Führerschein - Schützenregiment 104 DAK

[rheppler]

Hi Rob, on a whim I put in requests to the military archive in Germany and they got back to me with this information today!

He was in fact a prisoner of war by the British captured on feb.1.1942. I believe it to be feb since its written by the British, unless they did d/m/y. In a place called Baroia? (not sure about that) They also recommended to inquire at the berlin dept. I have the pdf. files if you would like to have them, I can message them to you. Maybe Will could translate the German cards. -Rose

[hucks216]

He was captured at Bardia on 2nd January 1942 and looks like he was wounded in the left leg by a gunshot wound which led to his leg being amputated.

Bardia was assaulted as part of Operation Crusader by the 2nd South African Division between 31st December 1941 and 2nd January 1942. They captured the area and took 8,000 prisoners.

[Kohima]

Many thanks, Rose!
I’m afraid I’ve only just found your post, but it was very generous of you to take the time to research this further. As Hucks points out, above, the date of capture would be 2nd January (we do write day, month, year - the correct way to do it)!
He appears to have been repatriated, following the amputation, on 26th October 1943.

Just one little document, and yet so rich in history…
This modest item has gained so much depth and significance, thanks to the WRF and all those who have so kindly contributed. Thank you so much.
My very best wishes to you all,
Robert.

[rheppler]

Robert you're most welcome, and glad I could provide some more information to go with your document. Not sure it's the correct way to write a date but I'll go along with it, haha. -Rose

[BlackCat1982]

Rose, you must have the hot line to the military archives as I've never had such a fast reply from them. Many thanks for making this thread so very fascinating too.

[rheppler]

Hahaha, I wish I did BC. I don't remember the exact date I requested information, but I think it was April 9-10 and just got the information on the 5th of this month. I put in a request for a different soldier on the 24th of May, so we shall see how long that one takes. I agree this thread is pretty fascinating. It's great that a little bit more information for a simple document can provide so much more.

[hucks216]

It looks like that he was in a German hospital in November 1943 so he may well have been part of the prisoner swap which saw 5-6,000 German PoW's returned to Germany:

DISABLED PRISONERS OF WAR (EXCHANGE WITH GERMANY) (Hansard, 19 October 1943)