SS pay book & dog tag of Hungarian German Stefan Gungl, 10.4 x 14.5 cm / 7 x 5 cm. Date of item: 1944. Condition: very good, signs of aging, rusting of the tag.
An SS pay book and a dog tag for SS-Schütze (Rifleman) Stefan Gungl, signed on September 10, 1944. Gungl was born on August 20, 1909 in Püspöknadasd, district of Baranya, Hungary. Before the war he worked as a mason. He was married to Regina Gungl, nee Gradwohl, who lived in Püspöknadasd. A date has been added, February 18, 1935, which might have been their wedding day. Gungl was paid by the paymaster of the duty station with the (difficult to decipher) Feldpost number 21481 or 21431. There is also a stamp from the SS garrison headquarters of the Waffen-SS in Vienna. Gungl’s duty station was the SS-Ers.-Kdo. “Ungarn” (SS Reserve Headquarters “Hungary”). He was drafted into the 22. SS-Freiw. Kav. Division, 2. Sanitätskompanie (22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division, 2nd Medical Orderly Company) field troop, which is also the unit that appears on his dog tag. In fact, the unit name is the only information the tag contains. Although the unit is called a “volunteer” unit, the men were conscripted like regular soldiers, as they were of the German minority in Hungary and therefore liable for military service. It carried the unofficial honour name “Maria Theresia”. This division fought the Soviet army in Hungary in late 1944. It was eventually invested in Budapest on Christmas Eve, and almost entirely destroyed when the city fell in February 1945. The lucky soldiers that weren’t caught in the siege were used to form the 37th SS Cavalry Division.
And indeed, according to the pay book, Gungl served in the 37. SS-Kavallerie-Division, 2/SS-Kav. Rgt. 92 (37th SS Cavalry Division, 2nd Battalion of the SS Cavalry Regiment 92). This division was established in Slovakia near Bratislava, but moved ever further westwards through Moravia and Bohemia. It finally surrendered to US troops near Vienna, Austria on May 5, 1945. Gungl also served in the reserve troop San. Ausb. u. Ers. Btl. d. W-SS Stettin (Medical Orderly Drill and Reserve Battalion of the Waffen-SS in Stettin, modern day Poland), and later in the SS-Kav. Ausb. u. Ers. Rgt. Beneschau (SS Cavalry Drill and Reserve Regiment in Beneschau, Bohemia, modern day Benešov, Czech Republic). This regiment’s predecessor was moved to Beneschau in August 1944 and renamed in the aforementioned way in December 1944. On February 20, 1945 it joined the 37th SS Cavalry Division. Unfortunately, dates are missing. It is unknown when exactly Gungl served in the units he was assigned to. However, it all points towards him eventually joining the 37th SS Cavalry Division as his last unit. If he didn’t die in action, chances are Gungl became an American POW.