I’ve had this German Wehrpass for awhile. Since I’ve recently posted some German tropical items, I thought I would add this. The soldier’s name was Heinrich Esser and his last unit entry is “7./Pz. Gren. Rgt. 361″ or 7th Company of the Panzer Grenadier Regiment 361. This unit was under the famous 90th Light Africa Division (March 1942-May 1943).

The date of the last unit entry is December 29, 1942, so Heinrich may have been killed or captured in Tunis. I like to think that he was captured and sent to a POW camp in the US.

Interestingly, I bought this wehrpass from a man who lives around Hastings, NE, not far from a WWII POW camp that houses many DAK soldiers.

If anyone knows of a German casualty index, or has information as to how I can research this soldier, please contact me.

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Unissued M34 pattern German tropical cap.  Marked “Hans Brandt Mützenfabrik Magdeburg – N  Ritterstraße 12-18″ and “842″ in large font.  Size “56″.

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German tropical M40 cap with oilskin sweatband, which the solder wrote his name and rank on the reverse side. No soutache. Dated 1943 and possibly worn in the Italian theater.

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Here is a M41 pattern tropical tunic (marked Frankfurt 1941) with originally applied collar litzen and breast eagle. The Afrika Korps cuff title is original but impossible to determine whether it was period applied. The shoulder boards are for an infantry lieutenant.

The field gear is comprised of:

-Green canvas Y-Straps (1942 dated)

-Tropical Breadbag (1941 dated)

-Green web tropical belt and tropical buckle with green web tab

-Tropical canteen (1941 dated)

-Gas mask canister (1938 dated)

-Two-tone green and tan web tropical bayonet frog

-Bakelite handled K98 bayonet

-Leather K-98 pouches

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