Enemy brothers - The secrets of Heinz Linge's identification tag

Enemy brothers - The secrets of Heinz Linge's identification tag - Stalingrad WWII excavations

Рет қаралды 121,698

Күн бұрын

A World War II German identification tag that was dug up on the Stalingrad battlefield is decoded, revealing the name of its original owner, Heinz Linge, who was killed in action in Ukraine in 1941. Further investigations reveal the surprising story of Heinz Linge and his brothers Siegfried and Herbert, whose fates during the war could not have been more different, based on the life choices they made.
My video about WWII German identification tag design (What's your name soldier? The big problems with WWII German identification tags) can be found here: • Big problems with Germ...
battlefieldarchaeology.blogsp...
researchww2.blogspot.com/
A Crocodile Tear documentary
ch möchte Kontakt mit den Angehöriger von der folgenden Soldaten nehmen. Wenn Sie ein Angehöriger sind, schreiben Sie mir bitte ein Email ( jean-loup@gassend.com ):
-Michael Wirth 3.1.1907 Flohs/Floss bei weiden Oberpfalz
-Karl Pudschedl 10.1.1919 Amaliendorf
-Antonius Kirchner 14.6.1912 Essen
-Gross Willy 2.3.1913 Ohrdruf
-Nebe Fritz Johannes 20.4.1923 Niederwiesa
-Wolf Josef 15.12.1922 Prag
-Rasche Hans 9.4.1918 Bützow (Lehrte Hannover)
-Wahsner / Waßner Johannes 26.6.1923 Tins Schlesien
-Wiede Gottfriede 31.5.1917 Pauschwitz
-Erlenbach Martin 6.11.1911
-Pflüger Gerhard 21.5.1908
-Schopig / Schossig Heinz 7.4.1919
Battle of Stalingrad - Gumrak - Volgograd - battle of Kiev - 1941 -1942 -1943 - bombing of Dresden - february 1945 - Bautzen - Grossenhain - Port-Au-Prince - Haiti - Caribean -Thonon les Bains - Ecole des métiers de l'hotellerie de la Savoie et du Léman - Aix les Bains - Camp d'internement de Libourne - SA - Waffen SS - Operation Barbarossa - Eastern Front - Barbancourt - Vieux Labbé rhum - Berling SA - Political refuge - enemy of the state - metal detecting - metal detector - excavation - missing in action - detector - dog tag - ID tag - erkennunsmarke - plaque d'identité allemande - Volgograd - Don - Volga - diggers - Paris - internment camp - WWII - wehrmacht - Invasion of the Soviet Union - Red Army - CCCP - Volga - Kradschützen Bataillon 64 - German side cars - eastern front - militaria - collection - gunshot wound - jewish - holocaust - racial laws - butterfly effect - destiny - fate - free will - german helmet - dna - forensic - Baden-Baden - Deutsche Dienststelle - bundesarchiv abteilung PA - volksbund - WASt - ancestry - genealogy - what's your name soldier - the big problem with German ID tags - how to decode german identification tag - I.G.Ers.Kp.223 - Schutz Staffeln - sturm abteilung - immigration - political refugee - socialists - communists - Glion - Caux - écoles hotelières - hospitality schools - graves registrations - eastern front diggers - the Stalingrad digging camp

Пікірлер: 474

@vincenzochieppa689 2 ай бұрын

A really interesting video made with precision but with great humanity. Even now in my country (Italy), but i am sure this is true even in Gernany, there is debate to understsnd how a whole people can go towards autodistruction following the 'ideas' of a single man. This video is the answer: even a 'whole people' is made of single men, and each one of them can make right choices, no matter the environment where they grow. I am so glad that faith paid so well the choices of this brother but it should be interesting to know the ideas of the dead one about german regime.

