hucks216

Kapitän z. See Hans Hartmann.

Born: 16th Jan 1897

Died: 9th Mar 1976

Highest rank reached: Konteradmiral

Chef 5 Zerstörer Division

Stab B.d.P, 1 Asto

Chef d. Stabes M.Befehlsh. Südnorwegen

Stab Kom. Admiral Norwegen, 1 Asto

Führer 3 Sicherungsdivision

Komdt 'Admiral Hipper'

Chef d. Stabes Flottenkdo

OKM Sonderbeauftragter des Ob.d.M für Personaleinsparung

Seekomdt Attika

Kdr 1 Marine Schützen Brigade

Kdr 1 Marine Division

OKM Sonderbeauftragter des Ob.d.M für Personaleinsatz

Seekomdt Oslofjord

DKiG - 18th August 1942

Image: Minesweeper Badge citation

Very interesting. My German isn't good enough to read them but I'm always surprised how such flimsy things survived the war.

An example from July 1941 on a KvK II Kl + Schw citation.

Pity one of them was not a Yank, then we would already have a Spielberg film ;-)

Since when has that ever stopped Hollywood from 're-arranging' history :-) They did take off from Wideawake Airfield which is leased to the USAF after all.

Having read Sharkey Ward's book it is obvious he has a bug to bear against the RAF (and the Flag & Air Staff in HMS Hermes, and 800 Squadron FAA) but he does bring up a valid point in that there were Sea Harrier pilots who flew far more combat missions during the Falklands War but never received awards as high as those who flew the Vulcans on one or two missions and were never engaged by the Argentine Air Force.

As an aside to the Black Buck raids it is interesting to read 'Sharkey' Ward's views of these bombing raids in his book 'Sea Harrier Over The Falklands'. He basically summarises that it was a lot of effort and fuel for very little return compared to what could of been accomplished by the Harriers if they had access to that amount of fuel.

In a move that I am sure will go down a storm with Luftwaffe collectors/researchers Larry deZeng & Doug Stankey have made their huge database of Luftwaffe Officers Careers available to the public in the form of PDF's...

http://www.ww2.dk/lwoffz.html

According to the Intro there are over 35,000 Luftwaffe officers listed with whatever details the duo have been able to gather about them.

And finally the awards page showing the awards of KvK II Kl + Schwertern, Ost Medal, Drivers Badge in Bronze, Heeres-Flak Badge and the EK II.

Aslo shown is the 'Flak Points' & Sturmtage sides of the additional sheet.

His second units page showing service with 3./Heeres-Flak-Artilerie (mot.) 295 and the award of the Drivers Badge in Silver.

His personnel details and his units page showing the transition from the Flak units of 12 Pz.Division (10./Pz.Art.Rgt 2) to 20 Pz.Division (10./Pz.Art.Rgt 92).

A first for my collection is this soldbuch to a member of a number of Heeres-Flak-Artillerie-Abteilung, which if I have followed the lineage correctly started with 12 Panzer Division before being reassigned to 20 Panzer Division (Source: Fire Brigades by Kamen Nevenkin). I believe he spent at least some part of the last months of the war as a motorcycle messenger. It is the first soldbuch I have to someone awarded the Heeres-Flak Badge and an additional little bonus was a sheet of paper showing the points awarded to enable him to be eligible for the award and signed by his Batterie Chef (no idea who that is I'm afraid). Two points were awarded if an aircraft was shot down with the assistance of other batteries while 4 points were awarded if a single battery was the sole responsibilty for downing an aircraft. In Schilling's case he was awarded 2 points three times and 4 points a further three times. The points threshold for the qualification of the badge was 16.

On the reverse of the 'Flak Points' sheet is Schilling's Sturmtage.

He was awarded the KvK II KL + Schwertern, Ost Medal, Drivers Badge in Bronze & Silver, Heeres-Flak-Badge and the EK II.

According to Fire Brigades, Schilling's units were equipped with 20mm Flak and 20mm Flak Vierling until late in the war when the former 20mm Flak was upgraded to 37mm.

As he isn't listed for any high end awards (with that spelling at least) I would assume that a large percentage of those 1500 sorties were training flights or something along those lines. I have a Wehrpass to a fighter pilot from 1939 to 1945 and of the 1838 flights he made only 116 were counted as combat sorties.

No idea who he might of been but I would say that the order round his neck bears a resemblance to the Bulgarian Order Of Military Merit... http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=4088

Hello,

There is no-one with that name listed for either an Ehrenpokal or DKiG in the Ordensträger. Maybe the spelling is different.

