German soldiers in the Second World War suffered a wide range of devastating wounds, with the great majority inflicted by artillery and mortar fire whose high-explosive shells and fragmentation produced multiple penetrating injuries from jagged metal shards that tore through flesh, shattered bones, and introduced dirt and clothing fragments deep into the body. Gunshot wounds from rifles and machine guns ranked second, typically creating relatively clean but high-velocity channels that could still prove lethal when they struck vital organs or major blood vessels, while grenade and mine explosions added blast trauma, traumatic amputations, and severe soft-tissue destruction. On the Eastern Front, where roughly eighty percent of all German combat deaths occurred, extreme cold produced widespread frostbite of the feet, hands, and face, often progressing to gangrene that necessitated amputation, and hypothermia claimed many lives without any visible external injury. Burns from vehicle fires, aircraft crashes, and flamethrower attacks, though less common overall, caused deep tissue damage that was especially difficult to treat under field conditions. Statistical analyses of Wehrmacht medical records indicated that approximately five percent of wounds involved the skull, eight percent the face, and the remainder were distributed across the shoulders, trunk, and extremities, with lower limbs most frequently affected. Compound fractures of the long bones, open chest wounds, abdominal penetrations leading to peritonitis, and head injuries with brain contusions or hemorrhage were among the most serious cases evacuated to field hospitals. Even relatively minor shrapnel wounds frequently became infected because of delayed treatment, poor hygiene, and the absence of modern antibiotics until late in the war, resulting in high rates of sepsis and secondary amputations. The cumulative effect of these injuries, combined with combat exhaustion and inadequate winter clothing, left hundreds of thousands of survivors permanently disabled, many of whom received the Wound Badge in recognition of their suffering.
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ARM WOUNDS
SS-Sturmbannführer Hubert-Erwin Meierdrees - often rendered Meierdress - (1916-1945) was born on 11 December 1916 in Wesel and joined the SS-Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler as a volunteer on 1 April 1934. After attending the SS-Junkerschule he was commissioned SS-Untersturmführer on 20 April 1939 and served in the artillery regiment of the SS-Verfügungs-Division. Following the Polish campaign he became Adjutant of the I./SS-Totenkopf-Artillerie-Regiment and fought with the SS-Division Totenkopf through the Western Campaign and into the Soviet Union. From January 1942 he commanded the Sturmgeschütz-Batterie of the SS-Totenkopf-Artillerie-Regiment. During the encirclement battles of the Demjansk pocket he led a Kampfgruppe that held the vital locality of Byakovo against repeated assaults by far superior Soviet forces; despite being reduced to a handful of men and vehicles he maintained the position for weeks, enabling the pocket to hold. For this outstanding leadership and personal bravery he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 13 March 1942 as SS-Obersturmführer and Führer of the Sturmgeschütz-Batterie. Severely wounded and evacuated from the pocket, he later transferred to the Panzerwaffe, completed a Panzer commanders’ course, and in late 1942 assumed command of the I. Abteilung / Bataillon of SS-Panzer-Regiment 3 “Totenkopf”. As SS-Hauptsturmführer and Kommandeur of this battalion he distinguished himself in the battles for Kharkov, during Operation Citadel, on the Mius front and in the fighting around the Oka and Dnieper, repeatedly leading his tanks from the front and destroying numerous enemy armoured vehicles. For these sustained achievements he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 5 October 1943. Promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer, he continued to lead his battalion, now equipped with Panthers, until 2 or 4 January 1945, when his tank was destroyed near Dunaalmás in Hungary and he was killed in action. His other decorations included the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse (15 November 1939), Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse (15 January 1942), Demjanskschild, Verwundetenabzeichen in Gold (after five serious wounds), Panzerkampfabzeichen and Ostmedaille.
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HEAD WOUNDS
Major Johann Zemsky (1909-1942) was born on 11 April 1909 in Vienna as the son of a civil servant and entered the Austrian Bundesheer in 1928 as a non-commissioned officer in the artillery, completing an officer course in 1932 and receiving promotion to Leutnant in 1936 before volunteering for the Luftwaffe after the Anschluss in 1938. By 1939 he served as an Oberleutnant and flying instructor at the Stukaschule in Insterburg, then flew combat missions with Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 against Britain in 1940, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 24 February 1940. On 1 September 1940 he was promoted to Hauptmann and appointed Staffelkapitän of 6./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, distinguishing himself in anti-shipping operations near Crete, Malta and the eastern Mediterranean that brought him the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse in May 1941. Transferred to the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa, he assumed command of II. Gruppe/Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in September 1941 after the death of Hauptmann Anton Keil and led highly successful dive-bomber attacks against ground targets around Bialystok, Minsk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Kiev and Moscow. For completing more than 300 combat sorties he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 February 1942 as Hauptmann und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1. Continuing operations on the southern sector through the battles for Kharkov and toward Stalingrad, where he marked his 500th sortie in July 1942, he was slightly wounded by anti-aircraft shrapnel in June yet remained in command. On 28 August 1942, during his 600th combat mission near Mal-Rosowka in the Battle of Stalingrad, his Ju 87 was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft fire; although he managed to bail out, his parachute failed to open and he was killed. Posthumously promoted to Major with effect from 1 August 1942, he was awarded the 117th Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 3 September 1942 as Major und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in recognition of his 600 operational sorties.
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EYE WOUNDS
Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel Georg Gransee (1917-1945) was born on June 29th, 1917 in Berkenbrück/Pommerania, Germany, and served as a non-commissioned officer in the Heer during the Second World War, rising through the ranks from Obergefreiter on April 16th, 1941 to Unteroffizier, then Feldwebel on July 12th, 1943, and finally Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel der Reserve in 1944. Assigned to the 5. Panzer-Division, he fought primarily on the Eastern Front as a tank crewman and later as Zugführer of the 7./Panzer-Regiment 31. Early in the campaign he earned the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse on May 6th, 1941 and the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse on December 23rd, 1941, both as Obergefreiter, followed by the Medaille „Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42“, the Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz, the Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht IV. Klasse and the Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber. On September 19th, 1943, while serving as Feldwebel and Zugführer in the 7./Panzer-Regiment 31, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes in recognition of his outstanding personal bravery and determined leadership of his panzer platoon during the heavy defensive and counter-attack fighting on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1943. Gransee remained with his regiment until he was killed in action on January 23rd, 1945 near Wartenberg/Silesia, Germany. His remains were never recovered or lie in an unknown grave; his name is entered in the memorial book of the German War Cemetery Groß Nädlitz at Nadolice Wielkie.
Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/06/album-foto-terluka-nazi-jerman.html
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