Description
WEHRPASS – OBERSCHÜTZE HERBERT LAUE – INFANTERIE-REGIMENT (MOT.) 33 – 4. PANZER-DIVISION – POLAND, FRANCE, RUSSIA – KIA 22 AUGUST 1941
A complete and well-documented Wehrpass issued to Herbert Laue, born 20 August 1914 in Leipzig, a German national and civilian laborer prior to military service. The Wehrpass was issued in Dessau on 18 August 1936, retaining the original photograph and numerous official stamps throughout.
Laue was inducted into the Wehrmacht on 1 October 1936 and assigned to 3. Kompanie, Infanterie-Regiment (motorisiert) 33, a regiment of the 4. Panzer-Division, a highly mobile formation that played a major role in the early Blitzkrieg campaigns.
Military Service & Units
- 3./Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) 33 (1936–1938, active service) – 4. Panzer-Division
- Wartime service includes:
- Infanterie-Regiment 33 – 4. Panzer-Division
- Infanterie-Regiment 11
- Schützen-Regiment 11 (mot.)
- Grenadier-Regiment 687
His service reflects continued frontline duty within mobile and infantry formations, transitioning from early-war panzer-supported operations to later infantry combat on the Eastern Front.
Promotions
- Oberschütze – promoted 1 October 1937
Campaigns & Combat Service
Poland Campaign (1939) – 4. Panzer-Division
- Fighting along the East Prussian frontier
- Battles at the Warthe Line
- Capture of Tschenstochau (Częstochowa)
- Engagements at Radom
- Pursuit across the Vistula River
- Capture of Lublin
- Fighting near Warsaw
Western Campaign (1940) – 4. Panzer-Division
- Breakthrough battles toward the Channel coast
- Battle of Maastricht and crossing of the Meuse
- Advance through Belgium and across the Albert Canal
- Crossing of the Gette Line
- Breakthrough toward Brussels
- Fighting in Flanders and Artois
- Engagements at the Scheldt
- Continued operations in France, followed by occupation duty
Eastern Front (1941)
- Participation in Operation Barbarossa
- Advance into the Soviet Union with combat in the Smolensk sector, including the LIPKINO / DUCHOVSHCHINA area
Awards
- Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938 (Sudetenland Medal)
Fate
The Wehrpass records that Herbert Laue was killed in action on 22 August 1941, during fighting near LIPKINO in the DUCHOVSHCHINA sector (Smolensk region). The entry notes he was killed as a result of shell splinter effects during combat. The loss is later officially confirmed in an entry dated 22 December 1941.
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