to Normandy and survived the war dying in the late 1980's. My Grandmother still did not like Germans till her end, after suffering through the blitz herself.

[ October 13, 2002, 05:51 AM: Message edited by: Lah ]

[Nippy]

Lets see:

My Grandfather, on the mother's side, joined the Merchant Marines in June of 1945. He spent a lot of time ferrying American and German POW's back home. He traveled to Cuba, France (he docked in Cherborg), and even got to see the rock of Gibralter.

Now my various uncles (My Grandfather's Brothers, he came from a family of 15 children!) had more "livly" Military careers.

Uncle Frank served in China-Burma with Merals Mauraders and got to lug a 20 pound BAR all over that area.

Uncle Leu, who saddly passed away several years ago, served as an AA gunner on various Ameracan ships in the pacific theatre throughout the war and several times found himself on the wrong end of a Kamakazi attack.

As far as I know these were the only ones to see combat. The Other's either joined too late to see action or served in a support role well behind the front lines.

[von Lucke]

Originally posted by Andreas:

...and the infamous Gefrierfleischorden.

OK, what's a frozen meat medal?

[Andreas]

Originally posted by von Lucke:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Andreas:

...and the infamous Gefrierfleischorden.

OK, what's a frozen meat medal?</font>

[Sytass]

One of my grandfathers died on the Eastern Front. My grandmother wouldn't say on which, she wouldn't speak of the time or of her flight from Eastern Prussia to Holstein.

My other grandfather ran away from any kind of work all his life, and so he escaped serving on the front, too. He became a chauffeur for SS brass, and so he ended up coming to Holstein among the entourage of the last government of the Reich under Adm. Dönitz. His family (my mom and her mother) fled before the Red Army from Pommerania reunited with him in Holstein.

[Blackhorse]

Originally posted by Sytass:

One of my grandfathers died on the Eastern Front. My grandmother wouldn't say on which, she wouldn't speak of the time or of her flight from Eastern Prussia to Holstein.

My other grandfather ran away from any kind of work all his life, and so he escaped serving on the front, too. He became a chauffeur for SS brass, and so he ended up coming to Holstein among the entourage of the last government of the Reich under Adm. Dönitz. His family (my mom and her mother) fled before the Red Army from Pommerania reunited with him in Holstein.

Sytass,

My grandfather, my grandmother, and my mother also fled from East Prussia to Holstein. They lived originally in East Prussia in a town named Rehhof, now named Riejevo, Poland.

The left their house on Januray 25th, 1945 and made the trek westward in one of the worst winters ever. They originally went to Danzig but thankfully avoided taking the Wilhelm Gustloff.

They were in an open horse drawn carriage and eventually made it to safety.

The family remained in Holstein until 1952. My Grandfather became the local veterinarian to farmers and was able to sustain his family that way. The family then moved to a home near Bad Rappenau.

One thing I forgot to mention was that they stayed with relatives in Holstein. Relatives who are still there. I only know her as Tante Bertha. I'll have to find out her last name (it is not Wilhelmy) It may be Schramm... I recall her having a pig farm (I was young the several times we visited).

It would be very interesting if members of your family knew or know members of my mother's family.

Cheers,

Chris

[ October 13, 2002, 09:24 AM: Message edited by: Blackhorse ]

[Scots Grey]

My paternal grandfather was a pre-war Territorial Artilleryman in the RHA serving on 2pdr A/T guns.

went to France in '40 evacuated at Dunkirk and then posted to Thames Forts during the Blitz as an AA gunner.Posted back to A/T guns(6Pdr) and took part in the Torch landings.

Returned to UK and posted once again to AA unit in 11th Armoured ended the war guarding the camp guards at Belsen.

Unfortunatly I never knew him as he died in 1957 before my parents got married but recently I spotted him in a newsreel about the liberation of Belsen.

[Scipio]

My father served in 1945 in Grenadier - Ersatzbattalion 46(?, not sure about the number) and was wounded on 1st May, somewhere between Dresden and Breslau. He was a MG-42 gunner. My father was 16 years old at that time.

P.S.: Do somebody know if or where I could find informations about my fathers unit?

[ October 13, 2002, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: Scipio ]

[Juju]

My (German) grandfather fought on the Eastern Front and was M.I.A in 1943.

The family on my father's side has always claimed they know/remember nothing about him, which has always struck me as kinda odd. Suspicious even...