Sepp Allerberger | Timeline

Obergefreiter (Private First Class) Josef 'Sepp' Allerberger was an World War II Austrian sniper from Wehrmacht's 3. Gebirgsdivision (II Battalion of the 144th Gebirgsjäger Regiment), credited with 257 confirmed kills (400 unconfirmed). He served on the Eastern Front together with his more famous comrade in arms and compatriot, Matthäus Hetzenauer.

December 26, 1924 - Wals-Sieznheim, Austria - Josef "Sepp" Allerberger is born
February 10(?), 1943 - Mittenwald, W of Berchtesgaden - Conscripted into Gebirgsjäger Regiment 144 of 3.Gebirgsdivision (3GD) =(START)
July 1(?), 1943 - Mittenwald - Finished Training - qualified MG gunner (first heard about enemy sharpshooters)
July 5(?), 1943 - Mittenwald - Receives his marching orders to join G.J.R.144 in the southern sector near Voroshilovsk, Ukraine
July 8(?), 1943 - Wals-Sieznheim - Short leave to say goodbye to family
July 18, 1943 - Redkina Gap, E of Luhansk(?) - Allerberger is thrown as infantryman into the fighting one day after arriving
July 22, 1943 - Redkina Gap - German frontline re-established. In Voroshilovsk recovering from a slinter wound in his hand, Sepp finds a russian sniper rifle and asks to train with it
August 5(?), 1943 - Luhansk - Ends his 14 days of recovering and short sniper training 
August 6(?), 1943 - Redkina Gap - Rejoins his Company with his sniper rifle and Telescopic Sight - Awarded wound badge
August 18, 1943 - Redkina Gap - Soviet offensive starts heavily although Sepp mantains his calm
August 25(?), 1943 - ? - Starts orderly retreat to the Dnieper
August 30(?), 1943 - Zaporizhzhya - Heavy fighting with two russian columns trying pincer movement
September 1(?), 1943 - Unpaved main highways and roads transformed into a knee-deep impassable morass
September 20, 1943 - Division building the "Wotan Line". Soviet Attacks weaken and german lines are shortened and consolidated
September 26, 1943 - Major soviet assault, with lightning flashes, hundreds of guns and stalins organs
October 4, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Fighting abates, allowing a few days to regroup and rest
October 9, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Soviet assault restarts
October 21, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Fresh soviet assault
October 31, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Orders arrive to fall back on the Dniepr. 3GD had already done it
November 20, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Russians attack on a modest scale
November 25, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Russian attack concentrates directly against 3GD
December 19, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Fresh soviet offensive against the Nikopol Bridgehead
December 29, 1943 - Nikopol Bridgehead - german positions begin to crack
January 30, 1944 - Dniepr Bend(?), Basawluk Estuary - Major soviet offensive threatens to encircle 2 german armied at the Basawluk estuary
February 12, 1944 - Nikopol Bridgehead - Orders arrive to evacuate the near encircled Nikopol Bridgehead - -50ºC cold
February 20, 1944 - Ingulez - Snow and wind storm. Halt in fighting
February 25, 1944 - Ingulez - Russians attack but are repulsed by a newly operational mountain artillery regiment
March 1, 1944 - Streams of russian soldiers toward the german lines
March 7, 1944 - Ingulez River - Germans hold positions although russians cross river and dynamite parts of front line
March 8, 1944 - Orders arrive to retreat along the Ingulez forthwith
March 15, 1944 - Crossing the Ingulez towards the Bug - Heavy rains, strong winds, violent hail and blizzard
March 16, 1944 - Crossing the Bug - 3GD is one of the last divisions crossing the river - russians intensify pressure
March 19, 1944 - Bug River west bank - Division crosses river
March 26, 1944 - Bug River west bank - after a week of "almost vacations", russian assault troops cross the bug at night
March 27, 1944 - Bug River west bank - Orders arrive to retreat to the Dniester, 300km to the SW
April 2, 1944 - Bakalov - 25km from Kutschurgan river - Russian armour break the lines and encircle 3GD
April 6, 1944 - Bakalov - Kampfgruppe Lorch breaks encirclement
April 10, 1944 - Dniester River - the 1000 survivors of 3GD cross the Dniester - Enters Bessarabia
April 17, 1944 - Dniester River, Bessarabia side - Allerberger has the luck to stay behing, as 800 companions are killed trying to bolster another sector
May 25, 1944 - Bistritz, Romania - Period of tranquillity ends - 3GD is ordered to the Aurel Pass in the Carpathians
May 30, 1944 - Bistritz - Hands over his rifle and prepares to travel to Austria
June 4, 1944 - Judenburg, Austria - Arrives in Judenburg
June 5, 1944 - Seetaleralpe, Austria - Starts the course "Scharfschützen Ausbildung Kompanie WK XVIII
July 1, 1944 - Seetaleralpe - Finishes sniper course in Austria
July 2, 1944 - Wals-Sieznheim - While colleagues go to the front, he enjoys a leave in his hometown
July 13, 1944 - Wals-Sieznheim - Allerberger says goodbye to his family and leaves for the front
July 18(?), 1944 - Bistritz, Romania - Arrives to Bistritz - hears rumours of Romania ready to defect
August 23, 1944 - Bistritz - Allerberger hears the news that the King of Romania switched his allegiance
August 27, 1944 - Draceni(?) - Russians attack along the Aurel Pass-Bistricidara(bistritz) front
September 7, 1944 - Bistricioara - Bistricioara has to be abandoned
September 24, 1944 - Deda (SE Bistritz?) - Repositioned at Deda
October 1(?), 1944 - Nyíregyháza, Hungary - house-to-house fighting in and around Nyiregyhaza
October 27, 1944 - Nyíregyháza - Receives the wound badge in silver
November 3, 1944 - Tisza River (Theiss) - 3GD crosses the Tisza and is integrated into a new front line
November 15, 1944 - Miskolc - by mid-November, the division is in the industrial city of Miskolc
December 3, 1944 - Miskolc - 3GD abandons Miskolc and withraws towards the slovakian Erzgebirge Mountains
January 30(?), 1945 - Gran River (between Erzgebirge and Lower Tatra) - Regiment retreats
February 5(?), 1945 - Ruzomberok, Slovakia - Receives some reinforcements
February 30(?), 1945 - Bielsko-Biala, Poland - Division pulls back further
March 2, 1945 - Bielsko-Biala - Summoned to HQ and awarded sniper badge in gold
April 2, 1945 - ? - Awarded the Knights Cross while attached to 8./144
April 20, 1945 - Mönninghofen - Receives the Knights Cross
May 5(?), 1945 - Ostrava (Mährisch-Ostrau) - Regiment moves (Russians at Brno)
May 8, 1945 - Olomouc, Czechoslovakia - Retreats to Olomouc. Russians cease fire
May 10, 1945 - Olomouc(?) - Gets rid of his sniper rifle and decides to walk 250km by night to Austria with a colleague
May 25(?), 1945 - ? - Escapes US captivity (germans handed to soviets for gulags)
June 2(?), 1945 - Linz - Arrives in Linz
June 4(?), 1945 - Salzburg - on his way home
June 5, 1945 - Wals-Sieznheim - Arrives unannounced to his village. Becomes a Carpenter, like his father
March 1, 2010 - Wals-Sieznheim - Josef "Sepp" Allerberger dies, aged 85 =(END)