Any evidence of Polizei Krimshields ??

[Zauberflöte]

Dear all, this question came up in the Police Forum;

It's known that Narvik and Cholm shields have been awarded to Police personnel. Does anyone know or can he back up the wear by Polizei troopers of a Krimshield (or perhaps Kubanshield) with photographic evidence or documents?

Many thanks

F

[Simon O.]

Narvik shields to police personnel?

Perhaps someone who later transferred to the police but no police were present during the campaign that i'm aware of, unless Dietl had a couple on his staff for the administration of Narvik town.


Whilst on the subject. I don't believe any Lappland shields were awarded to any police members. No police units qualified, though again, it's theoretically possible someone transferred to Pol.Schtz.Rgt. 7 or 27 near the end of the war who had qualified with another unit.

[Tim B.]

You bring up an interesting point. I remember seeing some Krim and Kuban shields being offered up by a couple of dealers a couple years back that claimed they were on "police" backing.

I looked at them and the shields were legit shields and the backing looked authentic, but... I could not see much of a major difference in the color of the backcloth from the standard Heer green cloth often seen on these.

I do remember seeing a Krim shield that had a much lighter green color and I think a Kuban with brown backing, but again, who's to say it still wasn't Heer and maybe the color on the computer screen was off?

I have not personally seen any documented group or any shield directly attributed to police units. Would be interesting.


Tim

[Zauberflöte]

Narvik shields to police personnel?

Perhaps someone who later transferred to the police but no police were present during the campaign that i'm aware of, unless Dietl had a couple on his staff for the administration of Narvik town.


Whilst on the subject. I don't believe any Lappland shields were awarded to any police members. No police units qualified, though again, it's theoretically possible someone transferred to Pol.Schtz.Rgt. 7 or 27 near the end of the war who had qualified with another unit.

Actually a few Narvik shields seem to have been awarded Simon, and approx. 400 Cholmshields. This is stated in report on the activities by the Orpo by Daluegue in 1942.

[Simon O.]

Yes i saw that but does it mean men who were at Narvik as polizei. Polizei who were doing a temporary stint in the wehrmacht (like Heinz Reinefarth) or members of the wehrmacht who transferred to the polizei after june 1940?

I know for example of at least one man who qualified for the shield as he was serving for a short while in the KM then returned to the SS. There's a photo of him in SS black panzer uniform wearing the shield.

[PBR]

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=cholm+polizei

[Zauberflöte]

Yes i saw that but does it mean men who were at Narvik as polizei. Polizei who were doing a temporary stint in the wehrmacht (like Heinz Reinefarth) or members of the wehrmacht who transferred to the polizei after june 1940?

I know for example of at least one man who qualified for the shield as he was serving for a short while in the KM then returned to the SS. There's a photo of him in SS black panzer uniform wearing the shield.

That indeed I can't answer with 100% certainty... in the same manor could of course the Krimshield have been worn by Policemen who earned it while serving in another branche..?

[Jody]

I know for example of at least one man who qualified for the shield as he was serving for a short while in the KM then returned to the SS. There's a photo of him in SS black panzer uniform wearing the shield.

Hi Simon,
The man you are talking about is Karl Wilhelm Krause. Krause had been part of Hitler's household staff until September of 1939. The reason was that Hitler feared being poisoned by by water following reports during the Polish campaign that Poles were contaminating water sources. Hitler ordered that he only be served Fachinger mineral water. Krause served him water, falsely stating that it was Fachinger. When Krause was unable to produce the bottle at Hitler's request, he was dismissed. (from the book With Hitler to the End: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler's Valet by Heinze Linge, page 20)

Krause then went into the Kriegsmarine and served at Narvik. Then he went back into the Waffen-SS.

Regards,
Jody

Note that Krause is still wearing the Kriegsmarine version of the Narvik shield with Kriegsmarine backing (plus the Destroyer's War Badge). Not too many Waffen-SS men could claim these decorations.

[Tim B.]

That's a great picture Jody! Never knew that story.
Tim

[Simon O.]

IIRC there's a photo of him in a Schiffer book on the HJ division in black panzer uniform. He was supposed to have been behind the design of the Wirblewind (mounting the 2cm Flak 38 vierling on a Pz.IV chassis).


As for the Krim and Kuban shields. I'd start by looking into any police units that might have been deployed in either theater of operations.