hucks216

While I can't say I am happy with the Marienburg related citation I would need to see more of the grouping to rule it completely out. The thing is I also have problems with the other Sturmabzeichen citation from 81 ID, or rather nagging doubts. The ink and style used for the signature on the 81 ID strikes me as being very similar to a lot of very good faked citations coming out of Eastern Europe and what are the chances that one seller just happens to have two citations with a 'Stempel' misspelling even though the units didn't fight in the same area, one in East Prussia and one in Courland but without seeing the other examples from the group it is impossible to be certain.

And Weitze isn't above selling faked or embellished items. Just look at the Heer DKiG/TDB soldbuch he currently has listed.

Nice example. Here is another taken from a Wehrpass for someone killed in Poland on the 8th September 1939...

Luftwaffe promotion citation to a DKiG winner and hand signed by Hermann Göring.

I do like these citation types - both these and the more 'fancy' variants. Sometimes they can be signed by one of the leading personalities of the Third Reich.

Thanks for the comments guys.

... I have just been offered a nice group from a house clearance but two docs are missing and the bloke said 'oh theres another box somewhere but it may already have been skipped'!

...

Jock

Good luck with the missing docs. Hopefully you will show the set here this section if you decide to take it.

So I finally find out what a Störkampfgruppe is... I used to have a small group to such a unit and had no idea what it was...

Glad that you have been able to find out a little about what the Störkampfgruppen were. There were, I believe, 6 such units in total although some were just a Staffel rather than a Gruppe.

Here is another photo from the group showing one of the aircraft types they used...

Sorry you are right I scanned the wrong photo.That last photo is Anton Hackl ?

Hackl is the one on the left with his newly received RK.

Thank you. I do have those books but hadn't got round to scanning in the entry. The photo however is that of Helmut Benkendorff rather than Bellof.

Here is an image of the two RKT of NSG-3, Hackl & Bellof...

Nachtschlachtgruppe 3 was formed in mid-October 1943 at Gatchina airfield which is located to the south-west of Leningrad and consisted of such aircraft as the Ar-66, Go-145 and He-46 and continued from where Störkampfgruppe Luftflotte 1 left off, NSGr-3 flew night operations, mainly in the area of Pskov.

It has been a fair while since I showed a grouping from my collection so here is one of the most recent. It consists of the Wehrpass, Citations and a few extras for a pilot in a night ground attack unit but not just any pilot. This pilot going by the name of Ludwig Bellof won the Knights Cross, German Cross in Gold & Ehrenpokal with 1./Nachtschlachtgruppe 3, a unit which flew 'nuisance' raids using such obsolete aircraft as the Ar-66 and Go-145 in a similar fashion to the well known Soviet Po-2 'Sewing Machine' of earlier war years on the Eastern Front. The only citations missing are the prelim RK & Kurland Cuffband examples but it is impossible to know if they were ever issued in the first place or have become lost/seperated over time.

Ludwig Bellof was originally a member of the Heer before WW-2 which included a spell with Pz.Abwehr-Abteilung 36 but before the war he transferred over to the Luftwaffe and commenced his flying training. This was the time when the fuel & war situation was such that the Germans could afford to give pilots a full and thorough training and so it was that Bellof would attend numerous training schools and courses from the beginning of 1939 to the end of 1942, a full 3 years and more including time at Jagdgruppe Drontheim and Aufkl.Fl.Schule Brieg. Completing his training in November 1942 Bellof was assigned to 2./Störkampfgruppe Luftflotte 1. This unit was set up in October 1942 in the area of Leningrad to copy the Soviet tactics of sending small, slow aircraft over enemy lines at night to conduct nuisance raids keeping the enemy soldiers on edge and to deprive them of sleep. A lot of the time the pilots of such units would fly up to 4 or 5 sorties in one night with probably the best sortie ratio being achieved in March 1943 when the Gruppe flew 3,052 sorties in 22 nights - an average of 138 sorties per night for the Gruppe!!

In October 1943 Störkampfgruppe Luftflotte 1 was renamed Nachtschlachtgruppe 3 with 2./Störkampfgruppe Luftflotte 1 becoming 1./Nachtschlachtgruppe 3. By this time Bellof had already been awarded both grades of the EK and up to the Bomber Clasp in Gold, and a few days after the renaming to 1./Nachtschlachtgruppe 3 he was awarded the Ehrenpokal.

I think groupings each deserve their own thread so the owner can present it properly and provide all the information they have (or seek) rather than one single thread which will eventually become clogged up. It has been a while since I presented a grouping so will do so shortly.

I'm just complying with the title of the thread. Where these examples are part of a set I have the other citations as well ranging from one extra citation to 9 or so.

Another NKSiS variant from GD.

A large sized variant from StuG.Abt GD...

I can't say that I have ever seen such a citation printed as a mirror image like that. I wouldn't be comfortable with it being a genuine WW-2 item.

Very nice example and as mentioned, very rare. I wonder what the provision was for issuing such citations instead of the normal EK citation, i.e. why single out a particular soldier for this issue when others received the normal variant of citation for a posthumous issue? Interesting that it was issued a full year after the mans deeds.

Very nice example. I have a couple of SB to these Admin type guys and they are always chock full of entries, sometimes far more than those carried by combat troops. The signature of the Generalmajor on page 15 is Kurt Marlow who commanded Artillerie-Regiment 614 at the beginning of the war.

A great set of photos. They did indeed have camels in the Soviet Union, in the southern regions I believe.

hello kevin.

Ref. Chef 4./SS-Pz.Pi.Abt. 12...

Should it not be Pz.Pi.Bataillon rather than Abteilung?

Bernhard H. Holst

Yep, my mistake. I did actually put Btl for the Pinkernell entry so 1 out of 2 isn't bad! : D

SS-Hauptsturmführer Friedrich Pinkernell.

Born: 08 Oct 1912

Highest rank reached: SS-Sturmbannführer

9./LSSAH

IVa SS-Pz.Pi.Btl 12 'Hitlerjugend'

Image: Soldbuch

SS-Obersturmführer Herbert Bischoff.

Born: 06 Mar 1910

Highest rank reached: SS-Hauptsturmführer

18./LSSAH

Chef 4./SS-Pz.Pi.Btl 12 ' Hitlerjugend'

Image: Soldbuch

Can anyone help to identify this signature of a Hauptmann and Kompanie-Chef of 1./Pz.Abw.Abt 36 dated for 1937 please? I have checked the 03-Jan-1939 listing on the off chance he still held the same position but can not see anything that fits.

That is a nice entry Kev!

Thanks, it is a nice set indeed!

I can't say as I only have the Wolf Keilig version in its entirety that contains 408 Pages and only goes down to Major. However there is a version that goes down to the rank of Hauptmann which may well account for the extra pages but for that one I only have the Hauptmann listing and not the whole publication.