Brought to you straight from Germany...

[tsellati]

...via upstate New York is my very first Iron Cross.

First and foremost I must thank fellow WAF member KonradR for parting with this wonderful example.

Here are some photos -







Here is the reverse -



And, here is a composite image of all the items I have acquired in my quest to collect the militaria pictured in the photograph that will serve as the centerpiece of my display -



As this is my first Iron Cross I would very much appreciate learning whatever you can tell me about it. All opinions and comments are welcome.

Tim

[streptile]

As this is my first Iron Cross I would very much appreciate learning whatever you can tell me about it.

Yours is a very nice original example of an Iron Cross made by maker "60" Katz & Deyhle. The "60" is characterized by rounded (filed) inner frame corners near the swastika and a wide open 3 in the 1813 date. The cores are always made of steel (thus they are magnetic), the frames of neusilber, an alloy that contains no real silver. These are uncommon (if not quite rare), especially marked "60" on the ring. As you haven't mentioned a mark, I am guessing yours is unmarked, which is my personal preference as the quality is higher in the earlier unmarked crosses (especially with maker 60, whose quality fell off towards the end of the war). So I would say this cross was made some time before 1942.

Do you know who the guy in the photo is, or when his EK2 award was made?

[tsellati]

Yours is a very nice original example of an Iron Cross made by maker "60" Katz & Deyhle. The "60" is characterized by rounded (filed) inner frame corners near the swastika and a wide open 3 in the 1813 date. The cores are always made of steel (thus they are magnetic), the frames of neusilber, an alloy that contains no real silver. These are uncommon (if not quite rare), especially marked "60" on the ring. As you haven't mentioned a mark, I am guessing yours is unmarked, which is my personal preference as the quality is higher in the earlier unmarked crosses (especially with maker 60, whose quality fell off towards the end of the war). So I would say this cross was made some time before 1942.

Do you know who the guy in the photo is, or when his EK2 award was made?

streptile,

Thanks for sharing all the excellent information. Here is an image of the writing on the back of the photograph -



Knowing absolutely no German, all I can make out is November 15, 1942. The 1942 date of the photograph is consistent with the likelihood that the Iron Cross may have been manufactured in 1941 or earlier.

Any help with translating the writing on the back of the photo would be much appreciated.

Tim

[D Funk]

Hi, I believe the photo shows the soldier on the day that he was awarded the cross. This is because they were only allowed to wear the cross on the button hole the first day. After that they wore the ribbon only. The cross could have been made earlier and awarded in Nov of 1942. Welcome to the club!

[tsellati]

Yours is a very nice original example of an Iron Cross made by maker "60" Katz & Deyhle. The "60" is characterized by rounded (filed) inner frame corners near the swastika and a wide open 3 in the 1813 date. The cores are always made of steel (thus they are magnetic), the frames of neusilber, an alloy that contains no real silver. These are uncommon (if not quite rare), especially marked "60" on the ring. As you haven't mentioned a mark, I am guessing yours is unmarked, which is my personal preference as the quality is higher in the earlier unmarked crosses (especially with maker 60, whose quality fell off towards the end of the war). So I would say this cross was made some time before 1942.

Do you know who the guy in the photo is, or when his EK2 award was made?

Oh, I meant to add that you are correct that the reason I did not mention a mark on the ring is because none is present. This too would be consistent with the pre-1942 manufacture as you suggest.

Tim

[Johannski]

The text on the back of the photograph reads:

Heinz Büsch
als Andenken für
Tante Berta u. (und) Onkel
15. 11. 1942

Heinz Büsch
as a souvenir for
aunt Berta and uncle
15. 11. 1942

Congrats!

[Johannski]

Sorry, i have to correct me:

Heinz B r ü s c h.

[tsellati]

Sorry, i have to correct me:

Heinz B r ü s c h.

Thank you so much for the translation. I will see if I can research this soldat. Is there the German version of the U.S. NARA system where you can enter the name of a WWII veteran and obtain information about their service? When they enlisted and where and so on and so forth?

Tim

[Johannski]

There are several ways. Here a link to a summary site points (with secondary addresses):

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Suche.htm

Good luck!

[fabri-online]

Hi, I believe the photo shows the soldier on the day that he was awarded the cross

Hello, I don't agree. The photo shows the soldier in a photo-studio and not on the field, he could be awarded days/weeks/months before, depends where he was fighting, maybe in Germany, maybe in an occupied country.

[Woolgar]

Tim, a very lovely cross and one of my favourite makers! I have two of those beauties

Nick