As for SG 5 there is a little information on the web but not much...

http://www.ww2.dk/air/attack/sg5.htm

http://www.cieldegloire.com/sg_005.php

There is a proposed second volume due on Dive Bomber & Ground Attack Units Of The Luftwaffe 1939-1945 by Larry de Zeng & Doug Stankey that would provide details on SG-5 but at the moment that has been put on hold by the publishers. The only others that I can think of is an Osprey book and a Luftwaffe Colours book that cover all the ground attack units but nothing in depth...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Luftwaffe-Schlachtgruppen-Aviation-Elite-Units/dp/1841766089/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332501191&sr=1-11

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schlachtflieger-Luftwaffe-Ground-Attack-Colours/dp/1857802748/ref=pd_sim_b_6

The EK I is signed by Ernst Lucht (RK & DKiG) while the last one is signed by Joachim Plath. Both ended the war as a Konteradmiral.

The Sudetenland Medal citation is signed by Fritz Berger who commanded the destroyer Bruno Heinemann from 8th January 1938 to 3rd December 1939. I believe his final rank was Kapitän zur See and he won the RK on 4th August 1940.

The KvK citation has the stamped signature of Ernst Schirlitz.

The signature looks like "Clemens" to me also Kevin.

I wonder if this guy is a German official or an Australian Official??

Regards,Martin.

Managed to find a teensy bit more out and the signer isn't Kriegsmarine, but looks to be Heer with the rank of Major (of course, he might be Luftwaffe but I'm just assuming Heer). I've Copied & Pasted it so the translation is with the original item...

II. Chef Kriegsgef. Aug.: General & Political affairs of the prisoner of war set-up. Col. Dr. V. Reumont

Group Allg. I: Treatment of prisoners of war and effects of the prisoner Lt. Col. Krafft of war problem on national policies.

Group Allg. II: The prisoner of war problem in its foreign-political aspects; Major Roemer escorting of representatives of the Protecting Powers, of

the I.R.C., etc., on their visiting trips.

Group Alig. III: German prisoners of war in enemy lands and members of the Major Clemens Wehrmacht interned in neutral countries.

Group All’g. IV: Problems of administration of the prisoner of war set-up.

Taken from: Rules and Regulations for the Operations of German Prisoner of War Camps ( http://www.lawofwar....POW%20Rules.htm )

Judging by this link it might be U-130... http://www.uboat.net/special/emblems/u130.html

I'd say he was German as the letter is dated in Berlin and by a representative of the 'Chef der OKW'.

Hi Kevin, i have one more document with an unknown (to me) signature. This is a Hilfskreuzer award document for a crewman from the HK Kormoran. The document was issued while he was being held in Murchison POW camp in Australia. I have seen a few of these "Kormoran" documents and they all bear the same signature.

I do not think it is the signature of the Commander of the Kormoran,Theodor Detmers.

Thanks,Martin.

The signature looks like it says 'Clemens' but without a rank it will be hard to tie it down to a specific person.

Thanks again Kevin.

That's just great.

So,i am not sure how this works?

Now that you have identifed the names do you add them to the database or would you like me to add them?

Either way is fine with me.

Thanks and regards,Martin.

If you can add them then that will be great. That way you can put as much or as little information as you wish.

After digging through my files I've found the third one - it is Hans-Herbert Stobwasser.

The second one is Gustav Kieseritzky who held that position from Feb to Nov 1943.

Generalmajor Werner Kempf.

Born: 9th Mar 1886

Died: 6th Jan 1964

Highest rank reached: General der Panzertruppe

Panzerverband Kempf

Kdr 1 Leichte Division

Kdr 6 Panzer Division

Kommandierender General XXXXVIII Armeekorps

Kommandierender General XXXXVIII Panzerkorps

Oberbefehlshaber Armee-Abteilung Kempf

Wehrmachtsbefehlshaber Ostland

Kommandierender General vom Höheres Kommando Oberrhein

Ritterkreuz - 3rd Jun 1940 / Eichenlaub - 10th Aug 1942

Image: PAB Bronze citation - Stamped signature

Generalfeldmarschall Walter von Reichenau.

Born: 8th Oct 1884

Died: 17th Jan 1942 - due to hear failure after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage two days earlier.

Oberbefehlshaber der Gruppe 4

Oberbefehlshaber 6 Armee

Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe Süd

Ritterkreuz - 30th Sept 1939

Image: KvK II Kl + Schw citation - Stamped signature.