Hello all!

I'm looking for some info about this guy because he was my grandfather's best friend. All I know is that he commanded a company of tanks on the Eastern Front around 1943-1944. His name was Hermann Heister. I also know that he survived and that he never surrendered. Anybody have some info?

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„Solange man nicht mit dem Kopf unterm Arm rumläuft geht es doch noch!" Erwin Rommel

Hello Andreas. Do you or your Grandfather know what Panzer Division your Opas best friend served in? If so, I have addresses to several Panzer and Waffen SS Panzer Div vets associations.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

If I did, I would have mentioned it. My Opa couldn't even remember whether the tanks were big or little! [img]smile.gif[/img] They met once through coincidence in the middle of Silesia.

I also know that the Heister died a long while ago, but not before he built himself a meat importing empire. See www.heister.de for a look at what his son is now running. Not much to see there, actually.

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„Solange man nicht mit dem Kopf unterm Arm rumläuft geht es doch noch!" Erwin Rommel

Hello Andreas: How about--do you know the name to any battles this man was in or on what part of the Eastern Front he served? that would narrow it down more also because of the date range you provided.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Unfortunately not. But hey, there cannot have been many options for a tank commander in Silesia in 43 or 44. I personally believe it was 44. I assume that, due to the location, he would be assigned to Heeresgruppe Mitte?

If that was the case, and he was attached to Heeresgruppe Mitte in summer of 1944 (it was summer when they met, or at least it was warm), then he could have been in 6. Pz or 8. Pz? Does that sound right?

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„Solange man nicht mit dem Kopf unterm Arm rumläuft geht es doch noch!" Erwin Rommel

Andreas :

Check out the link to Angleyray books. There is a brand new book on the ops in Silesia, and hopefully it will cover more than just 1945. If so the units will all be listed and then you can research further....... !

E

Hello Andreas--you gave me a tough one to look into. I have to agree that I think he was most likely in Army Group Center and in 1944 due to the location mentioned. Ill see what if anything I can find out and let you know of anything. You have now got my curiosity piqued.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Just remembered some more stuff. Remeber I said he never surrendered? After Germany's surrender, he lived with some of his Kameraden in the Harz, a mountain range in the middle of today's Germany, and right on the dividing line between later East and West Germany. He apparently used to raid American or British troops for food.

I suppose that his unit must have dissolved in this area.

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„Solange man nicht mit dem Kopf unterm Arm rumläuft geht es doch noch!" Erwin Rommel

Andreas :

I have put in a special note to Jason about the book I mentioned, in trying to find the OOB of the armor units that fought in Silesia from 12 January 45 to May 45 and the end in Ratibor. Hopefully we will come up with something soon.......

Gruß

E

Thanks Andreas, the Harz Mountains will make it a bit easier to check and see what Panzer units could have been somewhere near there. My time is a bit limited these days till the weekends because of my new job (I already have a sunburn) and summers in Texas are VERY hot, humid and harsh.

Aloe Vera time here we come yet once again, and all too soon.

[ 12 March 2002: Message edited by: C.Evans ]</p>

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Andreas :

What I have been able to find from January 11, 45 through April 15, 1945.

Take your pick......

8 Pz. Div., 10 Pz. Gr. Div./ 16th Pz., 20th Pz. Div., 21st Pz. Brandenburg and Hermann Göring 1

E

Hi Andreas,

I just googled for my grandfather’s name because I am interested in his war involvement, and I found this post. I know this post is seven years old, but I will try anyway … who knows ….The guy you are looking for is my grandfather. The information that you provided here corresponds to what I know about my grandfather’s war period. Also, I know that one of his best friend’s last name was “Seidel”. So, if you are still looking for particular information about my grandfather, I might be able to help. My grandfather never talked much about the war. (My mother told me that he had regular nightmares in the years (even decades) after the war and that he would wake up screaming and drenched in sweat). I think he just tried to forget about this period …. However, he left quite some documentation (diaries) about this period behind.

If you want to contact me here my email address:

Ralf Schneider
ralfschn at gmail dot com

I hope you will find your way back to this post some day, … it would be nice to hear from you and exchange some information about our grandfathers …

Cheers,
Ralf

Ralf.

Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining. We would love to hear more of you grandfather, anything you want to post, pictures or personal accounts would be interesting to us.

As a suggestion to you, I would take that email address out of the body of your post. You are inviting SPAM by doing so. People who want to email can find your address by going to your profile. At the very least change to something like this ralfschn at gmail dot com so that the automated bots won't pick it up. If you want to do this and cannot figure out how to do it, let me know and I will do it for you.

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Best Regards,
JW

Ralf, I am sending you an email to the email address you provided.

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Best Regards,
JW