Kriegsmarine km marine

[douglynn]

looks like he was not given back his polish citizenship???2 awards ek2 and minenabzeichen,looks like he served in noray thanks for looking

[douglynn]

looks like he was not given back his polish citizenship???2 awards ek2 and minenabzeichen,looks like he served in norway thanks for looking

the man himself

[Simon Orchard]

Can you show us more of this one Doug, i may be able to fill in some extra info for you.

Given the situation he may well not have wanted to be repatriated to Poland.

[douglynn]

here are a few more bits for you simon pluson the weapons page i note all the entries are in blue then red would this have been that they where handed in on capture???

[douglynn]

scan2 ksv bergen a ship??? as on the back of one of the pics it says bergen

[douglynn]

scan3 i have no idea what this says

[Gordon Williamson]

On Page 23 I suspect the number 31242 may be the Feldpost Number. In which case his unit would have been 55 Vorpostenflotille. Are there any other clear entries showing a FP Number ?

[douglynn]

no strange all the fpnr have been inked out apart from the 2 shown 31242 and 10159 gives his place of birth as kostuchna just looking where that is??

[douglynn]

no strange all the fpnr have been inked out apart from the 2 shown 31242 and 10159 gives his place of birth as kostuchna just looking where that is??

http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/si...rb/ksv-west.htm

[douglynn]

and he got an award minensuchabzeichen so could be minesweeper in norway???

[douglynn]

maybe simon can translate when he is on it looks like norwegen???

[Simon Orchard]

Right, where to start.

KSV as you know Doug stands for K?stensicherungsverband which means coastal security forces, these were the small ship units that did the unglamorous but highly dangerous donkey work of the KM in Norway. They provided escorts for coastal convoys which were constantly being attacked by the RAF strike wings based up in North England and Scotland as well as Fleet Air Arm strikes when carriers of the home fleet decided to have a bash at jerry. Vorposten flottillas were largely made up of civvy trawlers and whalers converted for KM use.

Remember that the minensucher badge was a catch all award for all the small coastal craft (minus the S-boote) not just the minsweepers and sub-hunters.

The equipment entries in red are as you guessed when they were handed in at the end of the war, there should be dates next to them so you can tell how long after the war's end he had his weapons, sometimes it was several months. If you read the Lappland doc thread i posted yesterday you'll see how long after the end the Germans still provided guards for their own depots and stores.

That brings us on to the Polish entry, you'll see it's dated nov.45 that would indicate that he was involved in the clear up operations after the war, Lyngdal BTW is a coastal town in Southern Norway. Clearly, after screening it was judged he was fit for immediate release. It also hints at the huge problem the allies had in sorting out the millions of people scattered throughout Europe. The German armed forces weren't full of just Germans but people of many nationalities, they had to be segregated and screened for warcrimes etc. as the chit in his SB shows.

Your scan3 basically reminds the bearer of the SB that it was forbidden for them to take foreign currency back to Germany with them, that'd be a post 8th May 45 entry. Soldiers with Norwegian kroner had to exchange it for reichsmarks at a fixed rate (and not a favourable one for the Germans either)

[douglynn]

Right, where to start.

KSV as you know Doug stands for K?stensicherungsverband which means coastal security forces, these were the small ship units that did the unglamorous but highly dangerous donkey work of the KM in Norway. They provided escorts for coastal convoys which were constantly being attacked by the RAF strike wings based up in North England and Scotland as well as Fleet Air Arm strikes when carriers of the home fleet decided to have a bash at jerry. Vorposten flottillas were largely made up of civvy trawlers and whalers converted for KM use.

Remember that the minensucher badge was a catch all award for all the small coastal craft (minus the S-boote) not just the mi outstanding simon

Edited January 3, 2006 by douglynn