Brian R

Guys - Can anyone help with this letter regarding Albert Koop's award of the NonCombatant EK2? A post-war award for services with the government during the war?

An uncommon EK2 doc... to an infantryman in Norway. Alfred H?ttemann as a member of 10./ Infanterie-Regiment 367. From what I understand, the 214 Infanterie Division was originally to be used during the invasion of Denmark. However, Denmark?s rapid capitulation allowed 214 ID to be assembled for the clearing operations of southwestern Norway in early May. H?ttemann was awarded for actions with Kampfgruppe A, comprised of elements of IR 367, during the clearing operations northeast of Kristiansand. His doc was signed by Generalmajor Max Horn. It's interesting to see an award for "clean up", as opposed to frontline fighting.

It's interesting to see that the Fliegerdivision 7 stamp was being used as late as December - more than 6 months after the division name change.

Great docs, Stijn. The second doc must be the perfect piece in your collection.... a glider pilot near Cholm!!!

A lot of nice docs on this thread... Here's another to add, to bring this thread back to life. To a member of FJR1 who fought at Iraklion in Crete. It is signed by Oberst Bruno Br?uer and includes the FJR1 stamp. Wasn't 29 May the day the Germans actually occupied Iraklion? Its probably back dated as it doesn't seem to have been a good day for clerical work. I wonder if this was prepared on battallion level and later submitted to Br?uer's Regt. HQ for signing. Any idea of casualties in FJR1 at Iraklion? I would imagine most guys were decorated for bravery.

Great bar!! I assume Leib wore his EK2 spange on his buttonhole with no added mini on the ribbon bar... Why would there be no LS ribbons on this bar? Was this simply Lieb's choice?

Great charts. It's intertesting that the 2nd lead two out of three categories!!

PK - were the docs always dated as of the date the FJ members won their badge or were they dated when the docs were actually processed?

If your bar has the Honor Cross (then it is after 1934), it would generally be expected that he would wear his EK2 first.

Wow!! This is a great example of how a few simple docs can tell an incredible story. And the story gets better the more you dig. Your knowledge is incredible, Prosper. Based on the little bit I know about Drvar, this guy was lucky to survive and escape being wounded. Although the age difference is obvious between Bracht?s ID and the photo of him in Russia, it sure looks like the war was taking a toll on his aging process.

Prosper - your detailed information is tremendous!!

Here's a nice Heer EK2 doc to a member of Festung-Infantry Battalion 1008. This unit retreated from Greece through Macedonia, western Serbia and Montenegro during October, November and December, 1944. Throughout this time, the unit engaged in fighting with Tito's patisans and the document is probably the result of these actions. It is signed by Generalleutnant Helmut Friebe of the 22nd Infantry Division. Festung Btallion served with the 22 ID (later 22. Volks-Grenadier-Division) until the end of the war. I'm pretty sure the division surrendered in Austria. I like this doc because it is an award for fighting Partisans, not the traditional Allies. Also, it is somewhat interesting that the award date happens to be the same date as the launch of operation "die Wacht am Rhein". It's fun to think of what was going on on various fronts at the same time.

A proud Bavarian... he also has medical insignia sewn onto his right sleeve

I have recieved a reponse from Mr. Previtera. It is posted below... "I compiled the statistics for the research you mentioned between 1996 and 1998. I frankly do not remember all my sources and to retrieve them would be quite an undertaking, if I still have the orginal source material that is. I can say that I recall the numbers came from different sources and I researched them at the Wehrgeshichtliches Museum in Rastatt Germany for the most part. At that time I also visited the Bayerisches Armee Museum in Ingolstadt and the Freiburg Military Archive. The stats were compiled from older reference souces as I recall. That's the best I can do for now. I am surpised that the same information has not been published elsewhere but when I took my notes I sometimes came across information I was not expecting, made notations of what I saw and moved on to topic specific research. If later I come across the notes I will be more than happy to share them. Maybe additional forum members,have come across the same research material. " I am certainly no expert on EK awards, but I have no reason to doubt his stats. Nothing is perfect, but they generally adhere to what I might expect... I think this info is interesting especially at a time when Chris, Gordon and others are working on an Imperial EK project.

These stats are quite intersesting. I always would have throught that there would be very few awarded in 1914 as the award was still handed out on a conservative basis (and the war was less than a half a year). I've always been under the impression that they were handed out pretty liberally late in the war (as with the 1939 EK in 44 and 45). I agree that 1915 would have generally been a dry year and things picked up in 1916 with the major battles at Verdun and the Somme. I have emailed Mr. Previtera for some insight on his source(s). His stat of 13,000 NC crosses seems to be universally accepted (and I'm pretty sure most of these were awarded after the war). Also, I am surprised that the number of post war combattant awards is not higher (as in the 1918 wound badge).

Does anyone have any sense as to the number of Iron Crosses awarded by year? There certainly were many more crosses awarded in 1918 than in 1914 but how significant was the difference? I'm most curious about the EK2 but would find info on the EK1 to be just as interesting.

One of the great things about these docs is that "everyone" got one. So many were awarded, and over quite a long period of time - until well into 1944. They are cheaper than EK2 docs, which were so often awarded by the end of the war, and most show the recipient's unit, which can sometimes be very interesting. Here is my favorite - a member of a deactivation staff.

Jeff- My sincerest apologies if I have the name of the documents wrong. For years I have thought that they were called MSCC. Do you know the correct name? Also, can you show an example of an MSCC from the first war? Sivart - Wilson's signature wsa printed at the time the doc was produced. Brian

Here is the bar. It belonged to Maschinenmaaten Gerhard Muswick. I have photocopies of his award documents - they are as follows... Spanish Cross in Bronze - 6. Juni, 1939 Wehrmacht Long Service Cross 4th Class - 1. Juli, 1939 Memel Medal - 26. Oktober, 1939 Iron Cross 2nd Class - 29. August, 1940 Minesweeper Badge - 1. February, 1941

...and the interesting thing about this medal is that it is maker marked. I have seen this appear faintly in other images before. I tried to take a picture of it through my loupe - it is a bit blurry ('cause the mark is so damn small) but you can definitely see it. It appears to be an H. followed by something else - perhaps an S. - maybe someone else can show a close up example. I also tried to capture the image with my scanner but just couldn't get it. This may shed some light on these medals. Who could this maker have been?

Here is another - this one seems to be the more commonly accepted type - with the small M and angled G. It is just like the "Type 2" that Steve shows earlier.

Here is the bar it belongs to... a rare six place 3rd Reich era bar to a Russian Front/Crimea vet (the EK is a "Round 3")

Bringin' this thread back to life. I can offer two examples that I am convinced are genuine as they are mounted on period bars. Here is one that fits the descrition of "type 3" that Steve posted earlier in the thread. It has the straight G so I think that way of determining real/fake is nonsense.

Nice piece. I had one of these a while back and your cross is good. Great addition...

a pre-war demonstration... I like the kid holding his ears