Henry 24th

Good day Gentlemen. Here is the one and only imperial Medic / Stretcher bearer photo from my collection. Unfortunately, no further information on the man pictured. If not mistaken, the pole he is holding is part of a stretcher. Post number 8 by Ulsterman is a Fellow by the name of Anton Klein taken in the Autumn of 1915. He is pictured in Angolia's book on the Red Cross and is mistakenly labelled as bieng photographed in winter. Enjoy!

Super! Thanks Dave B

Yeah, I kind of figured that. Is there an average price for the document -no hero, no ace or elite - just a regular Heer officer? I would imagine that the document is more rare than the medal, but would it be as desireable and therefore as expensive?

In that case then, how much would the RK award document be on its own (named) and/or with the original RK? Hope I'm not off topic here. Henry

Hello Alexandre. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2096...mp;#entry200570 This link has a number of photo's to female EK2 winners. Regards...Henry

Close up of her Signature. nothing written on the back of the photograph. H

Gentlemen, great thread. Here is my contribution, original WW2 photo, hand signed by DRK Schwester Marge Droste. Her signature did not scan so well. I believe she was either the 3rd or 4th women to receive the EK2. See post#1 for a different view of her. Regards..Henry

Nice to see this little beauty again, I used to own this one. Looks like it found a good home I used to own some of the second class medals as well and have this to add (in case no one had made a point of it yet.) Look at the quality difference between the 2nd class medal in Post#1 and that of Post #20. Post#1 clearly is a 3rd class award that had been painted silver and a very inferior enamel applied to the cross. It is almost opaque. Post#2 on the other hand, is made of actual silver, has a woderful transluscent enamel and a pattern on the cross similar to that seen in the 1st class award. I believe the difference is strictly caused by war shortages and that post#1 is a legitamate example of a late war issue medal. Post#20 being an early war example. With regard to the 3rd class medal, you can find them in almost every finish imaginable: Steel, zinc, brass, copper and gilded. Henry

Thank-you for putting the issue to rest, Gordon. And thanks to all who participated Henry

Don, thanks for the pics of a 32 wound badge. Always helps having a visual reference. Being Probationary, the pics I have were too small to bother with. So the debate rages on, gentlemen. Hobacher sounds correct to me, but that's a pretty flimsey thing to base an opinion on. Dj-Joe was kind enough to attach the official gmic maker list (above). That list also says Hobacher. Does someone have an original issue packet or envelope with the W.Hobacher/Hobacher name on the back? Perhaps an original early war listing of all the makers? Henry

Hey Brat. Thanks for the reply. Yes, I was looking at a number of different lists - #32 was either Hobacher or Hobachter....the latter being the more prolific spelling. I was afraid there was a spelling error involved, but did not know which was the mis-spell. If none else wishes to weigh in on this topic - Hobachter it is! Thanks again Henry

Hello Everyone. I am trying to gather some information on a black wound badge in my collection. The reverse bears the number "32" along the helmet shell. However, on the internet, there are two different spellings for the makers name: a.) W. Hobachter, Wien b.) W. Hobacher, Wien What is the general consensus regarding the spelling of this makers name? Any info is greatly appreciated. Regards, Henry

And so ends the search. Ganz, Ganz Schlecht, but expected. Thanks for the update Munster. Henry.

Gentlemen. What, if any, was the final outcome of this tunic? Dion, any word from the family? Henry

My sincerest apologies on the long delay in reply... Progege1 - you are a Hero of the People! The information provided was indeed helpful. It would appear that while in 'Festung Modlin' or 'Nassen Dreieck", the orders to transfer from 'Nordland' to 'Wiking" occured. Still tracking down the exact date. In the past month or so I was able to find a little more as well on the events of my uncle. Again I will add the information and questions as we go along. Off to war. These are notes translated from his Soldatenzeit. Aug 20 1944. In Training with SS panzer grenadier Regiment 23 "Norge", SS Ostuf. Raedke, SS Ostubaf. Vogt, Uscha. Muller, Klein, Gerges, SS Uscha. Fisahn, Birger, Olsen. Nov 24 1944. On stand-by in Hammerstein Nov 25 1944. After a good trip, arrive in Bugmunde (Poland), two days in Fort Modlin Nov 27 1944. Starting for Stara-Olschiwitza. Polish district in the wet triangle (Bug-Weichel) Bunker construction at nighttime with Fisahn and Olsen Dec 20 1944. For my valour in close combat, I was the first in my unit to be recommended for the EK2 (Spotters, Assault troops, elimination of strong points, snipers) Dec 26 1944. Massive tank assault by the Russians. Many wounded, dead. Peculiar incident Dec 28 1944. Relieved by the Army, one day rest in Okunin Dec 29 1944. New Years Eve in the train. Choir singing Jan 02 1945. Unload at Comorn/ Hungary Apr 20 1945. Capitulation. As you can see, there are a lot of holes in his record. The biggest being Jan 02 1945 to April 20 1945 when he surrendered. Much happened over January, February and March and this is what I am trying to find out. In January 1945 he was involved in the 3 seperate relief attempts on Budapest...this is where the bestowal of the IAB and nahkampfspange came from. More later. HFJ

Hello Paul. Nice Tunic. I was going through one of my books and stumbled upon the following. I think this is your man. "Death of the Leaping Horseman - 24th Panzer Division in Stalingrad" by Jason D. Mark Under Casualties for the date of 16th August 1942: Oberarzt Dr. Twardy (Regimental Arzt):PAR89 (Wounded but Stayed with the Troops) Later on in the book, at the biography at the back it states this: Twardy, Oberarzt Dr. Abteilung Arzt II./Panzerartillerie-Regiment 89 Wounded on the 16th of August 1942. Stayed with troops. Later became regiment Arzt. Survived Stalingrad. Survived the war. He died before 1961. Much of the information in the book comes from the War Diaries of the 24th Div, and personal accounts. The wounding happened about 60 kms SW of Stalingrad near Semkin and Lake Tsatsa on the drive to Stalingrad. Unfortunately the is no further mention of him. Guess that means your tunic needs a wound badge Hope this helps....

There is a good chance it may be Imperial Russian. I have one similar to yours with russian writing on it, and the drilled out hole. Perhaps some of the Russian collectors on this forum can say for sure, but I have been told that the imperial E-tools were marked with the imperial eagle. When there were reissued to soviet troops, the eagle was drilled out. Hope this helps. Regards...henry

Hello Simon. Thank you for the info. Most of the information I have on this man comes from his "interrogation" papers from the US Army. The papers are in both English and german and were filled out by him while in a US POW camp. There are a few other papers with various bits of useful information on them as well that he added to sometime after the war. Some stories (that need to be varified) come from my father, and all the photos come from various family albums as came well as with these papers I mentioned. He was my uncle and unfortunately, passed away in the 1970's, well before I had any interest. Does anyone know the date when the 1 Battalions of both 23rd and 24th Regts (Norge and Danmark respectively) were sent back to Wiking (5th SS Div)? The reason I ask is that the 11th SS Div. ended up smashed in Berlin. My uncle ended up surrendering to the Americans near Vienna. Any information is appreciated.

So then, based on Post#2 and Post#12 is the Order actually refered to as the "2nd Class" or "Commander 1st class with swords and war decoration". HFJ

Hello Hunyadi Thanks for the very prompt reply. As for being awarded the orders retroactively, he was removed from the front in Aug. 1942. Therefore the orders would have come after his frontline service, or, possibly from some other function he may have had with the Hungarians after 1943. Will PM you on this before you leave, if you don't mind. HFJ