It's only a EK 2..

[Jos L C]

Remember when you look at your EK 2..

...That it didn't come in a bag of chips..


Father and son at the Eastern front ,each one with a mint EK 2 ,hungry ,stiff from cold and probably no brain activity in these temperatures..
AND..,they were lucky to get one..,if you can call that lucky..

Jos.

[Biro]

Eastern front....the place to be....

Nice photo Jos..

[mvm71]

Super photo, is it original?


Thanks for showing!
Mike

[Jos L C]

Super photo, is it original

I found it somewhere a while ago..
No,I don't have the original..

I thought it was a nice pic to show what circumstances were needed to earn one of these crosses..

Next step would be the EK1...if you survived..
Sometimes these medals/badges didn't come easy..
Looks like the little fellow already was hit on the helmet right above his forehead..,in the middle of the white spot..looks like..

Jos.

[George Stimson]

A good reminder....

Thanks for the pic, Jos!

[Darrell]

Yes. Nice picture. I have that one in an old War Magazine from the 70's.

I would probably say the photo was shot for propaganda purposes more than actual "combat about to commence" situation.

I doubt:

a) the youngster would have nothing wrapped around his ears this time of year (believe me .. Im a Canuck)

b) Not usual to see EK II's worn in combat .. which would ...

c) not be the thing to wear when trying NOT to be seen. The flash of the medal in the light would catch a Russian's eye in no time.

That being said .. the pic speaks volumes, and you have to wonder what each is thinking .....

Here's another father/son pic from "The Decline & Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan" by Hans Dollinger (this is a good photo book, covers the last days of the war in Europe & Japan, most of the photos are not found in other books)

Jos, they look like the same pair in your photo. It's hard to see any insignia, but it looks like an Army buckle on the father and a luft buckle on the son.

Caption reads "Father and son being decorated wiht the Iron Cross (2nd Class) after the battle of Metgethen"

Regards,

Fred

[Darrell]

Here's another father/son pic from "The Decline & Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan" by Hans Dollinger (this is a good photo book, covers the last days of the war in Europe & Japan, most of the photos are not found in other books)

Jos, they look like the same pair in your photo. It's hard to see any insignia, but it looks like an Army buckle on the father and a luft buckle on the son.

Caption reads "Father and son being decorated wiht the Iron Cross (2nd Class) after the battle of Metgethen"

Regards,

Fred

Very interesting Fred,

Never saw this picture before ... and yes ... it does look like the same pair. Not familiar with the Battle of Metgethen ...

Where is that? When was that? I would assume 1945 sometime.

[Heer Flak]

Great Photos!

Eric

[Darrell]

Dug up a small tidbit of info on this Battle of Metgethen (near Konigsberg-East Prussia) referred to above:

In the area around Metgethen, the first German soil to be occupied by the Red Army, there came reports of constant atrocities and massacres of the civilian population. The 505 Panzer Battalion responded in unison with the equally decimated 52nd Infantry Division in a counterattack that freed the town and created a corridor 1.5 kilometers southwest to the town of Medenav. The soldiers evacuated the area of civilians and, despite constant air attacks, resolved to keep the corridor open at all costs. Six Soviet divisions sent to the area were incredibly held at bay for six days while other parts of Prussia were freed. As a result, more than 100,000 people were able to flee by boat, and the German forces directly helped over 12,000 people get from Metgethen to the seaports.

[gsm_689]

Caption reads "Father and son being decorated wiht the Iron Cross (2nd Class) after the battle of Metgethen"

Very interesting photo. I live in Metgethen. Now it is a village in the city of Kaliningrad (former Koenigsberg). The village now bears the name of Alexander Kosmodem'yanskii, the hero of the Soviet Union (he was killed in those places). This brother of Zoya Kosmodemjanskaya

[Woolgar]

Thought provoking images there!

Nick

[gsm_689]

Caption reads "Father and son being decorated wiht the Iron Cross (2nd Class) after the battle of Metgethen"

Son in the "Die Deutsche Wochenschau Nr. 755 (1945-03-22)".
Bad quality screenshots (((


Maybe someone else has pictures of the fighting in February-March 1945 in Koenigsberg area?

[Snni]

Great pictures, guys