hucks216

Can anyone identify this signature please of the Battalion commander of III/Inf.Rgt 220 with a date of April to July 1941...

Civil driving license for a member of Inf.Rgt 5 & 220 who would be KIA in July 1941...

Major Josef Rintelen.

Born: 7th Mar 1897

Died: 14th Jul 1981

Highest rank reached: Generalleutnant

Chef 1./Inf.Rgt 5

Kdr I/Inf.Rgt 94

Kdr I/Inf.Rgt 478

Kdr Inf.Rgt 222

Kdr Inf.Rgt 931

Kdr Gren.Rgt 713

Kdr 357 Inf.Div

Ritterkreuz - 5th Aug 1940

DKiG - 1st Feb 1945

Image: Wehrpass

Hauptmann Heinz Fontana.

3./KG zbV 102

IV/TG 4

Staffelkapitän 3./TG 1

Ehrenpokal 5th June 1943

Image: Wehrpass

Hauptmann Fritz Selzer.

Highest rank reached: Major d.R

Adjutant LG-1

Flieger Ersatz Btl III

Image: Wehrpass

SS-Sturmbannführer Anton Wellbrock.

Born: 21st May 1911

Died: 22nd Nov 1983

I/SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt 3

Chef 3./SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt 4

Kdr SS-Pz.Gren.Ausb.u.Ers.Btl 9 Stralsund

Image: Promotion Document

Nice little Normandy related set and with the units linking with each other with one being used to form the other. As you have noticed, AR 352 of 352 ID became 1352 when the Infanterie-Division was reformed as a Volksgrenadier Division.

It is a pity that so little is known about the smaller units in the Kriegsmarine but that is a nice set indeed.

His flight to 60km west of London came a day after the Luftwaffe changed tactics in the Battle and switched their attacks to London.

Details for 8th September 1940

Details for 11th September 1940

Details for 14th September 1940

Looks like he spent June-December 1940 with 1./JG-27.

Does his pilots license show any entries that indicate what front line unit he flew with? Is that Jagdgeschwader 3 that I can see on the image of the inside page of the Flugbuch?

Your best bet might be books on the unit's history or try and find out if his personnel file is held at one of the archives.

I like the first one. Can't tell if it is hand signed or stamped/printed but it is the signature of Rudolf Stahl (Deutscher Industrieller, Vorsitzender des Hauptausschusses Munition im Reichsministerium für Bewaffnung und Munition).

As mentioned , it is a nice document. Lützow has a very distinctive signature and is probably one of my favourite signatures purely due to how it looks!

I suppose it could be plausible but why wouldn't he of just kept the front cover (and the first page) of the Soldbuch that would of already had a photo & details of him on it? It is the first time I have seen a date stamp like that to authenticate anything as the rest I have seen have been denazified eagle stamps and if he was already a PoW by this stage why isn't it an Allied equivalent? But obviously how can we know for sure what the circumstances were on the day.

At the end of the day it is an item that would be hard to prove or disprove either way and my gut feeling says 60:40 that this is ok.

Judging by the folds on both citations, both horizontal & vertical, it would like as if they were both folded and stored together - possibly in a Soldbuch or something similar.

When it comes to the database, one of the Pinned Threads is an alphabetical index which should help locating particular examples.

They look to be very nice examples and a nice very late war EK citation. The Reinhardt signature looks correct for his one (I have his signature many times and it matches them all pretty much). The Manteuffel one looks different from the one I have from his 1944 GD days in that this one looks shorter (see the example in the Signature Database) but having said that I still think it is a good example.

It is good that you have been able to keep hold of items belonging to your relative.

I have seen similar citations - not SA related though as I don't really keep an eye out for SA stuff - and most units throughout Germany from youth organisations and upwards held many sporting & cultural events and issued citations for the first three winners in various competitions.

If you wish to display it then glass is a good way, as long as it is the type that can protect it from the sun's rays, otherwise an acid-free sleeve (although that would depend on the size obviously. But it has survived 70 years folded up and as long as it isn't folded and refolded constantly it should be ok for another few years yet.

As for the bombing of Hannover, again taken from the Bomber Command War Diaries, it states that for the first raid visibility was good but stronger than forecast winds caused to the marking and bombing to be concentrated between 2-5 miles SSE of the city centre.

For the second raid, again faulty forecast winds saved the centre of Hannover but the very concentrated bombing fell on an area 5 miles north of the city centre. Apparantly, RAF photographic data showed that most of the bombs fell in open country or in the villages north of the city.

Yep, it is the signature of Curt Jahn.

That's an interesting piece of paper. There was a raid on Hannover on the night of the 22nd/23rd September which saw the loss of 31 aircraft from 7, 9, 10, 51, 57, 76, 77, 78, 90, 101, 102, 115, 158, 207, 214, 218, 428, 432, 434 & 460 Squadrons. An additional note of interest for that raid is that one of the aircrew shot down that night, F/O Pohe (RNZAF), went on to take part in The Great Escape in March 1944, was recaptured and was one of the 50 executed.

The raid on the night of 27th/28th September was even more costly for the bombers with 48 aircraft being lost from 7, 10, 15, 35, 50, 51, 61, 75, 76, 77, 78, 90, 101, 103, 106, 149, 156, 158,166, 196, 199, 214, 218, 405, 428, 432, 434, 460, 620 & 622 Squadrons.

(Source: RAF Bomber Command Losses Of The Second World War - 1943)

The Bomber Command War Diaries states that 711 aircraft took part in the first raid, which was the first raid on Hannover in 2 years, and also saw 5 USAAF B-17's taking part in the first American night raid on Germany. It states that 26 aircraft were lost. Maybe the discrepancy is due to aircraft making it back to the UK but crashing on landing?

For the second raid, the War Diaries book states that 678 aircraft took part in the raid with 38 being lost, including one B-17 (again, 5 USAAF B-17's participated).

Dear friends,

Is this Walter Wessel's signature?

Yep, certainly looks like it.

Well I did think it could be SS-Aufkl.Abt 2 which belonged to Das Reich but with the 2 being at the front it is hard to be sure. What is it on - showing an image will be a big help?

Chances are that unless he won any high end awards (which he didn't) or did something of note that it has been recorded in the unit history then it won't be possible to find anything out about him. His rank is that of an NCO.

Can you list the dates and units for each particular one to help people narrow down the search field?

Can you show as much as the document as possible so people can use whatever information is shown?

Can you post bigger scans?