August Schinke

August Schinke was born 11-08-1899 in Bolko near Oppeln,
which is in Oberschlesien. He was a catholic and as job gardener.
He was married to Marie Kulla and lived together with her in
Reisern, which is also near Oppeln.

He got drafted into the army at Oppeln and send to Landes
schützen-Ausbildungs-Bataillon I./8. He arrived at that unit on
11 December 1944, got his Soldbuch and erkennungsmarke,
and was put into the third Kompanie.

In this trainings unit he was issued his basic gear and uniform as
well as a drillich (HBT) trainings uniform.
He had almost all basic things, like a blanket, greatcoat,
handkerchiefs, steelhelmet, backpack, and more.
He got his Gasmask on the 20th and tested it out in the gas
testing chamber on the 22th

On the 24th he got his weapon, called A3 in the Soldbuch,
but its unknown to me what weapon that could be.
Possibly a weapon of foreign origin.
He also got a bayonet and a spade on the 24th.
The issuing of equipment was completed on 25 December 1944.

At some time during his training, he had to give back one of his 2 ammo pouches, so he had one left.
He stayed at this training unit untill 23 Februari 1945. But before leaving, he had to turn in quite some
things! First of he had to turn in his A3 weapon, his bayonet and spade, but also his steelhelmet,
backpack, zeltbahn equipment, one of his 2 underpants, all of his towels/handkerchiefs, his drillich trai-
ning uniform, clothing pack, all equipment straps, (clothing?)Brush, his last ammo pouch and his blanket.
All other equipment that he got left, got signed over by Grenadier Ersatz und Ausbidlungs Bataillon 84.
But, this unit gave him a sweater.

After this, The Marsch (transfer) Kompanie of that unit signed over his equipment once more, and gave
him a new steelhelmet, breadbag, canteen, mess-tin, one ammo pouch, one towel, and one handkerchief.
This marsch Kompanie delivered him to 6. Kompanie, Jäger-Regiment 1316. Part of the 158. Division.
On 15 March 1945 this unit gave him another ammo pouch.
He probably also had a weapon, but as often seen in late-war Soldbuchs this is not recorded.

On 22 April 1945, the commander of August´s Kompanie made a note on the inside of the Soldbuch´s
cover, stating that due to the lack of material August had no photo in it.
Later in April, August got transferred to 2. Kompanie, Pionier-Bataillon 1458, which was also part of the
158. (Feldausbildungs-) Division. With this unit he fought arround Troppau and later went with the whole
158. Division into Russian captivity. A Russian soldier noted Augusts name in Russian on the first page.

In the back of the Soldbuch, August had put a piece of paper with 2
addresses written on it by 2 other man, probably 2 fellow soldiers.
The first is:

        Paul Bensch
        Breslau I
        Reuschestrasse 64

The second address appears to be written by an elderly, sick or
maybe wounded man:

        Konrad Kemper
        Breslau
        Vorwerkstrasse 30

August´s fate is unknown to me, i do not know if he survived his POW time.
If he survived, August and also his 2 friends would have had big problems with going back home.
August lived in Oberschlesien, which after the war was given to Poland, the German-speaking population
was expelled in accordance with the decision of the victorious Allies at their 1945 meeting at Potsdam.
The same happend for both Paul and Konrad since they lived in Breslau, which was in schlesien.

War criminal or unfortunate soldier?
On page 4 of the Soldbuch at part B you can see that August was in 3th Kompanie of Einsatzgruppe H,
which is one of the notorious SS controled mobile killing squads. Because its noted in the training part
of the Soldbuch, August officially got or gave training in that unit. But what he really did or for how long
Is unknown to me.
Einsatzgruppe H operated in Slowakei, the commander was SS-Obersturmbannführer Josef Witiska.
The unit was responsible for the death of thousands of people; partisans but also innocent people.