Young Pz Gren Lt's Soldbuch

[Jock Auld]

Guys,

Quite interesting, his name is French I think?

Seems he qualified for Close Combat Clasp in bronze but it wasn't issued.

This is a second issue and it is likely he lost everything in the withdrawal from Tunis if Lexicon is correct?

Thought the Page 22a etc was quite interesting as I have not seen this before, it looks like an efficient way to record training in the then diverse array of weaponry and skills that were coming on line?

Lastly tucked in the back cover was his promotion from Sgt to Lt.

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Jock.

Thanks for showing this. As you note his name is French. Most likely a descendant of French-Huguenots who left their country to escape persecution of Protestants in France at some time in France's history and found refuge in one of several German states offering a new home. By the way it was also hoped that the newcomers were bringing new talents which were needed.

The  inserts shown is an expedient way to list special training in weapons and differentiates actual training and familiarization only. It provides a quick glance at the array of weaponry then in use overall.

Thanks again.

Bernhard H. Holst

[Jock Auld]

Bernhard,

Interesting that he has no entry for religion then.

I was looking at the awards section and I am not sure about the last two but it would make sense and it was cheep enough to take a risk.  I am also not that keen on the mad stamping on the close combat days either, I wonder how often they were reconciled and entered?

That aside I think the training insert pages are ok and for that reason alone I had to add it.

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Jock.

I agree with you that the last two entries for decorations may be iffy. To note that there did  not exist a Panzer Sturm Abzeichen but properly named Panzer Kampfabzeichen. Based on the stamp-crazy list of close combat days he would have qualified for a Kampfabzeichen a lot sooner than 1945.

As to no religion entry may just mean that the family did not belong to any organized religion ( and therefore did not have to pay Kirchensteuer/church tax ).

Bernhard H. Holst

[Jock Auld]

Bernhard,

Like I say not a 100% but I would forgive some clerk writing up the wrong abbreviation, that is possible.  The other thing that has me perplexed is why put all of those days in and not fake an entry for the close combat badge?  But without his previous book to look at and with his EK2 entry which looks ok, he should certainly have qualified for an assault badge, Pz in Bronze would be correct for PzGren.  Whatever doubts I have it can't be changed just noted for the future.  Such a shame if it 'enhanced' as it would have been fine with one 'kampf tag' and ending at the sports badge?  I await Kevins views as I know he has a better eye for these things.  It may be useful to try and identify the FP number if it is deemed wrong and that may be possible under the pencil signature on the awards which looks deliberately fudged.  If I were to erase that bit the stamp may be legible and recorded for future reference.

[hucks216]

Likewise to what has been mentioned I also think the last two awards and the Nahkampftage are dubious entries. The only places that those stamps are seen are in relation to those two areas even though there are other entries in the SB covering those time frames which have different stamps. I think they have been used to disguise the entries and bogus signatures. The first Close Combat Day is original I believe with all the others being possibly bogus - Numbers 2 to 12 all seem to have been done in the same ink and yet span a period of almost 18 months.

[Jock Auld]

Kevin,

Yes, as I thought and now confirmed as I have been able to ID one of the stamps, he got a bit sloppy, it is 32208 which should worry anyone that has recently bought a G v B book of any sort as I don't doubt that it will be a passable stamp when used correctly?  Anyone picked one up lately from NW Germany as someone here is a busy beaver.  The last book that was 'enhanced' in an earlier thread to 3 brothers was returned to the punter, I only kept the SBs, he tells me in turn that he resold it on a FB militaria page that is popular here at the moment.  I pointed out he could loose his good name but he said not likely as the person he bought it from is one of the moderators of that page/site/what ever it is, I shall try and get the proper name of it and the person steering it?

[hucks216]

There seems to be a few of those FB pages popping up at the moment so any indication as to what one would be good.

The bogus stamp has been very well done and like you say, if used in the right SB could easily add authenticity to an otherwise bogus award entry. The problem is that it is so easy to make a good stamp - you just need a good clear image of an original (taken from any number of dealer or forum sites), a basic knowledge of Photoshop and some acetate sheets.

[Jock Auld]

I think I may have to take my tinfoil hat off and join facebook to recce these sites.  I will let you know what I find, the shame is I would have given him €40 for it before it was edited so he has made no great gain as such.  I am worried it is going to be a general trend here now and that the damage to the books will be irreversible, such a shame!  I will do my best to find the clown.