Herbert Tauber.
Although still a live research project we thought that visitors may find this story of an ordinary German soldier of interest. The pictures and the Soldbuch above started a search for a soldier called Herbert Tauber. His life and death during WW2 were not unusual and perhaps that is why it seemed appropriate to try and tell his story.
Herbert was born on April 8th 1910 in a town called Aue, near Zwickau in what is today the Eastern part of Germany. He married and had two children and was employed as a Zollwachmeister (Customs Service Sergeant). The war changed all of that and in November 1943 he moved to 4th Kompanie, 4th Landschutz Battalion and then into Stamm Kompanie 102nd Grenadier Ersatz Battalion, 2nd and then 1st March Kompanie of 31st Grenadier Ersatz Battalion.
After service on the Central Russian front Herbert found himself in the 3rd Kompanie of 1038th Grenadier Regiment, part of the 64th Infantry Division. The Regiment part of the 15th Army and defending the Schelde coastline. The 64th was an emergency unit formed from men on leave from the Eastern front and this might explain why Herbert came to be fighting in the autumn of 1944 in Holland.
The Divisional commander, Major General Kurt Eberding found that his unit had been cut off by the Canadian and British forces capturing Antwerp on September 4th. The regiment that Herbert was in became part of one hedgehog defence position near the coastal batteries of Breskens and Cadzand. It was in this final battle of the 64th Divisions existence as a fighting force that Herbert Tauber was killed, his body being buried in a field grave by his comrades. He had been killed on 28th October 1944. On November 2nd, his Divisional commander Eberding was captured along with the entire HQ staff, the 64th was destroyed.
Subsequent research led us to the Volksbund cemetary at Ijsselstein where many of the dead from the fighting on the Scheldt coastline are laid to rest.
At last after much searching the grave of Herbert Tauber was located. He had been buried alone in a field grave but had fortunately been exhumed and laid to rest alongside fellow soldiers, thanks to a accurate map of his field grave being drawn in the rear of his Soldbuch.
In future updates we hope to show the site of his original grave and the items that were left behind by the exhumation team.
