[Kriegsmarine] Looking for some help in filling in the blanks of my ancestor

Hey all,

First off sorry if I'm doing anything wrong/posting in the wrong format or section, this is my first actual post here, so I apologize if I miss any guidelines.

I'm looking for some help in figuring out some info on my great-grandfather, who served in the Kriegsmarine during WWII.

Here's the photo of him, I'm not very familiar with the Kriegsmarine, but I'm 99% sure this was taken sometime during the Nazi era.



I did a bit of research, and according to ancestery.ca (which links to some info I recieved from my grandmother) he was on a boat in 1937 and then on the same one again in 1938 going to New York and New Orleans respectively, he was working as a reserve sailor.

According to Wikipedia the badge on his arm means he was in the artillery branch? I also noticed there wasn't a rank insigna on his coat, is it just hiding or does this signify he was a recruit? What medals is he wearing? I couldn't find one that looked similar anywhere online.

Also according to my grandmother, he was captured by either the Americans or British and survived the war.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Any hints as to which ships he might have served on would also be great (I'm guessing becoming POW = your ship sunk/surrendered).

 

I'm far from an expert, you need some German member to pick this up. Having a better image of the metal breast badge would help (if you google "German ww2 navy badges" you will see it can help identify the branch if not the actual ship). The arm patch and cap badge do look like nazi eagles and all those buttons make me think "dress uniform".

 

Thanks. The main problem I have is that my German relatives all live afar, so it's kind of a pain to get even general information. I'll see if one has a better photo lying around though.

 

If you have genealogical information on his family you might be able to date the image within a year or so by the birthdate of the baby assuming that they are indeed his family.

 

Hi,

When looking for German service records of WWII the so called „Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)“ usually should be able to help you:

https://www.dd-wast.de/en/home.html

For about € 20 they will provide a resume of your relative’s military career, including ranks, occupation, unit in which he served, and details of his time as a POW.

The handling time of such a request however is about 12 months, which means you have to be patient.

I hope my reply is of any help for you.

Michael

 

Thank you so much! This is of great help

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll be sure to ask my relatives about that.