Visiting German veterans part II

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Im back from a 2 days travel through the homeland of our hobby and during my visit i had the honour to visit a few of my favorit Glider pilot veteran friends.

This veteran was a trained glider pilot and flew first a few missions in Russia, he then was transferred towards a training unit and became part of the Lw-Feld.Regt "Barenthin". he went towards Africa with his unit and earned himself no less then 5 awards on the African soil :

EK2,EK1, Wound badge black, Erdkampfabz. & the Afrika cufftitle.

It is always a pleasure for me to visit these guys (I visited 6 Glider veterans during those 2 days and this was the only one who still had his awards => but for me this is a major addition towards my humble collection, etc .... )

Here they are, the award grouping of Lt.X.

The grouping consits out of the following awards :

* Iron cross 1 e class (maker marked L/50)
* little ribbon for the Iron cross 2 nd.class
* Glider pilots badge (a really famous maker !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
* Erdkampfabzeichen (maker marked : G.H.Osang)
* Wound badge black
* Cufftitle "Afrika"
* SA sportabzeichen "Bronze"

Cordial greetings and enjoy

[Stijn David]

german veterans

Hello,


Here is a scan from the Iron cross 1 e Class, it is heavely worn but shows still its excellent detail. The cross is correctly maker marked L/50 (= Gebr.Godet/berlin).

Lt.X. eared both EK's in teh Afrika campaign. His EK 2 for the capturing of a US armoured vehicle single handed and bringing it back with 3 prisoners into German hands. he earned his EK1 for a fierce battle (he was the only survivor from his battlegroup) near Mateur at the end of April 1943.His grouping off 7 man defended a hilside on wich the Britisch tryed to break through for about a week. This small grouping standed the attacks for 3 days untill almost all men where killed in action and the only one (Lt.X) left was forced to retreat. He was severly wounded during this fight by a explosive bullet in his arm.

After making it back towards the German frontlines he was one of the last that made it back towards Italy with a Ju 52 and spent almost 9 months in hospital for recovery.

Enjoy

[Stijn David]

the Africa cufftitle

Hello,


Here is a scan of the "Afrika" that was originally worn by our friend, you can still see the stiching markings as how it was attached towards the uniform.

This cuff. is the so called "Camelhaar" type and the colours are slightly drkned by its wear. The cuff. was also shortened towards approximatly 25 cm.

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

the reverse of the cuff

Hello,


Here is the reverse of this nice cuff.


greetings,

[Stijn David]

the stitch marks

Hello,


Here is a close up from teh stitch marks + original stitch threads


Greetings,

[Stijn David]

the wound badge

Hello,


Here is the black wound badge wich he received for his wound, this wound shortened his right arm with 2 centimeter !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The wound badge is maker marked with L/56 (= Funcke & Bruninghaus ), the needle on this one is a periodly replaced one.


Cordial greetings,


Greetings,

[Stijn David]

Erdkampf abzeichen

Hello,


here is the so called "Erdkampfabzeichen", he made exactly 2 ground assault and was (as we can read above) wounded during fighting. the piece is a nice G.H.Osang maker marked piece that has a period repair on the catch.


Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

the reverse

Hello,


Here is the reverse of this magnificent award


Greetings,

[Stijn David]

The treasure

Hello,


And here is the absolute heaven for every collector, a superb early Buntmetal maker marked (I let you guys guess the maker ) Glider pilots badge !!!!!!!!!! , you won't find them any nicer .


Cordial greetings,

[nick]

Hi Stijn

Very nice group
I'm waiting to see more
The badge looks like a juncker to me
Cheers
Nick

[Stijn David]

SA sports badge

Hello,


And last but not least the SA sportbadge in bronze, maker marked for Berg & Nolte and numbered on the reverse : 579735.

this award is still in excellent condition.

Our Lt.X. was after his recovery active again as a Glider instructor in Posen + was transferred towards FJ unit mid 1944 where he was active as a platoon leader and saw combat action again in Holland.

He was made POW in March 1945 and was POW for about 3 months + released shortly afterwards towards his home.

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

a trophy from Africa

Hello,


And here is a nice silk piece out of a Britisch parachute. This piece was cut out a parachute from a downed Spitfire pilot who made a crash landing near the German lines in Tunesia on the date of 22.04.1943.

Apparently it was a nice piece to take home and so it happened


Cordial greetings,

[Angel Farré]

Nice adition to your "humble" collection, any documents or photos from your friend?

Go on this way, it's very difficult to find pieces with a true story attached.

Angel

[Stijn David]

Award docs.

Hi ,


Thank you for the comments,

@ Nick: indeed a perfect Juncker piece !!!!!!!

@ Angel : he still owns the original award documents + quite a few more bits and pieces and they are comming one of the next weeks so be patient and I can show them


Cordial greetings,

[Ian Tannahill]

Giday Stijn,

Thank you for sharing these photographs with us and congratulations on the acquisition of yet another fine glider pilots qualification badge for your collection.

All the best,

Ian