Award Documents are Better

[Brian R]

Here's a great reason why award documents are best. This reminds me of why I got into collecting militaria in the first place - because I was a WWII buff first.

Here is a simple EK2 award document, awarded in April, 1944 in Wiesbaden. This was the headquarters of Wehrkreis XII - it includes a stamped signature of General der Infanterie Walther Schroth, the Wehrkreis commander at the time. EK2 documents rendered by a Wehrkreis can almost always be attributed to a wound. But based on the date on this document, its hard to figure out why the award was actually made.

[Brian R]

A little research of Panzer Artillery Regiment 140 will give some hints. But the accompanying wound badge document is the key part here. Pz A.R 140 was part of the 22nd Panzer Division. The division was part of Armee Gruppe B and was fighting in the area of the Chir River by August 1942. As the fighting in Stalingrad intensified, the division was to reinforce the Allied units on the northern flank of 6. Armee. It wasn't as well equipped as many other Panzer divisions as it was still armed with quite a few Czech 38(t) tanks. This, along with the fact that it was supporting weak Allied forces in the area (in piecemeal fashion), made it vulnerable to attack. It was this area that the brunt of the Soviet counterattck from the north, to encircle the troops in Stalingrad, took place. The story is well documented, including information in Antony Beevor's book on Stalingrad. He states that one of the reasons the division was so badly overrun was that the tanks were "dug-in" in straw - that mice living in the straw chewed the electrical wires in the tanks. This significantly inhibited the division's ability to respond to the Soviet onslaught and the divison was virtually wiped out.

Heinrich Helmes was significantly wounded in the fighting as he received the wound badge in silver for only one wound. The document shows that he was wounded in December but without a specific date. We'll never know the exact circumstances as to when and how he was wounded but it was probably during the retreat of the division's survivors.

He was involved in one of the most important campaigns of the war. A simple EK2 document becomes that much more interesting. It beats the hell out of looking at maker marks on zinc badges!

[Sammler]

Great analysis of the unit I have a similar EK2 and silber - 1 wound set. The EK2 has a facsimile Fromm signature . I had never thought of why they would be awrded in the rear like that but your points correlate. Thank you for an interesting read.

[Justin P]

Your so Right about Paper Having the History compared to the shiny Awards.....Nice Documents!

[Sammler]

Great analysis of the unit I have a similar EK2 and silber - 1 wound set. The EK2 has a facsimile Fromm signature . I had never thought of why they would be awrded in the rear like that but your points correlate. Thank you for an interesting read.

Brian,

Thought you might appreciate possibly a very similar ek2 award scenario.

[Luftm40]

I totally agree with you, and love document groups. After all, the document is actually the "award" not the shiny bauble. That said....most rank and file collectors will stare at a document group like a hog looking at a wrist watch. They either don't understand or care about the significance or research potential. The result is that document groups are, from my experience, white elephants. Very difficult to resell should the need arise, and I am always reluctant to buy them unless they are really interesting and something I want to keep for the long term. Nice documents and research BTW!

[Brian R]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Andy, I totally agree. Award documents remind me of why I became interested in World War II in the first place.

I love the awards too, and envy the guys who can study and identify various features like makers, die flaws, pin-construction etc. One of the reasons why I sold my awards years ago is I'm basically just not good at seeing those things. In a way, I like to see portraits of guys wearing the awards better as I can imagine a story behind the badge.

[Brian R]

Brian,

Thought you might appreciate possibly a very similar ek2 award scenario.

Nice set, I especially like the variant EK2 doc. It looks like your guy was heavily wounded in the fighting in the area between Minsk and Smolensk had been involved in the huge encirclement of Soviet troops in the area during the last week of June. An early victim of Operation Barbarossa.