Out Of Context ... 02

You didn't peek did you?


OK-- so an ARMY Major, no long service (of any kind) with a Civil Defnse Medal!!!!

This suggests that he was either a Major zV or a Major dR zV-- "zV" indicating called back up for the duration of the war, one rank up from what he had previously been in the old Imperial army. Maybe a normal reserve officer, so Major dR without the zV suffix.

But NOT a regular officer. So he got his Civil Defense Medal very possibly BEFORE the war in a civilian capacity.


The dark piping and number "10" on his shoulder boards suggests either an artillery regiment or a Panzer Grenadier (so 1942+) regiment with that designation. No apparent frontline service in the Second War-- the KVK2X was earned at home by many officers who never heard a shot fired. It was nicknamed the "Sitzfleischorden" by a Luftwaffe Flak Oberleutnant dR I knew (who got his for FIVE YEARS in a listening post on the Rhine!), playing on the "Frozen Meat Order" nickname for the 1941/42 East Medal.

Probably a depot officer at the regiment's training and replacement base. maybe 10th Panzer Grenadiers of the 9th panzer Division, in Austria?


Courtesy of Ulsterman's preternatural ability to find oddball photos.