Grandfathers in the war

[Kipparikalle]

Here you tell what your grandfather did in the war.
That should explain everything, but of course. You don't need to tell if you don't want tho'


My grandfather was on the Continuation-war, on the Lagus' armor-division.
He was the gunner of 'sturm' (Stug IV G or something) Finland got the sturms from Germany.

As now he knows that his time is close (his next heartattack will be his last) he has revealed more and more what he did on the war, every time I meet him (1-4 a year)

When the Continuation-War started (1941, 3 days after Germany's attack on Russia)
His tank platoon has to cover infantry attack over a field, both sides were forest.
As their infantry attacked, the sturms shooted everything what moved on the opposite forest. The attack was succes, but soon 3 russian tank (T34 type tanks) came from the road near them. My grandfather's tank was just next to that road, so they didnt need a lot of turning to get first tank on the sight.

The first shot went straigh through the front armor of the tank, the tank started smoking and the remaining tankcrew jumped out.

The second tank spotted his tank and shot, but the shot was too high and hit a tree behind his tank.

Other sturm shot at the russian tank, wich broke the gun of the tank.
The enemy tank started retreating but my grandfather shot another shell on the tank. Wich went also through, the tank started burning and nobody came out.

The attack was succes, no own tank losses, and only couple of infantrymens died or injured.


I will tell more later

[Bill Nichols]

My grandfather was on General Winfield Scott's staff in the war with Mexico. Neal's grandfather was there, too.

[Chock]

Never knew either of my grandfathers, that's war for you. I know one was killed wading ashore during an assault and he is buried on Madagascar, beyond that, not got a lot of info on them.

That's why war (unless it is on a simulator) is crap.

Chock

[AntEater]

My paternal grandfather trained as a cavalryman but actually saw combat in the same manner as the original posters. As a StuG crewman, first driver, later gunner, from late 1943 until the end of the war. Don't know the unit, but it was some independent StuG brigade in the central sector of the eastern front.
He did shoot some T-34s as well, I suppose.
He barely managed to avoid the Warsaw uprising. He was on home leave and SS and Field Police were combing the trains at Warsaw station for "volunteers" to join the fighting in the city. As an assault artilleryman he was exempt from such press-ganging and was one of the few who didn't have to go.
He tells a lot of depressing stories about the retreat and captivity in Russia. He was a POW for about three years in Stalingrad, rebuilding the city, and had to remove a lot of corpses there.
He drove stuff his whole life, trucks, excavators, construction machinery, anything on the road, regardless if it had tracks or wheels. He still drives his BMW on the Autobahn, but always complains about not being able to tinker with it anymore as everything is computerized.

My late maternal grandfather was a Gebirgsjäger (one of the few non bavarians or austrians I suppose) serving at Poland, Norway and later the Caucasus.
He was flown into Narvik in April 1940 as reinforcement with a Ju 52.
He was later captured on Crimea and sent to work in the mines in Karaganda in Kazakhstan, for about two years. Was better than it first sounds, as the POWs who worked there were actually paid, and part of the money was even sent to his wife in west Germany.
He told a lot of stories about the war, at least when grandma wasn't around to shut his mouth. But since he liked telling stories I never knew which one was true.
Later he worked in a sausage factory


My grand uncle was the soldier in our family, he was a drill instructor before the war and served in a Luftwaffe field division near Leningrad.
He served in three armies for over 30 years (Reichswehr, Wehrmacht, Bundeswehr) but always remained a Feldwebel.

[seafarer]

My grandfather was in the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade in WWI. My father ran a K-gun crew on Canadian River class frigates during WWII (HMCS Waskesiu and HMCS Eastview). One of my uncle's was with the British Commandos, but got lent out to British Intelligence. He was killed in France in 1943, so I never got to even meet him (although I know it was not his first covert operation in occupied Axis territory - he'd been dropped in at least once prior to the operation he went missing on).

[fatty]

My grandfather was a motorcycle courier with the British army, but actually went AWOL not far into the war to marry my grandmother. I had a great-uncle who apparently was awarded the OBE but I don't know anything about that.

[Kapitan]

My mothers dad:

Was a sapper blowing up ammunition dumps during the war not just after the allies landed in the main land but also he was sent along with other sappers to parts of germany and france to covertly destroy ammunition storage areas as well.

My real dads dad:

Was a royal engineer, he was at dunkirk during the evacuation and was one of the last people off the beechs, he went back in 1944 and helped build the mullberry harbours and other installations.

My stepdads dad:

Was in the soviet navy working alongside the british escorting convoys to and from britian to murmansk, stationed mainly on destroyers and smaller craft he had two ships go down, but died in 1997 without saying a word of what he did.
But thats all we know he did during the war.

