Dan D
06-23-09, 05:46 PM
Here is the case of my grandfather whose war grave I have tried to find in Moldova:
I think I found it.
Feel free to point out the flaws of my argument.
-“Dog tag”: soldier 20.591th of the paramedic’s detachment 6,
-troop unit/function: medical NCO of the 5th company, Grenadier-Regiment 212, 79th infantry division,
-date of death according to the Wehrmacht records: 05.04.1944,
-location of death: Agronomovka/Moldova,
-grave site according to the Wehrmacht records: Parliti Targ, at the old market square.
Situation in Pyrlitsa: no grave site can be located above-ground; the grave digger who is working for the war graves commission tried to find the place for 4 years; the way he sees it now, the graves site is most likely underneath the football-ground of the local football club, 1. FC Pyrlitsa or whatever it is called; located downtown, big enough to be the old market square, people are very religious here and very likely don’t like to build houses on ground which rumours say, contains remains of many dead, but a football-ground will do; could be an explanation why this central area in the town is not overbuilt. Grave digger is waiting for that one of the locals confirms that the football-ground is the old market place.
Situation in Agronomovka: Nine dead grandpas were exhumed in 2007. An old lady could remember the day when the Germans buried some of their soldiers in the village; at the end of the village there once was a junction where the road turned to the left and to the right. The road that turned to the right no longer exists, it used to lead to Khristoforovka; there is a huge rapeseed field of the local collective farm today instead. The grave digger started digging along the fictitious road axis and located the grave within one day which impressed his Moldovanian co-workers a lot.
8 of the 9 dead could be identified because of their dog tags. The 9th did not carry one.
All 9 soldiers are already buried on the Central Military Cemetery in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, the 9th soldier as “unknown soldier”.
I have made up my mind that the 9th soldier most likely is my grandfather, and have talked my father into sharing my point of view, because of the following reasons:
First off all, there is information that the grave site is not the lost Wehrmacht’s official cemetery in Pyrlitsa but is located in Agronomovka. There is a personal letter written by a soldier, who knew my grandfather in person, which tells that they found my grandfather in Agronomovka more then 6 weeks after he went missing when they recaptured the village and that they buried him amongst other soldiers of his unit in Agronomovka.
According to the letter they buried him at the end of the village at the crossroad on the right side at the road leading to Khristoforovka. This describes exactly the location of the grave site that the grave digger had found in 2007 with the help of the old locals.
Second, all the 8 identified soldiers were members of my grandfathers unit.
Third, the 9th dead was about 30-40 years old, and his size 176 cm. My grandfather was already that “old” compared to the average age of an infantry soldier, that is to say, he was 30 years old, and the size fits, too; 174 cm when he was 19 years old.
Fourth, there was no time to rebury my grandfather from Agronomovka to the official cemetery in Pyrlitsa, even if this was planned because only 1 month after the date the letter was written the Red Army grandpas launched a massive offensive which caused the whole German Southern grandpas front to collapse.
My grandfather was already dead for 6 weeks when he was found plus he we were hit by a tank shell. These are good reasons to bury him on the spot, could be an explanation why he was no longer wearing his dog tag too.
The official Wehrmacht cemetery was in Pyrlitsa. A cemetery in Agronomovka does not exist in the official records. This could explain why some guy noted down Parliti-Targ as the grave site, but the letter says something else.
In know have applied for a certificate of death for the 9th dead with my grandpas name and will have to wait and see if the authorities accept my argument.
Block: 9, row: 12, grave: 459 , name: unknown, German Soldier’s cemetery in Chisinau, Moldova.
Case closed.
Here is the “I was there” picture:
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/9902/agronomovkaemail.jpg
As one can see, according to the terrain, you are either the king of the hill or a dead duck in the plain with no cover to hide from tanks until you have climbed the next hill.
I think I found it.
Feel free to point out the flaws of my argument.
-“Dog tag”: soldier 20.591th of the paramedic’s detachment 6,
-troop unit/function: medical NCO of the 5th company, Grenadier-Regiment 212, 79th infantry division,
-date of death according to the Wehrmacht records: 05.04.1944,
-location of death: Agronomovka/Moldova,
-grave site according to the Wehrmacht records: Parliti Targ, at the old market square.
Situation in Pyrlitsa: no grave site can be located above-ground; the grave digger who is working for the war graves commission tried to find the place for 4 years; the way he sees it now, the graves site is most likely underneath the football-ground of the local football club, 1. FC Pyrlitsa or whatever it is called; located downtown, big enough to be the old market square, people are very religious here and very likely don’t like to build houses on ground which rumours say, contains remains of many dead, but a football-ground will do; could be an explanation why this central area in the town is not overbuilt. Grave digger is waiting for that one of the locals confirms that the football-ground is the old market place.
Situation in Agronomovka: Nine dead grandpas were exhumed in 2007. An old lady could remember the day when the Germans buried some of their soldiers in the village; at the end of the village there once was a junction where the road turned to the left and to the right. The road that turned to the right no longer exists, it used to lead to Khristoforovka; there is a huge rapeseed field of the local collective farm today instead. The grave digger started digging along the fictitious road axis and located the grave within one day which impressed his Moldovanian co-workers a lot.
8 of the 9 dead could be identified because of their dog tags. The 9th did not carry one.
All 9 soldiers are already buried on the Central Military Cemetery in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, the 9th soldier as “unknown soldier”.
I have made up my mind that the 9th soldier most likely is my grandfather, and have talked my father into sharing my point of view, because of the following reasons:
First off all, there is information that the grave site is not the lost Wehrmacht’s official cemetery in Pyrlitsa but is located in Agronomovka. There is a personal letter written by a soldier, who knew my grandfather in person, which tells that they found my grandfather in Agronomovka more then 6 weeks after he went missing when they recaptured the village and that they buried him amongst other soldiers of his unit in Agronomovka.
According to the letter they buried him at the end of the village at the crossroad on the right side at the road leading to Khristoforovka. This describes exactly the location of the grave site that the grave digger had found in 2007 with the help of the old locals.
Second, all the 8 identified soldiers were members of my grandfathers unit.
Third, the 9th dead was about 30-40 years old, and his size 176 cm. My grandfather was already that “old” compared to the average age of an infantry soldier, that is to say, he was 30 years old, and the size fits, too; 174 cm when he was 19 years old.
Fourth, there was no time to rebury my grandfather from Agronomovka to the official cemetery in Pyrlitsa, even if this was planned because only 1 month after the date the letter was written the Red Army grandpas launched a massive offensive which caused the whole German Southern grandpas front to collapse.
My grandfather was already dead for 6 weeks when he was found plus he we were hit by a tank shell. These are good reasons to bury him on the spot, could be an explanation why he was no longer wearing his dog tag too.
The official Wehrmacht cemetery was in Pyrlitsa. A cemetery in Agronomovka does not exist in the official records. This could explain why some guy noted down Parliti-Targ as the grave site, but the letter says something else.
In know have applied for a certificate of death for the 9th dead with my grandpas name and will have to wait and see if the authorities accept my argument.
Block: 9, row: 12, grave: 459 , name: unknown, German Soldier’s cemetery in Chisinau, Moldova.
Case closed.
Here is the “I was there” picture:
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/9902/agronomovkaemail.jpg
As one can see, according to the terrain, you are either the king of the hill or a dead duck in the plain with no cover to hide from tanks until you have climbed the next hill.