Arnim

Rundsted's ribbons on this bar: Iron Cross (1914) with 1939 Spange Hohenzollern House Order ? Knights Cross with swords & crown Saxony - Albrecht Order 1st Class with Swords China Denkmuenze ? 1902 Wehmacht Long Service ? Class I Wehmacht Long Service ? Class III Prussia - Crown Order ? Class IV 1 October 1938 Remembrance Medal Prussia ? Kaiser Wilhelm Remembrance Medal - 1897

He was awarded the EKII at Dunkirk in 1945. He was a member of "Festung Duenkirchen" assigned to Kampfgruppe Scharnhorst. He was there until war's end, then went into captivity until February 1948 when I finally met him. Arnim

Yes, these are his promotion documents. I'm not sure one volunteered for the Truppensonderdienst. I believe it was simply a reorganization. By August, 1944 father was assigned to the 49th Infantry Division near Paris but he never reached them. He got as close as Beauvais, but the Canadians and Brits attacked across the Seine and he ended up in Dunkirk for the rest of the war. He was assigned to a regimental battle group. He earned an EKII at Dunkirk in 1945. At the end of the war he stayed there for two months while they lifted mines and got the town ready for civilians, then he became a guest of the French army until February, 1948 when I first greeted him with the words "Tag Karl." He left a lot of stories, most of his documents and medals and lots of photos. Being on a corps staff he met a lot of high-ranking men. Arnim

Papers

Here are some of his papers.

My dad was a paymaster. The buttonhole ribbons were the KVKII / Ostrfront/ Romanian Crusade. Father served with Manstein's 11th Army in the Crimea, later at Leningrad, the Rzhev Salient and at Voroshilovgrad. Before that he was in France, East Prussia, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. Arnim

Here he is at Sevastopol Harbor on 4 July 1942. Arnim

Here is another photo - taken in 1943 while he was on leave from Armeeabteilung Fretter-Pico Arnim

My father entered the Heeresverwaltung in 1936. Until that time he had been in the infantry. He was a Zahlmeister / Oberzahlmeister /Stabszahlmeister with the XXX Armeekorps. In 1944 he was transferred to the newly-formed TSD - Truppensonderdienst, but I don't think he ever got the new insignia. he an my mother were maried June 3, 1944 and he is still wearing the "HV" on his boards. The collar tabs no longer had the white piping, just the dark green in the middle of the Kragenspiegel. I have almost all his medals, documents and lots of photos. He was a career soldier, having joined the Reichswehr in 1925. I am almost through with my book of his military life. Arnim