Sad Grouping of KIA Skijäger Hundeführer

Sad large grouping of a Killed in Action Skijäger who was a Hundeführer! Comes with his blood-soaked Soldbuch, Wehrpass, driver’s license, framed portrait in StuG uniform, another smaller framed photo, photographs and so much more! Also includes a lot of his father (like photographs, Militärpass) etcetera… Also Fallschirmjäger photos, could be from a friend or so? To much to list. Gefreiter Martin Wöhrle started of his service with the Gebirgs-Pionier-Ausbildungs-Bataillon 54, was then moved to the front with the Marsch-Bataillon-Ski z.b.V. 215 and ending up with the Stabskompanie of the II./ Ski-Jäger-Regiment 2. Here, he served in the Feldhundestaffel as a Hundeführer! Incredible rare is noted in his Soldbuch that he was equipped with the Fallschirmjägermesser and material for his dog(s)! Also more courses regards to the dogs are noted!

He was Killed in Action on July 7, 1944 near Minsk-Wilna, Russia! From one of the letters:

“Today, I was forwarded your letter, in which you inquired about the fate of Gefr. Martin Wöhrle. Gefr. Martin Wöhrle died a hero’s death on 7 July 1944. He was hit in the chest and stomach by a
burst from a submachine gun. On 26 Sept. 44, I had sent a report to Gefr. Wöhrle’s commander upon his inquiry.

Perhaps the official notification has already arrived by now. However, I want to describe to you the whole chain of events up until the handing-over of the paybook to the armed forces welfare officer.

I was also serving with the same unit, 15 923 F. This was the canine field unit of the Skijäger Brigade to which we were all detailed. On 28 June, we started our retreat from Minsk. As there were no more possibilities for entrainment, we travelled on Panje wagons and on foot. After some minor incidents, we got to a short distance from Vilnius in the evening hours of 6 July, with a remaining strength of 4 NCOs, 40 other ranks and 80 dogs. As Vilnius had been attacked by Soviet aircraft during the preceding nights, we halted some 5 kilometers east of Vilnius in order to spend the night there.

During the morning of 7 July, Gefr. Wöhrle – who was on guard duty – woke me up and told me that there were such loud noises to our rear and that he heard somebody talking all the time. I immediately went to investigate the source of this, acting with the utmost cautiousness. Gefr. Wöhrle accompanied me. It was still quite dark. We were barely some 15 steps away from the campsite when somebody confronted us, shouted “hands up” and simultaneously opened fire with a submachine gun. This burst fatally hit Gefr. Wöhrle, who stood to the left behind me, in the chest and stomach. He was instantly killed.

In the skirmish that now developed, we had to evacuate the site in constant fighting. The strength of the opponent – it was Polish partisans* – amounted to some 100 men. We withdrew to Vilnius. There, we found out that Polish partisans had attempted to take the city of Vilnius by a surprise attack that night. As the last man to arrive, I encountered some comrades at the entrance to the city who had managed to make their way through unscathed. As, according to the comrades’ statements, there were still some wounded men out in the field, I and another three comrades, who had volunteered, set out to search the area around the site of the fighting. We found that the bodies of some of the dead had been looted. The only thing we found remaining with Gefr. Wöhrle was his paybook. After a prolonged search, we found two seriously wounded men within the surrounding fields of grain, immediately taking them to the military hospital in Vilnius.”

It’s an incredible, rare, sad grouping. To much to list. See the photographs to gain an idea.