Read on Twitter
Today would have been my Oma’s 103rd birthday. She was a Nachrichtenhelferin des Heeres or “Blitzmädel” - Army Signals Auxiliary. Here is a thread on her service in WW2 @DanHillHistory @MilHiVisualized @militaryhistori @Bis18marck70 @SpitfireFilly @mike_bechthold @ChieftainWG
She started as a Nurse for the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz in Glogau an hour from her home. In late 1941 she was told she was being transferred to the Army.
She attended the Army Signals School in Gießen where she trained as a switchboard operator.
She was stationed in Lille, France where she worked at a HQ unit.
Her brother was a Fallschirmjäger who lost his foot outside Moscow during Barbarossa. He always said that saved his life.
Her father was a Landjäger - kind of a border cop - in Schlesien. He was killed when his horse threw and dragged him.
She met my Opa at a pool in Lille while he was on leave from his 88 battery. He was the battery chief and his friends were always wondering why he always got phone calls from higher HQ. It was his girlfriend of course! They married in 1944.
Oma’s sister sent Opa this telegram announcing my mother’s birth. He received it during the Battle of the Bulge. He was captured by a combined Canadian - Polish unit in May 1945 @SilenceInPolish
Oma and mom escaped the Soviet advance in Feb 1944 and took a train through Leipzig to his family home near Stuttgart. He returned from POW camp in 1946 and returned to dental school.
In the 1960s Oma and Opa toured where they had been stationed and travelled during the war. She put together this souvenir bracelet from all her wartime travels. She died in 1990 and left me all her photos, badges, and some of her uniform. Happy Birthday Oma