@Ekatjam 3 ай бұрын

This story has so many similarities to my own family in Germany. My grandmother had two brothers who would train to be master watch makers. The oldest brother Paul was sent to Boston, Massachusetts USA to study under a German there. In the early 1930's my great-grandparents sailed to America and told him it was time to come home, take over the family business and his younger brother Johann would study in America, that decision decided their fate. Paul would become a highly decorated Oberfeldwebel in the 13th Panzer Division, captured in Romania in 1944 and die in a Soviet prison camp in Tifflis, Soviet Georgia. Johann who spoke little English got drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to the Pacific for three years and upon his return I've been told you could not tell that he was German, his accent was completely gone. My grandfather disappeared in Konigsberg and Johann brought his parents, his sister, my father and his brothers to America, and the rest as they say... Is history.

@Ekatjam 3 ай бұрын

Our family always thought that perhaps my grandfather went down on the Gustloff as well. He was a member of the 548 Volksgrenadier division, being in Russia since the first week of the war. Not to be confused with the Volksturm units made of civilians, his unit was made of veterans, and sea cadets. Anyways the Germans were still getting mail out via the Baltic, and we have a letter from him that was dated after the sinking.@@wyomarine6341

@lutomson3496 3 ай бұрын

at least they actually fought on opposite sides unlike this video where one left..my family also did this in the US revolutionary war 1770s, the war of 1812 and the US civil war families fighting families on both sides..in the end Im here because of them though!

@hanniballecter7259 3 ай бұрын

It's interesting how German and American histories often intertwingled. As for me, our ukrainian stories are far more simple. Two brothers of my great-grandmom disappeared without of trace and I don't know much of them.

@user-ws2uo8dj6v 3 ай бұрын

Я в данный момент живого Кёнигсберга

@user-ws2uo8dj6v 3 ай бұрын

Кёнигсберг был очень прекрасный город мало От него остался что-то

@kayo645 2 ай бұрын

I come from Dresden. This story is part of the history of my hometown. We should never forget what can happen. My grandfather fought as a young 20 year old boy on the Eastern Front in a tank. he survived and tells me a lot of impressed stories. I'm so happy to say "all people in Europe are my friends. no more war again!"

@stevenodland 11 күн бұрын

The war is raging now……in Ukraine and Russia…..for now

@mariothirtythree9666 3 ай бұрын

Exceptional historical research. Thank you for the video. Coming from a family in Austria and also having a young man, my uncle drafted into the Wehrmacht and lost somewhere in Russia/Ukraine..this story brings the personal tragedies home. We have a name and a photograph and the memory of his Mother crying for years afterwards moaning her lost and only son. The tragedy of war we are still seeing being perpetrated today by the monsters in our midst.

@jjstudiosjj2408 3 ай бұрын

Jean, your channel has some of the best videos on KZfaq. Excellent job documenting all sides of this family story.

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot, and please share the wealth.

@paulday-lh5mx 3 ай бұрын

Very kind, and respectful of you for doing that.

@lingerslongest 3 ай бұрын

A bit of chance, half a dogtag, one man, three brothers, several other families touched, 70 years, a toast of Rum. What a tale. And just one tale amongst the millions. You brilliant research certainly brings it home.

@stekarknugen9258 3 ай бұрын

Extremely fascinating story. You should take pride in the fact that no one would've ever know about this great story unless you did the work to unearth it.

@TampaBayMoFo 3 ай бұрын

Outstanding story. Excellent research. Thanks.

@getoffenit7827 3 ай бұрын

Fascinating what can be discovered from a small piece of aluminum, And somebody stumbled onto the tag as they were digging around

@MrPlankinton 3 ай бұрын

Your toast at the end actually emotionally moved me. 😯😉

@toonverberg1313 3 ай бұрын

Wow! Never thought there'd be so much history to uncover from such a small corroded zinc item found in the soil of a remote battlefield. Very well researched. You've earned my deepest respect for this. Wasn't the family pleased to hear of your result?

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

Its aluminum, and I am not sure the family realized so far.

