Another one of my Great Grandfathers

Rutche

Rutche

Senior Member
Hello all, not sure if its right to post here, but I wanted to see if anyone has some takes on this image. I have an X mark on my Great Grandfather who at the time was already quite old, born in 1900. It seems like the other men in the picture are also older. I wonder what an older person like him would be doing in the German military, and what type of unit this was. He lived in a coastal town in Northern Germany, and I wonder if it could be some sort of Kriegsmarine coastal Artillery or similar? I will post this picture hope you might have a few takes.

imgonline-com-ua-CompressToSize-d7QgknoieR.jpg
 
I looked around the net a bit, & my guess would be coastal artillery, ~ 1939-40. (part of the Kriegsmarine) The uniforms are similar in style/color to Heer uniforms, with bottle green or black collars in those years. Earlier at least some naval ground troops wore dark blue (navy) colored tunics of a more naval style. Other than their collar tabs, eagles & cap cockades, you can’t really see any insignia. (no anchors) Most of the men are wearing the full traditional soldiers’s boots.

‘How come’ your great grandfathers’s left collar tab is messed up looking? “Put that soldier on report!”. His is the only one in the group that lloks like that.

Later of course the Germans were forming infantry battalions out of every conceivable human resource, young, old, nearsighted & barely capable.
 
Looks like soldiers of a regular Landesschützen Bataillon. Each military district (Wehrkreis) has established several such battalions.
Usually the Landesschützen Bataillone were used as guards for prisoner of war camps, important transportation hubs, bridges etc.
At the beginning of the war, Landesschützen were drafted from men born between 1894 and 1904. Often equipped with booty rifles, uniforms ...
Some of the soldiers on your photo wear captured and modified Czech tunics.
 
Muncher 1953 said:
‘How come’ your great grandfathers’s left collar tab is messed up looking? “Put that soldier on report!”. His is the only one in the group that lloks like that.
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Haha, no idea why, it could be a mark on the picture spec of dirt or it could be messed up, no idea
Amberg said:
Looks like soldiers of a regular Landesschützen Bataillon. Each military district (Wehrkreis) has established several such battalions.
Usually the Landesschützen Bataillone were used as guards for prisoner of war camps, important transportation hubs, bridges etc.
At the beginning of the war, Landesschützen were drafted from men born between 1894 and 1904. Often equipped with booty rifles, uniforms ...
Some of the soldiers on your photo wear captured and modified Czech tunics.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Amberg I was thinking something similar could be possible, the Czech uniforms make sense. Do you know what Landesschützen Bataillon the city of Büsum would belong to?
 
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Büsum belonged to Wehrkreis X (Hamburg)
In Wehrkreis X we had:
Landesschützen-Regiment 105 https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/LandschtzReg/LandschtzReg105-R.htm
Landesschützen-Regiment 106 https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/LandschtzReg/LandschtzReg106-R.htm
Landesschützen-Bataillon 653
Landesschützen-Bataillon 655
Landesschützen-Bataillon 659
Landesschützen-Bataillon 665
Landesschützen-Bataillon 666 https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/LandschtzBat/LandschtzBat666-R.htm
Landesschützen-Bataillon 675 https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/LandschtzBat/LandschtzBat675-R.htm
Landesschützen-Bataillon 676
Landesschützen-Ersatz-Bataillon 10 https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/LandschtzErsBat/LandschtzErsBat10-R.htm
 
In the area of the Wehrkreis X, Stalag X B in Sandbostel, Rotenburg/Wümme, was the central reception and distribution camp for Wehrkreis X from 1939 on. Prisoners were assigned from here to Stalags X A and X C Nienburg for work assignments. Stalags X A and X C were so-called "shadow trunk camps" that received only a few hundred prisoners. They were rather responsible for the organization and distribution to the work commandos.

In the summer of 1941, due to the war against the Soviet Union, Stalag X D Wietzendorf, intended exclusively for Soviet prisoners, was added. The "Russian camp" Wietzendorf was finally assigned to Stalag X B in Dec. 1941, which subsequently assembled the work detachments and distributed them among the main camps A, B and C. The camps were then assigned to Stalag X D Wietzendorf. Wietzendorf also served "as the central military hospital in Wehrkreis X.
 
Amberg said:
In the area of the Wehrkreis X, Stalag X B in Sandbostel, Rotenburg/Wümme, was the central reception and distribution camp for Wehrkreis X from 1939 on. Prisoners were assigned from here to Stalags X A and X C Nienburg for work assignments. Stalags X A and X C were so-called "shadow trunk camps" that received only a few hundred prisoners. They were rather responsible for the organization and distribution to the work commandos.

In the summer of 1941, due to the war against the Soviet Union, Stalag X D Wietzendorf, intended exclusively for Soviet prisoners, was added. The "Russian camp" Wietzendorf was finally assigned to Stalag X B in Dec. 1941, which subsequently assembled the work detachments and distributed them among the main camps A, B and C. The camps were then assigned to Stalag X D Wietzendorf. Wietzendorf also served "as the central military hospital in Wehrkreis X.
Click to expand...
Wow, thank you for the information, wonder if he was at any of them.
 
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This is the only other Photo i have, doesn't tell much, but i dont see any markings on the shoulder board.
 
I had 3 Great Grandfathers who were in the Military at that time, I used the Archive on 2 so far the first was great and i got a ton of info sadly, on my second Great Grandfather they didn't have any information, It might be worth a 3rd, it would be nice if some info is available on him, could give it a shot.
 
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