Description
HEER SOLDBUCH – STURMGESCHÜTZ BRIGADE 208 – HEILIGENBEIL POCKET
Very nice SOldbuch issued to Stabsgefreiter Adam KÖHL. He served in STURMGESCHÜTZ BRIGADE 208 as well as StuG Brigade 396, StuG Abt. 226 and Panzer Jäger Sturmgeschütz Brigade 1550. ID photo shows him wearing Feldgrau Sturmgeschütz tunic. Soldbuch was issued September 2, 1939. Awards entered include Wound Badge in BRONZE (obviously supposed to be “Black,” but interesting entry!), Ostmedaille and KVK2. nHe received the Kvk2 from the 556 Folks Grenadier Division. The unit, at the time, was fighting in the Heiligenbeil Pocket (Kessel) in East Prussia. The Heiligenbeil Pocket or Heiligenbeil Cauldron (German: Kessel von Heiligenbeil) was the site of a major encirclement battle on the Eastern Front during the closing weeks of World War II, in which the Wehrmacht’s 4th Army was almost entirely destroyed during the Soviet Braunsberg Offensive Operation (13–22 March 1945). The pocket was located near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia in eastern Germany (now Mamonovo, Kaliningrad Oblast), and the battle, part of a broader Soviet offensive into the region of East Prussia, lasted from 26 January until 29 March 1945.