My nan (mothers side) was an evaccuee

My nan (real dads side) was in the land army

[elite_hunter_sh3]

my grandfather on my moms side , served in World War one as a messenger/runner, he was 7 years old i believe, he died last year when he was 104 years old, he served in World War 2 as a Partisan, fighting the germans in the balkans along side, greek and soon to be (then) allied forces.. he told many stories of the wars, fortunately we got many of them on video

[Stealth Hunter]

In my family, I've had them fighting since the Ottoman Empire on my father's side.

On my mother's side, we've been able to trace our ancestry clear back to King Phillip's War.

Historical documents that we've recently discovered online that document the history of the Janissaries that the Ottoman Empire recruited for their Sultans show that we had 6 members of my family fighting for them; including 1 that stayed loyal to the Sultan after they betrayed him and tried to overthrow him.

Otherwise, his side of the family didn't break out into another war until World War I when my grandfather, Massut, joined the Ottomans to destroy the English. He served at Gallipoli and survived, living to be 86 at the time of his death.

I'm actually the last person to have served in a war on the Iranian side of my family: the Iran-Iraq War.



My mother's side of my family has a far more interesting military background, starting with John Tuthill, who moved to the Americas during King Phillip's War. He fought against the Indians, and survived until his death at 54.

From there on out, we had family in the French and Indian War, Revolutionary War (Nathaniel Tuttle; a spy for the Americans and a soldier in General George Rogers Clark's infantry unit; he stole supplies for them during the winter), War of 1812, Civil War (both Union), Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam.

My family had two members serving in it during World War I. The first was Lieutenant John Cornwell who served in the Second Division until he was wounded with gas and suffered from shellshock. He survived and became a nurse. He died in 1964 at the age of 71.

JOHN CORNWELL (Uncle)







My other relative (see ship photo BELOW) was German. We have a lot of shady details regarding him, and we aren't even sure what his first name was. From what we've discovered, his last name was "Bolken", and he was the captain of the SMS Pommern at the Battle of Jutland. He went down with his ship when it was destroyed, along with all other 839 hands.
Kapitan Bolken's Ship: SMS Pommern (Uncle)






During World War II, I had two members on my mother's side fighting for the Americans. The first one was Staff-Sergeant Byron King. He flew in a B-17 and was killed when it exploded over Germany on his 13th mission.

The second was 2nd Lieutenant Randall Tuttle. He was a P-47 Pilot in the Pacific during the war, and he shot down 6 planes. He destroyed at least a dozen ground targets before his death whilst serving on the Island of Cebu. His remains were returned to the United States in 1947, and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.


RANDALL TUTTLE (Cousin)

[The Munster]

@Oberon
Do you know [or could you find out] if 45 Commando's Home Base was Abroath soon after the Second World War ?

[Jimbuna]

I never met my grandfather (dads side) he was second engineer on a merchant carrying explosives that went down (no survivors) during WWII.
My other grandfather (mams side) was in the BEF during WWI, he got buried alive during an artillery bombardment which left him completely deaf.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Munson

@Oberon
Do you know [or could you find out] if 45 Commando's Home Base was Abroath soon after the Second World War ?

Arbroath is home to 45 Commando of the Royal Marines, who have been based at the Condor Barracks since 1971. The Condor Barracks were originally built in 1940 and commissioned as RNAS Arbroath / HMS Condor, a Royal Naval Air Station with Blackburn Buccaneers stationed at the base until 1971.

I think before that 45 Commando was a part of 3 Commando Brigade based in Hong Kong.

[Packerton]

My Grandfather was a Merchant Navy Sailor In the Canaidian Navy , He survived the war and told me when I was younger that his convoys (As in the convoys he served in altogether) were attacked 8 times throught he war, his cloest expirience to sinking was when the ship in front of his Cargo ship was hit by a torpedo and sunk fast as he said.

[Heibges]

My father was in the 1/172nd Infantry Regiment in the Vermont National Guard. They trained at Camp Blanding in Florida, and Camp Shelby in Mississippi. My father was a radio operator in an infantry company. They fought from Guadalcanal to the Phillipines. My dad had a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

My uncle was crewman on a bomber in Europe. He was shot down, and spent a couple of years in a German POW Camp. He had a lot of troubles when he returned from the War unforturnately.

[Biggles]

Hm....the closest thing I get is my grandmothers husband's brother-in-law war story from the time he was a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress serving in Europe flying missions over Germany. But since he isn't my grandfather, I shouldn't tell his big story from the war here....