Dr. Kurt Oelsner
Dr. Kurt Oelsner was a surgeon by training. Drafted in November 1939 he became part of the Infanteriedivision 299, formed in Wehrbereich IX in Kassel. Attached to the Stab of the Pionierbataillon 299 he participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union as part of Heeresgruppe Sued.
With his division he participated in the battle for Kiew and many other engagements which earned him the Iron Cross 2nd Class in December 1941. He served with ID 299 until its dissolution in June 1944 and was transferred to France. Unfortunately, attempts made so far to trace his unit in France have been unsuccessful.
A T-34 destroyed by Kurt's unit, the turret was blown off by close combat weapons.
At The end of the war he held the rank of Oberstabsarzt and was head of a Feldlazarett, which he surrendered to the US Army in April 1945 near the town of Aichach in Bavaria. He did so against the orders of a determined Waffen SS unit nearby, who had decided to blow the bridges west of Aichach and resist the American advance. More concerned with the welfare of his wounded, he personally removed the charges from the bridges and dispatched an officer to negotiate the surrender with the advancing Americans. To avoid capture and possible execution by the SS and German authorities, he was hidden away by the town mayor until the Americans arrived and the SS moved out.
This was just one of many thousands of small dramas that took place in the final days of WWII. These events are well documented by papers he had to present during the denazification hearings that followed the war. Because of this act and the dire need for doctors to take care of the German civilian population after the cessation of hostilities, Kurt Oelsner was fortunate enough not to spend a single day in a POW camp.
After the war he settled with his family in Frankfurt/M, where they had lived before the war (but were bombed out of their house in late 1943). He continued to practice as an MD in Frankfurt until his death in 1987.
By Egbert Schillings
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