FIELD TELEPHONE (FELDFERNSPRECHER)
The standard German field telephone of the Second World War was the Feldfernsprecher 33 (FF 33 or FFsp 33), a robust local-battery instrument introduced in 1933 by Siemens & Halske as a streamlined successor to the earlier Feldfernsprecher 26 and produced in more than 1.6 million examples by over twenty manufacturers between 1933 and 1945. Housed in a weather-resistant bakelite case measuring approximately 28 × 21 × 10 cm and weighing about 5.5–5.8 kg, it featured a removable generator crank that produced roughly 84 V AC ringing current, a single 1.5 V dry-cell battery for the speech circuit, a press-to-talk handset with standardized carbon transmitter and receiver capsules, dual line terminals (La and Lb/E) that permitted either two-wire metallic or single-wire earth-return operation, two patch sockets with a short jumper cord for linking instruments into simple multi-party nets, and external sockets for optional headphones or throat microphones when the set was used by switchboard operators. The FF 33 operated exclusively in local-battery mode, required the user to crank the magneto to ring the distant station and to press the handset switch while speaking, and could be connected point-to-point over field cable or integrated into larger networks via Klappenschrank switchboards and Amtsanschließer 33 adapters; it was also compatible as a remote handset with certain Tornisterfunkgeräte radio sets. Issued at every level from platoon to higher headquarters, the telephone was carried by Nachrichtentruppen on a leather shoulder strap, set up by snubbing the incoming wire to a fixed object before connecting the terminals, and proved extremely durable in all theatres, remaining in service with the early Bundeswehr, several European armies and civilian agencies well into the Cold War era.
Generalmajor Walter Gorn (1898-1968) was born on 24 September 1898 in Bieganin near Posen in the Kingdom of Prussia and enlisted as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in the West Prussian Grenadier-Regiment „König Wilhelm I.“ Nr. 7 during the First World War, seeing action on the Western Front before serving with machine-gun units and later joining Freikorps formations in the Baltic; after demobilization he entered the Schutzpolizei in 1920, rising through the ranks to Hauptmann by 1934 and transferring into the Wehrmacht in 1935 as commander of a company in the 3. Kradschützen-Bataillon of the 3. Panzer-Division. In the Second World War he served on the staff of the XIX. Armeekorps during the Polish campaign, then as Major took command of the I. Bataillon of Schützen-Regiment 10 (later redesignated Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10) of the 9. Panzer-Division; on 8–20 April 1941 during the invasion of Yugoslavia he led a mixed Abteilung in a bold advance from Gostivar toward Debar in Macedonia, overrunning strong Yugoslav resistance, capturing seven enemy batteries together with nine further batteries, twelve anti-tank guns and large quantities of matériel, liberating some 800 Italian prisoners whom he promptly rearmed and incorporated into his force, thereby establishing contact with Italian troops and earning the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 April 1941. Promoted Oberstleutnant and given command of Kradschützen-Bataillon 59, he fought in the fierce defensive battles around Voronezh in the summer of 1942, where his greatly depleted unit of only about fifty-five combat-effective men repeatedly repulsed heavy Soviet assaults, for which he received the Eichenlaub (113th award) on 17 August 1942. Taking over Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10, he distinguished himself in the winter battles of Rzhev, particularly near Sychyovka along the Vazuza and south of Loshki, where his regiment helped free the encircled 129. Infanterie-Division and destroy cut-off Soviet forces, resulting in the award of the Schwerter (30th award) on 8 June 1943 while he was Oberst. Later promoted Generalmajor, he commanded the 561. Grenadier-Division (subsequently Volksgrenadier-Division) in East Prussia and Lithuania against Operation Bagration and the subsequent Soviet offensives, then briefly the 710. Infanterie-Division in Austria before surrendering to American forces at Steyr on 8 May 1945; released from captivity in 1947, he died in Rosenheim on 10 July 1968.
Source :
https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dba/de/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_telephone
https://fieldphones.org/episode3/
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