Soft launch: Soldier biographies and research notes vary in completeness. Prefer class-roster, NARA, newspapers, and other cited sources for contested facts — treat Research notes as leads, not settled history. Anyone can correct a page; contact us with questions.
Peter Michael Blau
| Peter Michael Blau | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 7 February 1918 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 12 March 2002 New York City |
| Nativity | Austria |
| Awards | Bronze Star Medal |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 36575896 |
| Rank | Staff Sergeant |
| Rank at Ritchie | Private |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 10 (23 July – 20 September 1943) |
| Section | 5A |
| Unit / division | 7th Armored Division |
| Team | IPW 70 |
|
| Bronze Star Medal |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Peter Michael Blau (7 February 1918 – 12 March 2002) was a Vienna-born Ritchie Boy who trained at Camp Ritchie with Class 10 and served as a staff sergeant and document examiner with IPW Team 70, attached to the 7th Armored Division in Europe, earning the Bronze Star.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Peter Michael Blau was born in Vienna on 7 February 1918; he was an atheist of Jewish origin. During the Dollfuss–Schuschnigg regime he was active in the Social Democratic underground, and he studied at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna until the summer semester of 1938. After the Anschluss he fled to Czechoslovakia, where he was held for two months and released; he apparently stayed in Prague for a year and returned to Vienna after the German occupation in March 1939. He then fled to France, where he was interned and reportedly put to forced labor in Bordeaux, and that same year he sailed from Le Havre to the United States. He lived in Elmhurst, Illinois, and completed a degree in sociology at Elmhurst College in 1942, then studied psychology and political science at Wayne University in Michigan until he was drafted in early 1943.
In March 1943 Blau took medical basic training at the Medical Replacement Training Center at Camp Barkeley, Texas. In June he was sent to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, where he trained as a German-language prisoner-of-war interrogator in Class 10 (section 5A; certificate 3254), specializing as a documents examiner and driver. From October to December 1943 he was detached with a provisional IPW team to the Desert Training Center at Camp Young, California, for exercises, and from January to March 1944 to Lebanon, Tennessee. On 29 April 1944 MITC Special Orders No. 103 relieved IPW Team 70, with Blau as staff sergeant and document examiner, from duty at Camp Ritchie and sent it to Camp Shanks, New York, on 2 May 1944 for shipment to Europe. Through the 305th Replacement Company of Replacement Depot No. 2 near Bristol, England, the team was assigned to Headquarters, Military Intelligence Service, ETOUSA (22 May 1944), and placed on detached service with the Field Interrogation Detachment (23 May). On 2 June 1944 it was attached to the Third U.S. Army for duty with the 7th Armored Division, joining the headquarters of the division's advance detachment at Tidworth, England.
From August 1944 Blau interrogated prisoners with Combat Command A or B of the 7th Armored Division during its rapid advance with the Third (later the Ninth) U.S. Army through Chartres and Verdun to the area near Metz; as a combat interrogator with IPW Team 70 he also took part in infantry fighting. He served further in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, in the Netherlands, and in Germany, received the Bronze Star in March 1945, and was probably with the division on the Baltic coast in May 1945. His last known rank was staff sergeant. He died in New York City on 12 March 2002.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
After you are autoconfirmed, upload a photo and add [[File:Example.jpg|thumb|caption]] here, or set |photo=Example.jpg in the infobox.
Timeline[edit | edit source]
- 7 February 1918 — Born in Vienna, Austria.
- 1938–1939 — Fled to Czechoslovakia, returned to Vienna, then fled to France; sailed from Le Havre to the United States.
- 1942 — Completed sociology degree at Elmhurst College, Illinois.
- March 1943 — Medical basic training at Camp Barkeley, Texas.
- June 1943 — Transferred to Camp Ritchie; Class 10 (section 5A). Certificate # 3254.
- 29 April 1944 — MITC Special Orders No. 103: Staff Sergeant, Document Examiner, IPW Team 70; relieved Camp Ritchie, WP Camp Shanks, N.Y., 2 May 1944.
- 22 May 1944 — Replacement Depot No. 2 SO #125: Staff Sergeant with IPW Team 70; assigned Hq MIS ETOUSA for duty with FID; proceed APO 887.
- 23 May 1944 — Hq MIS ETOUSA SO 135: Staff Sergeant on IPW Team 70; placed on DS with FID (eff. 22 May 1944).
- 2 June 1944 — Hq MIS ETOUSA SO 145: IPW Team 70 relieved from FID DS; attached Third U.S. Army for duty with 7th Armored Division (proceed ~5 June 1944).
- August 1944 — Combat interrogation with the 7th Armored Division (Chartres, Verdun, Metz).
- March 1945 — Awarded the Bronze Star.
- 12 March 2002 — Died in New York City.
- October–December 1943 — Provisional IPW team at the Desert Training Center, Camp Young, California.
- January–March 1944 — Detached to Lebanon, Tennessee.
Technical record[edit | edit source]
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 84 |
| Class_ASN | 36575896 |
| Class_Name | BLAU, Peter M. |
| match_method | asn_exact_name_exact |
| row_source | both |
Research notes[edit | edit source]
- SO 145 matching note: SO middle initial H..
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Hq MIS ETOUSA Special Orders No. 145 (extract), 2 June 1944 — page 1 / page 2 (relieved FID DS; attached Third U.S. Army units)
- Hq MIS ETOUSA Special Orders No. 135 (extract), 23 May 1944 — page 1 / page 2 (IPW Teams 62–74 placed on DS with FID)
- Replacement Depot No. 2 SO #125 (extract), 22 May 1944 — page 1 / page 2 (IPW teams → Hq MIS ETOUSA / FID, APO 887)
- MITC Special Orders No. 103 (extract), 29 April 1944 — page 1 / page 2 (teams relieved Camp Ritchie; WP Camp Shanks, N.Y., 2 May 1944)
- Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
- Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
- Austriansoldiers biography: Peter M. Blau, Austriansoldiers / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War (in German; accessed 25 September 2026)
