KDO - Listed with POW locations, can someone explain?

[jrwentz]

In my fathers roster info under POW it lists:

4-B,
4-A Hohnstein, Saxony,
KDO

Can someone explain what KDO means?  I do not find it listed with POW camps or stalags using Google search.

Also interested in knowing what BM/M means for company information. I know Dad was in Company M, but I do not recall hearing anything about BM/M.

Thank you,

Jim Wentz
Son of William J. Wentz - 423 INF/3 BM/M

[connie]

I'm clueless on these abbreviations. I'll see if I can find someone else who might know...

Connie

PS. I've just sent out messages to 3 people to see if they can offer any insights on these abbreviations...

[Jim West - Indiana Military Or]

I believe KDO refers to work camps outside of the main POW camp. I don't know exactly what German words the initials refer too.
The "BM" was a typing error. Should be "Bn" short for Battalion.

[connie]

Thanks, Jim!

[jrwentz]

Jim and Connie,

Thank you! Dad spent much of his time in work camps digging brown coal, also called lignite. KDO was a standard German Military abbreviation for Kommando, so your explanation fits with this bit of info: "At each stalag the German Army set up sub-camps called Arbeitskommando to hold prisoners in the vicinity of specific work locations, whether factories, coal-mines, quarries, farms or railroad maintenance."

The BM as a typo for BN also makes sense. Searching the roster for BN under Unit, I get 5,164 results. Searching for BM, I come up with 138 soldiers, all of them in the 423rd, Company M with Dad.

Thank you for clearing this up for us!!

Jim Wentz

[connie]

Jim,

Interesting to hear what you discover. Don't remember what I told you about my tentative feelings of connection to the history of all in Regimental Combat Team 423.

The 590th Field Artillery Battalion was the 105mm howitzer team firing in support of this team led by the 423rd Infantry Regiment. Stateside Dad was an officer with one of the firing batteries of the 590th. But before they left Camp Atterbury he had been re-assigned to the Service Battery of this Battalion. One of his closest friends, the commander of A-Battery of the 590th was killed the first day of the Bulge. Many other close friend were taken captive with the members of the 423rd. Dad was stationed in Heuem, Belgium-- almost mid way between the bulk of his battalion and Division Headquarters in St. Vith at the time the Bulge broke out. So he was cut off from the rest of his battalion on the morning of the 17th. He ended up informally linked with the remnants of the 589th thru the rest of December & then assigned to the 592nd in January. But those who were missing and later found to be POW's were heavy on his mind throughout this period. So your discoveries and questions shed light on areas of deep interest to me, too.

Connie

[jrwentz]

Hi Connie,

In fall of 2000 my brother Alan and I went to Germany with Dad for what started as genealogy research on the Wentz ancestors. We asked Dad if he wanted to visit the battlefield. At first he said no, he had seen it before, but then he warmed up to the idea. I think John Kline encouraged it, and John gave Dad some great information. We learned a lot on that trip. Since that time Dad talked to us about various experiences overseas and stateside. Alan and I made some notes. Then one day Dad showed me a small notepad he had as a POW with some dates and locations. I asked Dad if he would help me make a timeline, and he told me I wouldn't need it, I would find the information after he died. Indeed, I did. He used the military diaries. Mom, Dad's mother, and his sisters kept all the letters he wrote to home, and Dad kept all the letters he received along with documents he received from the Army. Alan and my son are going to organize everything and write it up for the as a history book. Dad had also printed out copies of the many emails between John Kline and Dad, along with emails to and from other veterans of the 106th. I will help a little, but I still have work to do on Dad's genealogy book, which will be done as a PDF for the Genealogy Society and extended family.

We will probably be using the website and the discussion board a lot as things progress, and we will be glad to share anything of interest to you and others. Again, I appreciate your help and the work all of you have done to put together this wonderful resource for the soldiers of the 106th and their loved ones.

Jim Wentz

[connie]

Jim,

Thank you. I would be deeply interested in seeing anything you are willing to share when you are ready to share it.

I, too, am involved in a similar journey. It is taking me forever!

I, too, have all the letters my father wrote my mother from the war, plus the ones he wrote his parents.

Unfortunately, Dad was deeply into Alzheimer's disease by the time I developed any real interest in the war. But an attempt to transcribe letters so my siblings could have copy caught me up in his experiences.

I was determined to do some research that would fill in the blanks around the context of the letters. The journey has introduced me to many amazing people. So glad you are working to preserve this history, too. It's slow but interesting, and sometimes gut-wrenching work.

For a while I was reluctant to even look at the POW experience. Dad wasn't captured, so I told myself that I didn't need to know about it. But of course it was something many close to him did experience, and I know he was acutely aware of that. You and your family are in my thoughts as you work learn more about your father's journeys during the war.

Connie

PS. Have also made one journey back to Belgium and Germany to learn more...