After discovering the grave of Victor Wagner in The Schoenbuch Forest, I decided to investigate further. It did not take me long to discover that there was a little book already published called, "Das Soldatengrab im Schoenbuch" or "The Soldier's Grave in the Schoenbuch Forest." It seems that the vicar of Hildrizhausen had already written about Hildrizhausen in his "Chronicle of the Nazi Times." In this chronicle he wrote at length about Victor Wagner and the soldier's grave. The following is my synopsis in English. Please note that, apart from Victor Wagner's name, I have changed all names in order to protect identities.
Parish of Hildrizhausen, 02.05.1945
On 25 April 1945, towards 8 o’clock in the evening, seven bodies were brought in. Along with one of the bodies was an Iron Cross and a wound medal. Was this soldier called Altner? On his ring was inscribed H.A. and the number 327. He also had three pens, a pair of clean socks, a knife and fork, and a photo of a woman and children. The body had a wound in the stomach and was found together with a friend. Both had probably been wounded on 19 April, and between four and six in the afternoon when the French came into the wood. We can only speculate but they must have helped and comforted each other, and waited to die. On Altner’s face was a smile. The exact time of death was not really known.
On the 26 April two more dead soldiers were brought in, and we buried all of the dead together in a communal grave. We left Altner and his friend as they were found – each in the arms of the other. We read from Apostles 1: 13.
We tried to inform Altner’s relatives in the usual way. On Wednesday 2 May, the father, Peter Altner, came to Hildrizhausen to identify his son. Johann Altner had been a bricklayer in civilian life, and his wife was called Helen. They lived in Reutlingen. Of Peter’s three sons, one was already missing, and the other was known to be in a prisoner-of-war camp somewhere in Russia.
We still did not know who the other dead man was. He also had a bayonet wound to the stomach, and his tunic was heavily soaked in blood. In addition, he had a severe grenade wound to the buttock. All we knew was that Victor Wagner's identity book (Soldbuch) and greatcoat were next to him. From the Soldbuch we learned that Victor was, until recently, a schoolboy. He was a Catholic, and he was born on 13 February 1926. His eyes were said to be brown, and his hair dark brown. His face was described as round, and his height as 1, 78. We knew he was from Ostheim, that his father’s name was Andreas, and his mother was Rosa nee Bauer. In Victor's Soldbuch was a letter from his mother, and from this, we learned the address of the parents.
However, it did not seem that Johann Altner’s friend was, in fact, Victor Wagner. The identity number on the dead man’s disk was 1524, whereas the identity number in Wagner's Soldbuch was given as 3333. Furthermore, the photograph in the Soldbuch did not look like the soldier embraced by Johann Altner. Moreover, the wound stripe and the Iron Cross were not mentioned in Victor's Soldbuch. It was one year later that the dead man was finally identified as Walter Kleine. So, the problem remained - who was Victor Wagner, and what had happened to him?
Below you will find 3 photos. The first shows the soldier's grave in The Schoenbuch Forest. The second shows Victor Wagner's Soldbuch and the third shows a photo of Victor Wagner himself.
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