Max Schönherr


Max Schönherr was born 4 Januari 1913 in Mittweida, which is in the middle of (the triangle) Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz in Germany. He was married to Charlotte John and lived together with her in his birthtown Mittweida.

Max got drafted into the army at Dobeln because the recruitment office there was closer to him then in Dresden or Leipzig. He was send to a trainings unit. This was to be Maschinengewehr-Ersatz-Kompanie 7, based in Dresden. On 1 September 1939 his trainings unit issued this Soldbuch to Max.

After his initial training Max was send to a field unit, this was MG-Bataillon 7. At what date this happend is unknown to me.

Max got his Wehrmacht-führerschein (military drivers license) issued on 25 April 1940. The WH-Führerschein is for class 3 vehicles, that is for cars and small trucks. On the photo of the WH-Führerschein you can see that Max wears an early-type uniform, the M36 model with ยด38 pattern generic collar tabs. On his uniform Max wears pre-war model shoulderboards with embroid "M" and "7", which stands for MG-Bataillon 7.



At first Max was assigned to the staff of his Bataillon, later on he moved to the 5th Kompanie, which was the Krad-MG Kompanie (Motorcycle machine gun company). With his Bataillon Max participated in the invasion of France in 1940. It is unknown to me what Max's function in the unit was.

On 16 August 1940 the Bataillon got re-named to Kradschützen-Bataillon 64 and was assigned to the 14. Panzer-Division. Max was transferred to the 4th (Krad-MG) Kompanie of the Bataillon. At the time, the 14. Panzer-Division was being newly build in Königsbrück, Germany.
On 24 August 1940 Max was on leave to his hometown Mittweide till 9 September 1940.
Max got promoted to Gefreiter (private first class) on 31 Oktober 1940.


Somewhere between Oktober 1940 and March 1941 Max got transferred to Nachschub-Kompanie 4. This was the supply unit for the 14. Panzer-Division. Max got another leave to his hometown Mittweide on 8 March 1941, lasting till 23 March 1941. Not long after his leave ended, on 6 April 1941, the Division participated in the battle for Yugoslavia. The Division made bridgeheads at Barcs and Zakany. On 10 April they attacked from these bridgeheads towards Agram. 12 April the Division went to Karlovac and on 19 April to Sarajewo. On the 24th the Division was ordered to move back to Germany.

On 22 June 1941 the Division participated in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Division fought in the tank-battle at Alexandrowka, marched to the area of Rowno and attacked Zwaihel which was part of the Stalin-defence-line. In late July they reached the Belaja Zerkow area and later they moved South to help in the surrounding of a large Soviet army force at Uman. After this the Division marched to Kriwoj Rog, which they took on 14 August 1941. On 19 Oktober they assaulted Rostow which was taken on the 22th. Due to heavy Russian attacks the Division was pushed back to the Mius river. They stayed here till January 1942. At some time Max was transferred to kleine-kraftwagen-kolonne 4. This supply-column unit was also part of the 14. Panzer-Division. On 26 December this unit promoted Max to Obergefreiter (Corporal).

At some time in 1942, but before June, Max was send to Sanitäts-Ersatz-Abteilung 4 for medical training. This unit was based in Eilenburg, Germany. Max must praise himself very lucky for this, as the 14. Panzer-Division participated in the battles for Stalingrad not long after. The Division got destroyed in Stalingrad. On 22 June 1942 Max had completed his medical training and he was promoted to Sanitäter-Obergefreiter. 4 days later, on the 26th, Max went on leave till 13 July, again to his hometown Mittweide.


At some point Max got transferred to Armee-Feldlazarett (mot) 614, a motorized field hospital. This unit was located on the south part of the eastern-front. The exact locations are not know to me.
On 9 March 1943 Max and his Soldbuch got a mandatory security check which the Feldlazarett noted on page 15. On 25 June 1943 he was allowed to go on another leave to Mittweida from 1 July 1943 till 22 July 1943. On 1 December Max got another security check and on 21 April 1944 he went on leave to Mittweida again, till 17 May 1944. On 1 September 1944 Max had a third mandatory security check.




Somewhere in 1944, Max had a photo of him added to his Soldbuch, as per late 1943 regulations.
It is interesting to see the difference between the early-war photo in his Wehrmacht-Führerschein and the late-war photo in his Soldbuch, you can see how Max's face changed due to the war.


Some time after that Max was send back to Germany, to Sanitäts-Ersatz-und-Ausbildungs-Abteilung 4 located in Eilenburg. Somewhat later he was send to Grenadier-Ersatz-Bataillon 53. This Infantry training unit checked his equipment on page 6 b, c and d. Not long after this Max was send to a combat unit; 7.Kompanie of Grenadier-Regiment 335. This Regiment was part of the 205. Infanterie-Division. This Division was currently located in the Kurland pocket on the eastern-front. Max was probably a medical orderly (sanitäter) in the Regiment.



Max got wounded in both upper arms due to Artillery schrapnel in the Kurland pocket.
He arrived at Reservelazarett Quedlinburg on 7 Februari 1945. On 27 Februari the Reservelazarett did an equipment check and removed any lost equipment from the list.


Max was never officially checked out from the Reservelazarett. Which probably meant he stayed in the Reservelazarett till the end of the war and no one bothered to check him out on the propper way.
It is interesting to see that there are no medals entered in the Soldbuch, not even the eastfront medal or the wound-badge (for his 1945 wound). Perhaps the page with his medals was removed/lost?


With this Soldbuch and Wehrmacht-führerschein also came a ripped-out page of a Wehrpass.
But this page with combat entries does not match up with Max, so it must have been from a relative.