Good evening, im looking for informations about my Grandpa. His name was "Franz Appel" he was born on the 11.08.1925 in Bielefeld (Germany). He was on the heer uffz vorschule hannover first. Than it is not clear. He was 1943 reportet on the "Heeres Unteroffiziers Schule Lübben". and in 1944 he was reported in the "1.Kompanie Feld Ersatz Batallion 263" and the 2.Kompanie Feld Ersatz Batallion 263. And the last report was in the "Stab 2.Batallion Infanterie Regiment 432" And in 1943 he was wounded. And was in the "Regenwurmlager" in Poland. But in 1943 he was to young to fight. He was born in 1925 and they go in war by 1944 not 1943. So probably from training? I don't know. What i know about him from my family : He was in 1945 in the Kurland Pocket. He got home with the last ship "Tsingtau" as a wounded men. More we really don't know. So i ask for Help. If somebody has maybe has his Soldbuch or Wehrpass or maybe documents where he is listed im pleased if it is possible to get pictures. Ill pay 1000€ for his wehrpass or soldbuch when somebody has it. I really want to know more about him. But he died in 2016 and back then i was to young to ask him. It would mean a lot to me. All help is good help! In the pictures you can see a document ive got from the Germany Bundes Archive. About that he was wounden. And was in the "Regenwurm" lager. Im looking forward. Best, Luke Small add : His Complet name was "Karl Franz Friedrich Appel"
Luke, Welcome aboard. The first snag is our main focus is the British & Commonwealth armed forces, we do have some German members and others who research German personnel - hopefully they will be along with advice and help.
Luke, Slow memory at the moment. Just remembered there is what appears to be a mainly USA forum whose focus is German armed forces from 1918 to 1945. See: The German Armed Forces 1918-1945 - Feldgrau Nowt on the units you have listed; masses on Kurland pocket and a few for the ship Tsingtau.
Well, let's see what can be found in a hurry: The Regenwurmlager was located north of the Nischlitzsee, behind Hochwalde, and 8 kilometers southwest of Meseritz (today Miedzyrzecz/PL) in the Oder-Warthe-Bogen not far from the village of Nipter. The camp was established as the second camp in the Oder-Warthe arc in 1938, north of the Tibor camp, and it got its name from the small river Regenwurm, which flows nearby. (One of the largest subterranean facilities of the III Reich, today a tourist attraction) It became necessary because in the fortification line in the Oder-Warthe arc only a few units were ready for mobilization in front of the Ostwall. Weapons and equipment were stored in the camp for a possible mobilization case. The camp was a border training camp. On the one hand, normal training of the fortress troops took place here, on the other hand, it was set up as a reserve camp behind the fortress front and as a rest camp. The camp apparently also included the border guard fortification III. Heeres-Unteroffiziers-Schule Regenwurmlager-Meseritz The school was established in 1942 and transferred to the Plenipotentiary General in Hungary on 15 September 1944, where it was disbanded. This unit belonged to the 131st Infantry Division, since 15 October 1942 renamed Grenadier Regiment 432 More on this tomorrow (we have the nieces visiting, they clog up the bandwidth with TikTok and the like).
Military career Heeres Unteroffizier Vorschule Hannover ** Heeres Unteroffizier Schule Lübben Heeres Unteroffizier Schule Regenwurmlager Reservelazarett Sonnenburg (Femur fracture left) ** In the HUpre-schools, the trainees here were to be thoroughly pre-trained for their NCO and NCO duties until they reached military age. Then they were transferred to the HUS, from where they were finally discharged into the replacement and training battalions: Feldersatz-Bataillon 263/131.ID Stab 2.Batallion Infanterie Regiment 432/263.ID The "Tsingtau" made its last voyage from Libau on 8 May, arriving in Kiel on 11/12 May. EDIT Correction Feldersatz-Bataillon 263/263.ID Stab 2.Batallion IR 432/131.ID However, the 131.ID was destroyed at Heiligenbeil (W Königsberg) and was not in Courland. So he was probably separated from its division sometime at the end of 1944 and thus arrived in Courland. It will hardly be possible to determine when and why this happened. Given the confusion during this phase of the war, however, it is not really unusual.
Thanks for you Edit also. Im super happy that you spend this time to write me this back. Sure this could be. I know to 100% that he was there. He always said that. He was also wounded in 44/45. He stayed at a Lazarett until the tsingtao helped him to escape. I really hope that someday his Wehrpass or Soldbook see the light and im able to get it...its my dream...
Then he will have ended up in a military hospital in Courland because of his wound. That sounds pretty conclusive. However, his Wehrpassis unlikely to be found. If the WASt has nothing, then I wouldn't get my hopes up too high.
Sure! Yeah they dont have anything more. Only the units and the paper from the regenwurmlager. And i have 2x Photo album (From the Heeres Unteroffiziersschule Düren / Lübben), his iron cross 2.Class, His bible from 1941, a pass picture and a Book from his Veteran meeting in 1951 of the School survivors. But hope never dies Maybe in the next decades it will be found I really hope so!