@jamesnbd57 3 ай бұрын

Thank you Jean-Loup, another outstanding piece of research, presented with humanity and humility. Well done.

@RubbelDieKatz90 2 ай бұрын

Many thanks for Your work! Three months ago I found the tag from my grandpa while bringing stuff out of the house... he saved it in a box almost 60 years til he died 2003. Now it's hanging on the mirror in my car!

@CrocodileTear 2 ай бұрын

Hi mate. Good of you to keep his ID tag, but I would put it in a safer and more honored place than your car. Was he German? What is the unit information on the tag by curiosity?

@RubbelDieKatz90 2 ай бұрын

@@CrocodileTear Yeah, there could be a safer place, but so he's always with me... The tag says Flieger-Ersatz-Bataillon 7 R. Flg. Ers. Batl. /VII plus ID-Number or something... He served from 1942 til '44 POW in Italy.

@CrocodileTear 2 ай бұрын

@@RubbelDieKatz90 OK, thanks.

@ddawe31635 3 ай бұрын

Sigfried must of been a terrified young man. A fascinating story. Thank you for sharing it.

@obsidianjane4413 3 ай бұрын

Sigfried was what is called today "woke", as in aware, moral, and rational.

@Nyllsor 3 ай бұрын

Is it just me or isn't that "woke" a derogatory term? I agree though this is a fascinating story. :)

@shaonian 3 ай бұрын

@@obsidianjane4413lol

@beltigussin81 3 ай бұрын

@@Nyllsor In nazi Germany they probably would have called him woke or maybe more vicious derogatory names. Only when it's all played out do we see who really understood what time it was.

@obsidianjane4413 3 ай бұрын

@@Nyllsor It depends on your perspective. Or rather, the right coopted it as a term of derision.

@IgorM1170 3 ай бұрын

Amazing story. Thanks for that. The 'Butterfly effect' really grabbed my attention.

@garygenerous8982 3 ай бұрын

That is an amazing story and I am so thankful that you shared it with us.

@Useaname 3 ай бұрын

It really was

@Berger_nc 5 күн бұрын

One of the best pieces of work ever recorded about the German side of WW2. Honest, straightforward and fascinating. You are to be commended. Makes one think, how many more stories such as this are there that will never be told? Just one, discovered by accident, yielding so much. Multiply it by the hundreds of thousands.

@all.day.day-dreamer 3 ай бұрын

Wow, such an amazing story. I was glued to my screen for the entire duration of the video. As I've mentioned before, these stories, in my humble opinion, could almost be books, or a movie. And I guess you contacting the one Brothers family who are in the rum business might not be able to appreciate your story.

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

They might appreciate it now that the video is out.

@garymarkham4167 3 ай бұрын

Thankyou my friend....Well done...A long dead soldiers Tag has lead us all on an incredible journey.Best wishes from Australia.

@karlmartell8612 2 ай бұрын

06:19 Stalingrad must have been a horrible meat grinder. My grandpa served in an infantry regiment in France. Later in the war, his unit was sent to Stalingrad. My grandpa was fluent in English and French which was very uncommon for a German back in the days. Therefore, he, the only one from his unit, stayed on the western front for the rest of the war to work as a translator. In Stalingrad, literally the entire company was wiped out and none of them made it out alive. But my grandpa survived all due to his language skills. Had he not been able to speak foreign languages , he would have been sent to and killed in Stalingrad like the rest of his comrades. After the war, he lived a long life, had two sons and seven grandchildren and died as an old man. Sometimes, life is really weird.

@andygardner9219 3 ай бұрын

Great video!! One of the best videos I’ve ever seen on KZfaq. Really nice touch at the end. He deserves a million subscribers for just this vid!! 👍👍👍

@prillewitz 3 ай бұрын

That’s an incredible story started by a tiny piece of metal in the ground. Thank you for your interesting hard work!

