EK 1914 POSTUMOUS WW 1 EK II DOCUMENT TO WIFE OF EK WINNER

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gentlemen,

very uncommon document I believe for a Postumous WW1, EKII sent to wife of the winner.

On German Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.de/EK-2-mit-Postume-Verlei...1QQcmdZViewItem

Am I right in thinking they are rare??

Kevin in Deva

[Guest Rick Research]

What makes the seller think this WAS a posthumous award?

It was quite common to send an award to the home address of a wounded man whose movements had been lost track of, or who had been tranferred and was adrift in the military bureaucracy's paper trails.

This is actually the "enclosure" letter forwarding along the award document, not the actual award document.

Since no mention is made of the cross itself, he must have had that in his possession.

[Guest Rick Research]

Here's an example:

Hauptmann Alois Louis of Bavarian Infantry Regiment 14 had been shot through both legs early in the war, with complicated wounds that led to many months of hospitalization and eventually an amputation. As an officer, he was able to afford private hospital care which took him out of the military paper trail.

A bachelor, he wasn't at home. Corps didn't know where he was. Division didn't know where he was. Regiment didn't know where he was. Back and forth we can imagine the paperwork going. So this was sent back to the Home Establishment dumping the "problem" of getting his months-delayed document and Cross to him, assuming that he'd HAD to have been enrolled with THEM:

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"Be good chaps and pass this on when you next hear from him" is the general Now It's YOUR Problem drift.

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The GOC is tired of finding it still on his desk every morning, month after month. Take his Iron Cross. Please.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Have to agree with Rick, I have never been able to find any evidence of Postumous WW1 EK awards, in fact, have a large document that points to this as being impossible.

[Kev in Deva]

Have to agree with Rick, I have never been able to find any evidence of Postumous WW1 EK awards, in fact, have a large document that points to this as being impossible.

Hallo Chris & Rick,

many thanks for your comments on this document, seems the seller is either mistaken in his belief of what the document is for, because it is addressed to a MRS.

Or he is garnishing his description to raise the price of the EK II.

Kevin in Deva.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Kicking this up to the top to try and reawaken the thought...

.....Has anyone any examples of a sure postumous award....?

I am bekomming more and more sure they do not exist, and would be interested if someone could produce one.

Thanks

Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

Since this post I have found 2 certain posthumous awards. One which was a clear bending of the rules in 1914, and one where the approval list had gone up to the Division, and came back with an approved Iron Cross, although the guy had been killed while the papers were in transit, so his death date is a day or so before the award document was signed.

Does anyone have any other example?

Thanks

Chris

[padro]

Hi Chris a few years ago I acquired a memorial box that had been kept by the wife of Hauptmann von Zerssen, a company chief, of RIR86. It contains all sorts of bits and pieces relating to his service and death.

He was badly wounded at Carlepont and died in hospital at Noyon on the 22nd Sept 1914.

His EK2 certificate is dated 6/3/1916

So I thought I might have had one for you, until I read the final newspaper cutting!

It is strange though that non of the cuttings or his letters reveal his award of the EK2, apart from the above, dated 6 days after his death.

Regards

Pete

 

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

 

thats fantastic, an example of rushing to get him the award before he dies.

I have a similar group, officer dying of a bad face wound in 1914... they tripped over thenselves to award him the EK2, bavarian MVO4th class and Zähringer Löwen before he died.

Also another nice example of a XI Korps doc, the earliest ones are all from early 1916, many for awards made from 1914.