Michael Schmelzer, 10.4 x 14.5 / 14.3 x 20.6 cm.Date of item: 1937–45. Condition: very good, signs of aging. The Wehrpaß and Gesundheitsbuch of one Michael Schmelzer.
Wehrpaß: The front cover pocket holds his drafting papers.
Page 1: The Wehrpaß was first issued on Aug 12th, 1937, in Bamberg, signed by Major and Commander Moosauer.
Page 3: Michael Schmelzer was born on Mar 25th, 1899, in Gräfenhäusling, Bamberg, Upper Franconia. He’s catholic, married, and a mason, same as his father, Anton Schmelzer. His mother, Margarete Schmelzer, nee Schütz, died in 1918. The drafting papers state that he had 7 children with his wife Anna, nee Dorsch.
Page 5: He was mustered in Apr 1943.
Page 11: Schmelzer was drafted into the Stamm-Kompanie Bau Ers. u. Ausb. Batl. 13 (building reserve and training battalion) in Grafenwöhr in Sep 1943.
Page 12: He had served before though, starting in Aug 1939 until Feb 1940, in the 3. Mot. Kp. N. Sch. Btl. 573 (motorized company N. Schützenbataillon), but was either wounded or got sick and was transferred to a military hospital in Feb of 1940 where he stayed until early April. Between Sep 1943 and May 1944 he was stationed with various divisions of the aforementioned building battalion, before eventually being transferred to the 3rd company of the Landesschutz-Batallion 847.
Page 20: Schmelzer was trained to use the Gewehr 98 k (carbine 98 short) and the gas mask.
Page 22: In Dec 1944 he was promoted to Obergefreiter (private first class/senior lance corporal).
Page 26: He was cleared for front service in Feb 1945.
Page 32: The campaigns he fought in aren’t decipherable, the only readable part says that he was “deployed in the West”.
Page 37: In Oct 1939 he was promoted to Oberschütze (senior rifleman), before being promoted to Gefreiter (private/lance corporal) in Feb 1940.
The Gesundheitsbuch gives information about Reichling’s state of health. Unfortunately the doctors work with abbreviations, so it is not possible to say what they found. It contains a chest x-ray of Schmelzer.