Heer Soldbuch Entries

[Andwwils]

I did a search through the old topics for what I was looking for-with no luck. I'm new here so maybe this has been discussed before but...

I have a small collection of Soldbuches and Wehrpasses that I have accumulated and yes, I' ve narrowed it down to basically books for older gentlemen who served in WWI and got called-up for WWII. That's what I collect anymore. I've noticed one odd thing, many veterans of WWI seem to not have detailed their Imperial decorations in their soldbuches during WWII which has always made me wonder if not detailing them was acceptable to regulation. For example, I have two soldbuches for Luftwaffe Flak Majors, one a reservist with none of his Imperial stuff listed but with a picture of him CLEARLY wearing a 6 piece ribbon bar with the usual Imperial stuff and another soldbuch for a man of the same rank and same comparable area of service who lists EVERYTHING he got during WWI, even his Hungarian and Bulgarian War Service commemoratives he received in 1940.

So...what's the deal with this? Anyone else notice this? I've noticed this mainly with officer books with the enlisted men called back for WWII generally listing everything. This isn't something that was limited to lower-grade officers either it seems. I have a book for a Luftwaffe Colonel born in 1892 who only listed his three meager wartime (1939-1945) decorations in his book.

Another observation that I have made (and speaking of my under-decorated Colonel's book) is in regards to the War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords. I have books five, count em' five books for men who received the KVK1 w/Swords on 20.4.1944. I'm thinking this had nothing to do with any individual acts of non-combattant valor but was some-sort of moral-booster thing with the award being given out on Hitler's B-Day for accumulated acts of service-especially with the condition of Germany at that stage of the war. The five books I have are mainly LW, 2 Majors, 1 Major d. R. and 1 full Colonel but...

This isn't limited to the Luftwaffe by any means, I have a soldbuch for a Major d. R. in the Army who was born in 1891 but lists only his WWII decorations in his soldbuch but in his matching Wehrpass, which I have, he lists EVERYTHING... AND he got the KVKIw/X on 20.4.1944.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Andwwils

[Gordon Williamson]

Can't really speak to why Imperial awards were omitted from some officer's Soldb?cher. I have certainly seen books where significantly long lists of Imperial awards were included for some very senior ranks.

As to the KVK entries though, you are absolutely right, the 20 April award date was significant because of Hitler's birthday and was a common date for whole blocks of awards to be made. I would suggest that those you have are most likely awards for merit on the home front, and as you say, for accumulated acts of merit. I have several KVK award documents for various grades from the Kriegsverdienstmedaille upwards, with 20 April as the award date and where the recipient was either a civilian, or a serviceman serving on the home front. 30 January is another common award date (the day Hitler came to power).

On purely military award documents for service at the front, the date could be any date.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

welcome... and let me say, a very unique theme/way of collecting !

[Andwwils]

I have two books with the 30.1. award date, one for a Police Oberwachtmeister (B.1883) who got the KVKII w/X on that date and another for a Korvettenkapitain d.R. who got the KVK1w/X on 30.1.1945. I had suspected something along those lines with that particular date as well but wasn't sure. The 20.4 and 30.1. award dates in the books that I have and the ones that I have seen online at various places have all been either 1944 or 1945 bestowals. I've yet to see one personally that was prior to 1944.

It's a neat way of collecting. I sold off most of my collection in 2002 and I kept all my documents relating to this area and I've bought a few more since. I average 4 or 5 books per year. I try to keep it limited to officers of field rank on up but I don't have any Generals or Admirals YET mainly because I'm too cheap to break-down and pay the money for them. The flag-rank books tend to be jammed with all the entries the owner could place in them but usually aren't all-inclusive from what I've seen with many of the minor awards being left-out, things such as the Honor Cross 1914-1918 or long-service decorations, etc. Imperial entries tend to get overlooked by people, which is alright by me so long as I'm collecting them.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Andwwils

[Guest Rick Research]

I suspect that Soldb?cher weren't as "retroactive" as Wehrpass entries, being for CURRENT pay and changes. The Wehrpass would have contained all the "old" career data.

Common general saved up for an occasion awards were made on 30 January, 20 April, and 9 November and you are quite right, those are more cumulative "this guy deserves something" awards rather than for anything specific.

Major dR zV Lautenschlager got his sole award for WW2 on Hitler's birthday-- which must have been a ironic to him, since he had been cashiered from the senior civil service apparently on some obscure Nuremberg Laws provision (his wife?).

[Andwwils]

Was the d.R. designation left-off of award documents at some point in the war? I ask this because I have a few for reservists myself that state their rank as simply X after a certain point but on earlier documents to the same individuals their rank is given as X d.R.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Andwwils

[Guest Rick Research]

Simple sloppy carelessness, I suppose. The same... unhelpful titular terseness also occurred during the first World War. But without having all the "other stuff" it can sure making identifications hard!