Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

I am writing a story about the crash of Mag the Hag II, a B-17, on Sep 13, 1944 in Neusteadt, Germany. I am referencing a book, Jagdgeschwader 300, by Lorant and Goyat. The appendix has a listing of claims that day and one of them is by Fhr. Otto Leisner. In the remarks column there is the note:

Witnesses: GFM Hueckel, Sauer, Hesse (Gruppe Feldwerft-Geraet Eschwege).

Can anyone tell me what GFM means and what the unit is?
Thanks,

Re: Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

Aloha,

GFM is the abbreviation for "Generalfeldmarschall". Same rank as the famous "Herr Meier", Keitel, Kesselring and others i.e.
I don't know either which kind of unit a "Feldwerft-Gerät" was, but Eschwege is a town in Germany.

Best Regards
Norbert

Re: Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

Norbert,
Thanks for your time and reply. I haven't been able to find a GFM Hueckel... bit of a mystery.

Re: Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

Hello Rbakerj,

"GFM" certainly does not stand for "Generalfeldmarschal" in this context.

I think, it could be "Gefolgschaftsmitglied" what is a typical Third-Reich terminus for members of non-military or non-NSDAP organisations. A worker at Junkers or Krupp would be a Gefolgschaftsmitglied of this manufacturer.

"Gruppe Feldwerft Gerät" is not that clear. An educated guess:
A Feldwerft is a military maintainance installation. In German Wehrmacht larger units sometimes were split into subunits for technical or administrative reasons, which were called a "Gruppe" (group). So "Gruppe Feldwerft Gerät" could be a subdivision of a Luftpark, a Schleuse or anything like this, responsible for Feldwerft-Gerät (equipment for Feldwerften).

HTH

Carl

Re: Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

Thank you, Carl. I have to admit I only found Generalfeldmarschall and thought it a bit odd.

Re: Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

@Charles, do you have a listing for WNr for Bf-109 G's? I am looking for details about the Red 7 flown by Lt. Manfred Dieterle of 2./JG300 on Sept 13, 1944. Another poster said that this a/c was lost on Sep 27.
Thanks,
Ray

Re: Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

If Hückel, Sauer and Hesse were assigned to Gruppe Feldwerft-Gerät in Eschwege, why not Gruppen Feldwerft-Mechaniker or Gruppen Flugzeug-Mechaniker.

Best wishes !

Horst Weber

Re: Translation of text about witnesses to crash
 

B-17 Mag the Hag II
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...567799&df=all&
http://www.ww2f.com/topic/46148-airm...-john-e-hogan/
http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.c...showtopic=7652