Need help with research on an officer in Grenadier Regt. 6

[bolewts58]

I have a document set to a WWI/Reichswehr Oberleutnant and would kindly like to ask for help from those with the appropriate research sources, what (if any) other awards he received.

His name is Oberleutnant Kurt Karies. He entered the 6th (1st West Prussian) Grenadiers "Count Kleist von Nollendorf” on 20/4/1912 as a Fahnrich and was promoted to Leutnant on 20/11/1913. He served with Grenadier Regiment 6. all through WWI and into the Freikorps period before joining Reichswehr Schützen Regt. 9. in July 1919 and the Sicherheitspolizei Berlin in June 1920. He was discharged due to the armed forces reductions in August 1920 as an Oberleutnant a.D.

His awards listed on his 1933 service record are:  8/10/1914 EKII, 4/1917 EKI, 19/9/1919 Silesian Eagle 1 and 2. Not listed in 1933 is: 25/6/1919 Probation Badge for the V Armeekorps (a Freikorps award).

He was wounded twice: 30/9/1914 and 15/7/1918. So, among other things, I wonder why he didn't get a black wound badge. Did he receive any other awards not listed?

I've attached both sides of the 1933 service record for reference.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

 

 

[Dave Danner]

He died on 10 June 1953 in Weende, Göttingen. 

He is in the 1937 Stellenbesetzung as a Hauptmann (E) with an RDA of 1.11.1933 and in the 1939 Dienstaltersliste as a Major (E) with an RDA of 1.4.1938, in both cases assigned to the staff WBK Göttingen. He does not have a personnel file in the captured German military records in the National Archives, so he was not an active army officer in 1945. He is not in DeZeng & Stankey's collection of Luftwaffe officers, so he apparently did not transfer there, so I have no idea what he did during the war. 

As an E-officer, he would have received the Wehrmacht Dienstauszeichnung 4.Klasse for at least four years of service. I have no idea how long he was a police officer (his 1926 marriage certificate lists him as a Polizeihauptmann a.D.) nor how many years he served in the Heer before the war started, but with his eight years in the Prussian Army, he might have added enough to qualify for the Dienstauszeichnung 3.Klasse for 12 years' service. Plus, of course, the Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer. 

Wound badges were often omitted on these forms. The listing of the wounds would likely qualify him for the badge, though.

[bolewts58]

Hi Dave

 

Thanks so much. This is outstanding and much more than I expected. Much appreciated.

What is WBK?

Brian

Edited November 2, 2020 by bolewts58

[bolewts58]

I figured out WBK. Wehrmacht Bezirks Kommando.