"Mit schwarz Grunde und Tapfer Keit": The Military Record of Sgt. Paul Ernst Kaess

In this paper, I will discuss the military record of my paternal grandfather Sgt. Paul Ernst Kaess (1921-2002), who served in the German Army (Heer) in WWII from 1940 to 1945. Through a combination of anecdotal, archival documentation, family lore, and personal interviewing with Paul himself, I will try to paint Paul the military man in his various stripes. His service in the panzer troops will be noted in various campaigns, which included seeing action in Russia, Ukraine, the Crimea, Lithuania, Greece, Yugoslavia, as well as service in France, Poland, Rumania, & Bulgaria. Paul stated he fought at the Battle of Kursk (1943) and he must have felt, during the battle, with machines constantly belching fire at each other, that 'Hell itself had usurped the place of earth.' It must have appeared as a blasted landscape that screamed of something unholy. We will also cover his 2-3 stays in hospital during the conflict, as well as make an inventory of his medals/awards/decorations. Drawing upon recent historical research in Lithuania, we will also look at the battle where it is believed Paul sustained his final wound in 1944 before being evacuated to the rear. We wll also look critically at the possibility of Paul as a war criminal and demonstrate that this was not the case, as per German postwar legal findings. He was simply a follower and not the 'Big Fish' they were looking for. Also, Paul's time as a POW, likely in American hands, will be covered and his surrender on May 8, 1945 (V-E Day). Wartime photos and links to relevant blogs will help support the veracity of Paul's story even more.