Thanks, very interesting, I will see what i can find out about the Stg abteilung.
All the best,
Stefan

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Extra Tidbit. There was a unit of about 200 Spanish volunteers that served with I believe the 33rd SS in Berlin.

http://www.wssob.com/000comspn.html

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Thanks Stefan. What got me interested in WWII are the times when people were not convinced that There were 'non-Germans' in the Waffen SS. Slowly but surely I am remembering things my grandfather would tell me and show me a long time ago. I wish I had been old enough to understand and ask questions. Better yet, have him alive today. Anything you find would help. I know I have seen a book on the SS that showed '2' Spanish officers serving in the Waffen SS divisions and not the freiwilligen divisions. I could not afford it at the time and now I can't find it nor remember the name.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

PzJgr,

that is interesting, thanx! I checked the net for some more sites:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m20...isco+Franco%22

http://www.geocities.com/narwa44/article5.htm

Miguel Ezquerra wrote a book called "A vida o muerte en Berlín" ( Fight to live or dead in Berlin)

http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/1939/spanish_in_ww2.htm

Website for Spanish volunteers in German army WW2:


http://visantain.iespana.es/visantain/

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Woooooo. Thanks Kai

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

My grandfather was a Private in the New Brunswick North Shore Regiment of Canada (his regiment made the furthest advances at the end of D-Day then any other) and was wounded 2 months later on the road to falaise by grenade shrapnal in the skull, wrist and arm (which he still has! )

PzJgr, I am afraid I am not really researching into the SS as a whole but specifically the 12th SS, actually the main reason I am doing it is because as a group we do get people from ethnic minorities applying to join, hense I am trying to find 'loopholes' we can use so that they can explain to people how they got in. For example we have one chap who is Chinese but claims to be a Hiwi, things like that. It is interesting to see how the public react and so on. I will research a little into the Stg Abt to see what I can find though, I will look at (Hubert?) Meyers book on the HJ (literally the Bible of the division) and see what he has to say.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

No problem Stefan. In my research, I have not found any other 'foreign' officers within the 12SS unless you consider Austrian as foreign. But there was at least one Spanish volunteer with those teens. Hope this helps.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Are you guys talking only officiers here? I was in touch with an Belgian guy last year who knew a Flemish vet who was with the 12th. I am not sure but I think he was an Ustuf. Nothing 'ethnic' in the sense that you guys are discussing, I guess, but in any case a non-german with HJ.

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Welcome aboard, SpikeHelmet! I hope you enjoy yourself in here!

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

PzJgr, did you get my PM about your grandfather?

I made a few interesting discoveries today, went to see some of my family (including my great grandmother, she is 103 and doing well ) and found out quite a few interesting things. Firstly I found out that one of my ancestors by the name of Albert Edward Brooker was in the West Kents in WW1, killed around Ypres and is now on the Menin gate (though his name is on the family monument in Sussex as I discovered today). The other thing is in relation to my Grandfather, I mentioned on here (the forum that is) a while ago that he wound up staying at Albert Kesselrings house in Italy. Well in conversation with his sister today we learned that he brought back a set of wine glasses, they have very destinctive green stems and are apparently a souvenir from Smiling Alberts house. They are now sitting in the drinks cabinet down stairs, I always wondered why we owned such a foul set of glasses and now I know

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Stefan, I have not received a PM. Let me check.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

I sent it ages ago, apparently you have read it. Basically I discovered a list of officeres and NCO's in the HJ at various times and was wondering if you would like me to look up your grandfather, if you give me his name I could give you his unit (if he is on the list, which is likely as it includes most of the staff units). What do you think?

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

My grandfather's father served and died in WW I in Gallipoli (Dardanelles). My grandmother's father also server and survived in the same front,that war took many lives of young people (british, anzac, turkish whatever...) but he never recovered fully and died a few years after he returned home , leaving his wife widow and 6 children fatherless. He also had served in Balkan War and became a POW , suffered a lot in a Bulgarian POW Camp. When he was released he walked all the way from Bulgaria to Istanbul with his friends. Damn how little i know about these people , i should go to my grandmother and ask more about him.

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"The victor will never be asked if he told the truth."
A.H.

Thanks for sharing, Kerem! It is very interesting to see WWI from the Turkish side. Your grandmother's experiences might be very interesting.

Regards.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Let's see:
My father was in the Signals Company 36th Infantry Division before and during WW 2. Later he served with 6th Army Signals Brigade at the Presidio in California in the supply and maintenance section.
I had one uncle who was a Gunner's Mate on the USS Lexington CV 16 (the Essex class one).
Another uncle was in the US Army before and during WW 2 (I'm not sure of his position and rank however at that time)and eventually was promoted to Colonel. He later commanded the US Army's Officer Candidate School among other assignments.
My great grandfather on my mother's side commanded a unit in the Texas Revolution and was at Santa Anna's surrender. He was one of the founders of the state of Texas and later a state Senator.

My grandfather was assigned to an engineering unit where he did a bit of everything from building bridges and defensive positions to transporting explosives. He served in Africa, Sicily, Italy and Southern France before he was sent home due to his age according to him (he was 40 at the time) before entering into Germany.

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Bill Murray
Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

[ 09. December 2005, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: Col. Hessler ]

my great great grandpa was a...a...natzie
but then there was his brother who was an allie. i dont know where they serverd but i could probibly do some geniology to find out

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i think that soon the draft will get so bad thatthey will take babys tie gernades to them then launch them off catupults at the enemies. Thats a real Baby Boomer

My Grandfathers on both my mom and my dad's side were in the war. They don't like to talk about it, but I know my Grandfather on my mom's side fought in the navy against Japan as a radio operator and recieved a purple heart.

My Grandfather on my dad's side fought against the Germans in europe...don't really know much about it.

My father was in the RCAF, and was assigned to a construction unit in Newfoundland. He was involved in building the Airport in Gander, and various other duties on Canada's East coast.

My father after graduating from college as a civil engineer was drafted into the Portuguese Army as an Artillery officer.

I don't know much, as he is gone already, but one story I remember is at a time in 1943 he was commanding an AA battery (brit 3.7") in the Lisbon AA belt, and he passed a few sleepless nights under the drone of continuous streams of airplanes heading from north to south, just outdie territorial waters (on inside!). Later he knew it was Operation Torch!

Luckily it was not The Big Thing, for if it was he had only 4 rounds per gun.

I think my brothers has a few photos of his. I still keep his spurs.

My 85y mother has quite a few stories of her life as the recent wife of a young lootenant, in a 18th century monastery used as a barracks

See? We neutrals also have a thing or two to say [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]

[ 30. May 2005, 06:57 AM: Message edited by: Za Rodinu ]

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