My Ek2 Document collection Western Front

[matthias_AC]

dear friends,


as ek-documents awarded on the western front 1944/45 are one of my main fields of interest besides german steel helmets i would like to share some impressions of my collection!

i´ll give you a rough description of the units history with every doc i post!

hope you enjoy it as much as i do!


cheers,


matthias


1) single ek2 document of panzer-lehr-regiment 130, signed by generalleutnant fritz bayerlein (commander of panzer-lehr-division). dated early august 1944, a few days after "operation cobra" and just before the falaise pocket.

[matthias_AC]

2) Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 115 (left), 15th panzer-grenadier-division. dated dec 14th and signded by an unknown oberst (by proxy). Presumably awarded to the soldier for fightings near the german town of geilenkirchen, just before the division was moved to participate in the battle of the bulge.

3) Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 192, 21st Panzer-Division. Dated August 31st, after the 21st was heavily bombed in the falaise pocket. signed by Generalleutnant Edgar Feuchtinger and countersigned by Major Heeringer.

[matthias_AC]

4) Ek1 awarded to a member of luftflotte 3 which had its headquarter in paris by that time. dated july 19th 1944. unfortunately the exact unit is not mentioned on the document (which seems to be pretty common for documents of luftflotte 3, its not the first one i see like that). wese either earned his ek1 for defending the airspace over france or for flak-action. but i rather think wese was a pilot as the 2nd flakkorps was the only flakkorps of luftflotte 3, and docs from this unit are normally signed by generalleutnant wolfgang pickert.
document signed by generalfeldmarschall hugo sperrle.

[matthias_AC]

5) another one from luftflotte 3, dated sept. 9th 1944. as you can see this one does not have a unit on it either! also, notice the change of commanders, it is not signed by hugo sperrle but generaloberst otto deßloch!

willi schmidt later participated in the famous battle of remagen. i know that because with the ek2-doc came his march order to remagen as the leader of a flak-unit.

[matthias_AC]

6) single ek2 doc for a member of panzer-aufklärungs-abteilung 116 of the famous 116th panzer-division "windhund"! awarded early december 1944, most likely for the battle of the hurtgenforest. signed by commander generalmajor siegfried von waldenburg. condition could be better, but i love it anyway...

[matthias_AC]

7) here comes one the the HIGHLIGHTS of my ek-doc-collection! ek2 document awarded to a member of kampfgruppe von der heydte on dec 29th 1944!!! kampfgruppe von der heydte took part in operation stösser, the last german drop of paratroopers in ww2! the kampfgruppe consisted of approximately 1200 fallschirmjäger and had order to secure important crossroads near malmedy, ardennes. the operation was a disaster especially due to bad weather conditions and only a few hundred fallschirmjäger made it back to the german lines.
signed by generaloberst kurt student!


i was lucky enough to be able to purchase this incredibly rare citation and some more of the same soldier a few years ago from another german collector who got them from a household clearance.

[matthias_AC]

alright, here are some bigger groupings of which i unfortunately do not have scans, but i hope the photos will do!

8) document-grouping of a soldier of fallschirmjäger-regiment 5, 3rd fallschirmjäger-division. this guy os mentioned in the divisions´s chronicles "der vergangenheit auf der spur". he was wounded near langerwehe, east of aachen in autumn 1944 before he took part in the battle of the bulge where he was awarded his ek2 on christmas eve. by that time the division fought in the malmedy area.

[Brian R]

Great award documents, Matthias! I have an EK1 to an officer with Stab II. Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 192. It's just like yours - dated August 31, 1944 with double signatures. Apparently, that was the day for award processing with the nightmare of the Normandy/French campaign behind them.

And, I would agree, your KG von der Heydte takes the cake!! A very rare citation for a relatively disastrous operation.

[Volksgrenadier 44]

Hi Matthias!

Great collection,EK docs are something I love too.Had I not spent so much on the crosses that go with them I would have had a few of my own left

Well done

Ross

[matthias_AC]

9) grouping of a fallschirmjäger of fallschirm-artillerie-regiment 5, later 7. he was awarded the ek2 in normandy, surprisingly by fallschirmjäger-division 3 although his unit officially belonged to fallschirmjäger-division 5! this group has been dicussed here and it is very likely that rapps unit lost contact with its division and instead joined fallschirmjäger-division 5.
later he saw action in holland and alsace (operation nordwind, haguenau forest).

[matthias_AC]

10) last one for today is a small group of a member of flaksturm-regiment 53 which saw action in normandy. signed by generalleutnant wolfgang pickert, commander of III. flak-korps. as the document dates august 18th 1944, it is very likely that the soldier received his ek2 for action in the falaise pocket where flak-units more or less succesfully kept the pocket open so other units could escape.

[matthias_AC]

as i am of the opinion the photos i took don´t do any justice to the nice documents i scanned them today for you...

scans related to post #7

[matthias_AC]

soldbuch

[matthias_AC]

sancs related to post #10

[matthias_AC]

scans related to post #11