Soldbuch Festung Gironde estuary Royan – Operation Venerable 1945

Soldbuch first issue to Obergefreiter Rethmeier.

The Soldbuch opens at 18 January 1943 with Stamm Batterie Leichte Artillerie ersatz Abteilung (mot) 75.

After his basictrainings he served with the following units;

- Nachrichten Staffel Leichte Artillerie Ausbildungs Abteilung 75

- 12./Festungs Stamm Abteilung LXXX

- 10./Festungs Stamm Abteilung LXXX

- 14./Festungs Stamm Abteilung LXXX

- Festungs Nachrichten Kompanie Gironde Mundung

With the last unit he served in France at the Gironde river estuary near Royan.

The first position to be attacked was the city of Royan, held by 5,500 German troops and inhabited by 3,000 French civilians. The city suffered a strategic bombing on 5 January 1945 by the RAF, but no land assault had been organized to follow up the bombardment and so the front remained static for the next three months.
In April 1945, a massive attack by Allied troops, under French General Edgard de Larminat, involved Operation Vénérable with USAAF bombings on the 14th and the 15th, bombardment by the fleet of Vice-Admiral Joseph Rue, and land attack by the 10th French Division and the 66th US Division.

The French command apparently had advocated for the French harbours to be retaken by military force, rather than for them to await their eventual surrender by the Germans. The city suffered heavy bombardment by 1,000 planes, including those of the USAAF's 447th Bomb Group, with the result that the city was razed, and 1,500 civilians killed.
The historian Howard Zinn, who took part in the operation as a bombardier, later argued that it was militarily unnecessary and a war crime.

Altogether, 27,000 artillery shells were fired over Royan, and the city saw one of the first military uses of napalm on 15 April 1945.
Dropped by Allied bombers, it made the city "a blazing furnace".

German forces in Royan capitulated on 17 April. The fighting continued on the other side of the Garonne estuary, particularly in the Coubre forest where the bunkers were manned by sailors from the “Tirpitz” battalion. On 20 April Colonel de Milleret's troops, supported by French reconnaissance and bombing aviation, negotiated and obtained the capitulation of the German forces at Pointe de Grave.

He was most likely taken POW somewhere during these battles.

It comes with his POW papers and a small paper about money German returning POW’s received from the Government.

Soldbuch with photo and complete with all pages.

He recieved an French rifle and a tarnnetz.

Nice lesser common picture of him taken what looks like camouflage netting in the background. Most probarly taken on the French coast.

code: c25357

Tarnnetz

French rifle