What does Gestoinsbohrkp.8 mean?

I am studying a German document listing the soldiers from the German 5.Gebirgsjager Division who died at Cassino. The document gives the company each soldier belonged to and they are all easy to understand except two who are listed as belonging to Gestoinsbohrkp.8.

It seems to be a word made up of abbreviations since kp.8 means 8th company. I just cant see what the rest of it means.

Anyone have any ideas?

Gestein=Rock and Bohr=Drill,so perhaps it was a rock drilling unit,or some kind of engineers used to clear blocked mountain passes and roads? This is a guess on my part,so I may be entirely wrong.

Hello , maybe I can help you . It is not gestoinbohr , but gesteinbohr . Stein means rock Bohr means the material to make a hole .

So 'gesteinbohrkp.8' means the 8° company dealing with heavy material such as breakhammers etc . See also the following German URL Abrbreviations in the German army http://ostbataillon.fromru.com/ek-g.htm

Greetings from Belgium

Patrick Praats

Probably, the correct spelling is 'Gesteinsbohrkp.8'. Although I have never heard anything about it, literally it means that the 8th. company had the task of 'stone drilling'.

Regards,

When consulting my wartime - 1942! - German dictionary I found an entry for 'Bohrer' and none for 'Bohr'. So, in my opinion, the abbreviation should read in full 'Gesteinbohrer-Kompanie 8'. This company must have been part of the Gebirgspionier-Abteilung 95.

In Bruce Quarrie's 'German Mountain Troops' there is to be found on page 92 a fine photograph of a Gebirgspionier with a pneumatic drill. Maybe his unit was Gesteinbohrkp.8! The pneumatic drills were used for drilling holes. Either for blasting ( e.g. mountainroads) or as anchor points for a mountaingun mounting.

Good - the whole subject covering - books could also be Roland Kaltenegger 'Deutsche Gebirgsjäger in Zweiten Weltkrieg' and his 'Gebirgsjäger 1939-1945 Die grosse Bildchronik' and perhaps the best Alex Buchner 'Die Deutsche Gebirgstruppe: Die Kampf der Deutschen Gebirgsjäger an allen Fronten1939-1945'.

I hope to have been helpful.

Bob Gonsalves