Album of Wehrmacht German soldier, Kurt Hähnel,
Small archive tells the narrative of the military service and death of a World War II Wehrmacht soldier, Obergefreiter (senior lance corporal) Kurt Hähnel, covering the period 1928 until his death on December 16, 1943. From the pictorial evidence seems he served in the 1st Regiment, Feldeisenbahn-Be...
| Format: | Photo |
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| Language: | German |
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| Summary: | Small archive tells the narrative of the military service and death of a World War II Wehrmacht soldier, Obergefreiter (senior lance corporal) Kurt Hähnel, covering the period 1928 until his death on December 16, 1943. From the pictorial evidence seems he served in the 1st Regiment, Feldeisenbahn-Betriebs-Abteilungen-8 (field railway operations) but likely died as part of the Panzer-Pionier-Battalion 89 (tank artillery) in a Russian offensive near the Kalinin Front. |
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| Item Description: | Title devised by cataloger. Photographs include: portrait in full uniform; Hähnel in his youth, 1928, and in 1930; various images of railway military units in the early-mid 1930's; military unit with a sign that states "Ausgegen Russland 1941" indicating unit was en route to the Eastern Front; a wooden gravemarker at the battlefield site of his death; an iron cross, a more elaborate grave marker after his remains were transferred to Germany; five images of a "Beisetzungsfeier" Wehrmacht mass funeral in 1943. Three typed telegram messages, signed and dated, addressed to his widow, Frau Hermine Hähnel. Two are from the regimental doctor in the 89th Panzer regiment. Hähnel's Deutsches Reich Arbeitsbuch (employment record book, 1935 style) records his employment in the Wehrmacht from 1929 from 1936. Signed by owner. Some German handwritten captions in album. The Cushing Library/Ragan Military copy contains a bookseller's description and was rehoused and pieces sleeved separately for preservation concerns. |
| Physical Description: | 1 album (26 photoprints; 3 telegrams; 1 employment record book) : black and white ; 29 cm |