@chrigdichein1560 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic, thanks for sharing this story. As a German, now living luckily in Australia, always asked myself, how the WW2 could happened? And currently we get shown the playbook, now from the left, through the US, how war gets propagated in Germany. History repeats itself

@marih4213 3 ай бұрын

Wow. That was amazing. So powerful. Completely different life choices made then between the brothers; has an impact on their families today. The toast at the end was so powerful. Great video. Thank you

@geoffreyball731 3 ай бұрын

crocodile tear, you do these fallen heroes a great service by bringing to light their individual stories. i salute you with the greatest respect from the uk,x...

@Useaname 3 ай бұрын

Excellent. Thank you

@Mark-Bretlach 3 ай бұрын

Great research, always interesting piecing things together, I would like to know more, did you contact the Haiti family? did you find more on Herbert in the waffen-ss, obviously survived the war, sorry if I may have missed it.

@kentuckylady2990 2 ай бұрын

Reminds me of similar stories from the American Civil War. My family was divided by that war. There still was some residual tension as late as the 1950s. Thankfully that is no longer a problem.

@smeraldoderosa7556 2 ай бұрын

Incredible, amazing story!!! Prost, to all the forgotten of wars, the Linge family and to you sir!

@richardstamp5068 3 ай бұрын

Reminds me. My grandfather fled prewar fascist Italy with his brother but they ended up separating. My grandfather went to michigan and his brother went to Argentina. Those were crazy times.

@imdeplorable2241 3 ай бұрын

Very, very interesting. Thank you for the touching "rejoining of the brothers" ending. Nice touch.👍💐

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

Rejoining the brothers at breakfast time was a bit hard on the oesophagus 😄

@pda49184 3 ай бұрын

Thank you Jean.. That was a very interesting story and I congratulate you for the hours of hard work you did to bring this completed family story together.

@chrisabner7568 2 ай бұрын

I love old surplus and have collected a bit over the years. But unfortunately most of these pieces we find have lost their stories to time. What you do for the soldiers and artifacts is amazing. Thank you.

@tordlarsson9423 3 ай бұрын

Just a big WOW about this story! Best regards from Sweden.

@camohunters6283 3 ай бұрын

Amazing work. SIR. Thx for sharing all the great stories..!! Hats off to you

@juanzulu1318 3 ай бұрын

Story for a movie. Fascinating.

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

Do you have Spielberg's adress?

@fadcdecarvalho8741 3 ай бұрын

I really enjoyed this. Great research. The rum at the end is a nice touch lol. Cheers from South Africa

@kenroberts6906 3 ай бұрын

Chapeau à vous, Doctor. Une vidéo excéllante, comme d'habitude

@Thecompanioncrate 3 ай бұрын

You hit it out of the park with this on, excellent work.

@bigmikeh5827 7 күн бұрын

This is an awesome big picture story. Thank you for all your work.

@netiveus348ify 2 ай бұрын

Wow what a sad fantastic story which brought a tear to my eye, Well done for piecing it all together,thanks

@strazed1 3 ай бұрын

The lengths you go to for your videos inspire me. Amazing job

@mikelindbergh642 3 ай бұрын

Interesting story! I spend 7 years working in Haiti, and the Babancour rum is the quintessential Caribbean, award winning rum. I had no idea this German guy married into the Babancour family.

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

The Barbancourt Rum is from an earlier branch of the family. Linge's decendents have the Vieux Labbé rum by Berling SA. They say on some of the websites that this sometimes causes confusion, and indeed for the video I initialy bought a bottle of BArbancourt instead of Vieux Labbé :)

@ironpaiste 2 ай бұрын

Couldn't have asked for a better ending to a great video.

@echopapacharlie 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for this great piece of story from WW2 that spanned Germany, France and Haiti.

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

And Ukraine and Russia.

@Simsonschieber 3 ай бұрын

Cher Jean Loup, merci pour vos efforts inlassables pour découvrir de tels destins. De nombreuses salutations et un sincère merci de la part de l'Allemagne.

