ww2-jewish-soldiers

Alfred Schneidereit was born on the 29th of October 1919 at Insterburg in East Prussia. On the 15th of November 1939, he joined the ϟϟ-Verfügungstruppe and was posted to the 18th Company of Leibstandarte ϟϟ Adolf Hitler Regiment. He was attached to the Guard Battalion in Berlin and did not see active service in the Polish Campaign or the Battle of France.

Then in 1940 he was posted to the 8th Company "LSSAH" in time for the Balkans Campaign. After the Balkans the "LSSAH" was moved to the east for Operation Barbarossa where Schneidereit was involved in the battles at Lutsk, Kherson, Taganrog and Rostov. In 1942 - 1943 the Division was sent to France to refit and Schneidereit now in the 8th Company, II./1st ϟϟ-Panzer Grenadier Regiment, returned to the Eastern Front to participate in the Third Battle of Kharkov, where he was awarded the Infantry Assault Badge in Bronze.For his part in Operation Citadel he was awarded the Close Combat Clasp in Bronze and the Wound Badge in Black.

In November 1943 Schneidereit's Division was returned to the Eastern Front for the Battle of Kursk where he was wounded twice more and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class and the Knight's Cross from Adolf Hitler. Schneidereit, while a Panzerschreck anti-tank weapon knocked out five T-34 tanks two personnel carriers and also commanded a counter attack against Russian Infantry that was threatening to over run his company's position.

Schneidereit was also promoted to Scharführer for bravery in the face of the enemy, and posted to the officer training school at Bad Tölz, which he graduated from in October 1944 as a senior officer candidate (ϟϟ-Standartenoberjunker). In January 1945, he was promoted to ϟϟ-Untersturmführer and from April - May 1945, was involved in operations east of Berlin as a company commander within the replacement battalion "LSSAH". Once again he was wounded and surrendered to the Russians on the 12th of May 1945. Alfred Schneidereit died on February 22nd 1999 in Nördlingen Germany at age 79. (Wikipedia)

Waffen-ϟϟ Unterscharführer Alfred Schneidereit

On the 18th of May 1940, after massive bombarding, Fortress Barchon surrendered in Belgium, at 6.5 kms of Liege. This is a unique bw picture, personaly restored by color recovery, of the troups of Pioniere 57 putting their swastika-flag on the central massif part of the fortress.