Dead SS soldier's daily journal D-Day

One soldier I'm tracking; Rex Smith RCE formerly 2/Manchesters landed on D-Day & took a daily journal off the body of a dead SS soldier & used it as his own for the remainder of the war. Rex survived the war & passed away in 2001 at the age of 80.

Attached is the original owners name & unit (I believe). It's the best quality I can offer of a scan of a photocopy but might our experts be able to assist in deciphering this? Thank you in advance

Dave

 

I think it reads

It doesn't say what unit, but the FP number might help.

Any chance to get a look at the diary?

 

If I got the Feldpostnr. right it would be the 1. SS PD "LSSAH", Art. Rgt., I. Abt., 3. Batt. (according to the Axis History Forum)

 

That would fit with the rank (if the Volksbund uses the Heer equivalent for SS ranks)

 

The SS ranks are slightly different to the Heer ranks but since the SS and its affiliates were declared to be criminal organisations at Nuremberg,SS ranks were banned on tombstones.

Some might remember in the early 1980s,the US embarrassment when on Ronald Regan's official visit to West Germany, a visit was arranged to visit the German military cemetery at Bitburg.He must have been visiting the USAF base at Bitburg and it was thought the US President would pay homage to German dead.

At the last minute,someone realised that in the Bitburg military cemetery was the resting place for a large number of SS personnel....the visit was immediately cancelled.

Good thread emerging.As Diane indicates if this is the man,he was miles away from Normandy when he died,a casualty probably from Patton's 3rd Army thrust into Lorraine.

 

How are they different?

 

Puzzled. The 2Manchesters as, I think, 88Reg RA landed several weeks after D-Day as part of 43rd Wessex Division and were moved back to the UK as a Training Regiment in August 1944. Possible that the original and 'new' owners could have moved elsewhere. Alternatively, 2Manchesters were part of the BEF in France in 1940; possibly the 'new' owner acquired the diary at that time? All I'm saying is that be mindful of this before going up the wrong garden path....whatever that may be!.

 

With the journal being picked up in Normandy in 1944 then the feldpostnummer belonged to the Stab II u. Einheit Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 1 (1. SS-Division) which was allocated this number for the period 24.3.1944-6.11.1944.

As to Waffen SS graves, it is the SS runes that are not permitted, the rank can still be shown as you can see on the grave of Michael Wittmann and his crew.

 

Thanks for all of this. Rex was 2/Manchesters ('D' Company) & was evacuated from Dunkirk transferred to the RCE in 1941. Attached is a file featuring the pages of the journal I possess. As you'll see, Rex starts it on June 6 1944, brief entries till June 14th. A pause until July 12 when Rex writes 'Arrived in France.' I wonder if Rex & his unit had a brief r&r during this time? Nothing written from the end of July until January 1945 (where Rex simply returned to the front of the journal & wrote in Jan 1944 space.)

When Rex passed away he willed the item to a close family friend & at our first meeting all he had available were these scans. Hopefully later this summer, we're due to meet up again, I can view the journal itself to see what, if anything, the original owner recorded. Obviously I'll share any new insights. I have transcribed the entries into a pdf for easier reading if you want to pm me.

I know it would be helpful to have Rex' RCE unit but his friend is checking into this for me. As time passed, Rex thought more & more about this SS soldier. Thank you so much for what you have offered so far.

I also attached an article from 1945 featuring more on Rex.

 

One more article on Rex...

 

You are correct - the 2nd Manchesters were 2nd Infantry Division. In 1941 Rex transferred to the Royal Canadian Engineers. Page two is difficult to read:
'This book was
the property of a SS
soldier who has
now gone to a better
place than where
he was.'

Within hand drawn cross
RIP
Little Dutchie

 

Hopefully he might already have them. Rex had an impressive collection of photos/documents from this period so it might simply be an issue of sorting through everything for specifics. That's always the first thing I tell the families - get the man's service records, it does make things easier.

If he did land on D-Day that would place him within the RCE units of the 3rd Canadian Division would it not? On July 28 he writes 'Heavy fighting for Tilly-la-Campaigne' which I believe was within 3rd Division's mandate.

And yes, there were quite a few Canadians within British units leading up to the war. I attribute this to the Depression & the steady pay offered.

 

If he landed on D-Day, why would he state that he arrived in France on 12th July ? Intriguing timeline here. Service Records will clearly be the key to solving this little mystery.