@jasonmaccoul 3 ай бұрын

Absolutely well done! 👏 Of course, the disaster that befell Dresden by man, ultimately befell Haiti by Mother Nature. I salute you Jean-Loup.

@steelhelmetstan7305 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic video , the end was very tastefully done....cheers 😊😊😊😊

@kilcar 2 ай бұрын

Very moving. Especially at the dedication and toast at the end. You've a good heart Sir.

@markbowen3638 3 ай бұрын

Amazing story, thanks for sharing your expertise in researching these individuals. Great content . Many thanks. Best wishes from the UK 🇬🇧

@user-hk8ik5xv7p 3 ай бұрын

What a wonderful story. It's amazing to account for all this from an id tag.

@HTN3 3 ай бұрын

Your best video yet! Congrats, and thank you for bringing this compelling story to life.

@Treasuremonk 3 ай бұрын

That’s wild! I lived and worked in Port Au Prince for years , never heard or knew about this and the Rum

@jokervienna6433 3 ай бұрын

Reality always beat fiction. What an interesting family story. Thanks for posting this!

@brentandvuk 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for posting, as always an outstanding story.

@lonesomevalkyrie 3 ай бұрын

Great video! I love hearing stories like this.

@cliftonwalker1994 3 ай бұрын

I enjoy all your videos but this one was the best so far. Thank you and keep up the good work.

@markbingham330 2 ай бұрын

I've now watched a few of your videos and his one is by far the most touching. The ending was a great sentiment to the conclusion of his story. Please keep up the great work, so these lost soldiers can once again by identified. 👍

@QURAN-IS-MY-TORCH 2 ай бұрын

No word can describe your efforts, I am really impressed by the story

@dangercloseusmc6902 3 ай бұрын

Fascinating, excellent video sir. Like usual. Thank you for doing what you do and sharing it with everyone. I can't think of a better KZfaq channel.

@JonHullock 3 ай бұрын

Great research which really turned into a very fascinating story. Thanks for sharing your work on KZfaq Much appreciated.

@BARgunner_ 3 ай бұрын

Absolutely amazing video! Such an interesting story. Crazy what information you can find! Keep up the great work!

@bcgraham3512 3 ай бұрын

Suberb research and storytelling. Thank you. It raises a question that has interested me for a long time. One brother, Heinz in this case, is not subjected to continuous propaganda because he goes abroad, to France in this case, and we also know travel broadens the mind (the opposite of being of a 'parochial' mindset). On his return to Germany he can take a more objective view of what he sees going on and is horrified. Meanwhile a brother who was continuously at home and subjected to government propaganda joins the SS. Two opposite ends of the scale. The question that interests me is what makes a person decide that evil policies and actions are not only acceptable but they decide join in? Would Heinz also have believed in the Nazi ideology had he not by chance been spared the Nazi-controlled media? No doubt there are many factors in play, and there are plenty of examples of brothers fighting on different sides even in a civil war, but I always felt that those who condemn the whole German people for the evils of the Nazi era fail to address this question.

@CrocodileTear 3 ай бұрын

Those who condemn all Germans forget that the first victims of nazism were Germans. German Communists, German Jews, etc, etc.

@rainerpatalong8403 2 ай бұрын

Sehr ergreifendes Schicksal was der ganzen Familie Linge geschah 😢 Danke für die sehr gute Recherche 🤚

@user-es3yr1ts4p 2 ай бұрын

Wirklich faszinierendes und ergreifendes Video. Sehr gut gemacht.

@andrewmacdonald4833 3 ай бұрын

Thoroughly enjoyed this story...thank you!

