Meet Walter Michael Steinmetz. He was born 4 March, 1915 in Trier and was a school teacher prior to the war. As an Oberleutnant and company commander in Infanterie Regiment 124 he was fatally wounded in the fighting around Riga. His death was reported in Kriegslazarett (Field Hospital) Riga, 2/608 on 11 Feb, 1944 in/around Riga Latvia and he is buried in Ehrenfriedhof Riga-Ost (Lettland). All of the awards on the tunic including the ribbon bar, are his. With the exception of the Reiterabzeichen. It went missing over the years before the family decided to part with his Nachlass. I could imagine a young family member may have been allowed to play with it or another family member decided to take it because it didn't have a swastika.
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Very nice. I love those tunics with history attached.
Regards
ChristianComment
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Hi Todd!
Fantastic historical archive matey , thanks for sharing it
RossComment
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Thank-you Christian and Ross. I like that we can trace his "progression" from the ostensibly pre-war trip to the photo studio to how the tunic presents now. He was promoted from Leutnant to Oberleutnant and earned the KVK with swords, the Ost Medal, and the army long service medal as well as a black wound badge. But it goes to show that not every infantry company commander was some highly decorated "hero" as he does not even have the EK II, much less EK I. Like many officers, he left his expensive and finely tailored uniform back home when he went off to the Front. I hypothesize that he updated it for wear while home on leave, possibly leave or convalescence granted after he was wounded, because that was common. A few guys even bothered to update their parade tunics, perhaps in anticipation of the eventual victory parade after Germany won the war.
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Hi , a tunic with history this is what i like Kevin.Comment
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