@RichardAHolt 3 ай бұрын

Excellent piece of research. Not all Germans were Nazis. Just like all Southerners were not Confederates during the American Civil War. My direct paternal ancestor, David Holt, lived in West Tennessee in Gibson County and was one of only a few from his county who signed a loyalty oath to the Federal government in July of 1862, just after the Confederate Army had withdrawn south to Mississippi. David Holt was killed in a neighboring Carroll County by "bushwhackers" along with his son-in-law, John F. McCaslin, just after the conclusion of the war while visiting his daughter. Her husband's brother, James Riley McCaslin, had fought as a member of one of the Union Army cavalry units raised in West Tennessee. David Holt's grandson, Daniel Alexander Holt would later marry Ella Hays McMinn, whose father had ridden in one of the Confederate cavalry regiments under the command of Nathan Beford Forrest. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at one of their family get togethers when politics was discussed.

@stevebell1031 3 ай бұрын

What a fascinating story... so brilliantly researched and presented. Well done 👏

@Nikki_Baugher Ай бұрын

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

@feltwedge 3 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for researching this history and then sharing it.

@stephenellis5226 3 ай бұрын

Many thanks for your work. This is what makes it worthwhile.

@davidjarvi5002 3 ай бұрын

Great Video, Well Done....Thank You !

@user-ix3en1zd7n 3 ай бұрын

Excellent !! Thank you for sharing !

@BradleyKang23 3 ай бұрын

Great story thanks for sharing the history

@timetraveller143 3 ай бұрын

Tolle Geschichte und investigativ sehr gute Arbeit geleistet. Danke aus Göttingen/Deutschland.

@GermanVitus 3 ай бұрын

Hey jean I'm a huge fan of your channel for bringing such a bright light into really personal historys and picking up all these small things others wouldn't even care about. It really highlights the cruelsomeness of the war our fathers and grandfathers fought in and how useless it was. If only the people today would've learned more from history and could live a life in peace.

@AparatorulPoporului 2 ай бұрын

In the end the history remains (or _is_ ) the best story! Amazing information, very nice job man!

@americanpatriot2422 2 ай бұрын

Always an outstanding video and presentation.

@piercevaughan7566 2 ай бұрын

Excellent research. 3 brothers caught up in the horrors of 20th century when Hitler and Stalin played chess with the lives of the European peoples.

@mikeprice4103 3 ай бұрын

Dang right I enjoyed this video!!! Thank you for your hard work.

@dadlife4113 Ай бұрын

Speechless...amazing work!

@sebastiendine4834 3 ай бұрын

Encore merci pour cette enquête, passionnante du début jusqu'à la fin !

@johnboy384 3 ай бұрын

Thanks again for you in depth research and for sharing it with us. Kindest regards.

@alfvanderkwaak5751 3 ай бұрын

Great report again! Merci!

@wolfgangthiele9147 3 ай бұрын

Extraordinarily good video and excellent research! 👍

@tylerthon2214 Ай бұрын

Your in depth research is amazing

@LIsForLexi. 3 ай бұрын

Wow! Blown away. Amazing story, following now!!!

@toron8418 3 ай бұрын

Another great job Jean. Sve najbolje brate :)

@cleonicelopes464 2 ай бұрын

Thanks! This is a great work!

@evbear561 3 ай бұрын

Great video! Like always 😊

@johnfields7936 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing this fascinating research!

@Robin6512 3 ай бұрын

Excellent video. I really like your content.

@jscatt6123 3 ай бұрын

Amazing story, thanks for sharing!

@parkestanley2436 3 ай бұрын

SUPERB research, THANK YOU!!!!

@alanhernandez6354 3 ай бұрын

Wow that's a mind blower honestly, cheers!

@GarbachNL 3 ай бұрын

Amazing story! Excellent research!

@ericsissenwein3601 2 ай бұрын

Wonderful human story of the War. Well done- subscribed.

@tmdblya 3 ай бұрын

This story was amazing. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and hard research work.

@zipshed 3 ай бұрын

That is quite a story. Its amazing how you have tracked down all this information! Its kind of odd as well that he shared his name with Hitlers valet.