Award Eligiblity

[David B]

Would it be likely that someone that had served in Kreta and Krim (in a backline unit) had not recieved the Krim Shield or the Kreta Cuff title?

I put the question in here because its in a Wehrpass I'm looking to buy.

Thanks

[Gary T]

It is possible that the entry may not be there in the wehrpass...it would depend if he moved units, was discharged etc. On experience I would say it would be more likely for the Krim Schild to be there rather than the Kreta cuff title. You have any scans of the unit page or campaign page?

The most important factor on whether a campaign award is entered is the time period passed between the campaign and the award being issued. For example the Krim-Schild was issued very shortly afterwards the campaign finished - summer 1942. So most, if not all, of the wehrpasses in my collection who saw action in the Crimea have the shield entry.

However I have quite a number of wehrpasses to men who saw action in the Kuban (20+) - yet I only have Kuban Schild entry and that was posthumous. That was awarded in October 1944, over a year after the last soldier had left the Kuban. All of my would-be recipients were either dead, medically discharged or transferred to a non-Kuban unit. I have similar findings with the Demjansk Schild...except I don't have a single wehrpass with that entry despite have 10+ men who served there during the period required.

In terms of rarity of shield entries (for WP) I would say it goes something like this (from rarest entry to most common):

Kholm
Kuban
Narvik
Demjansk
Lappland
Krim

Despite dealers trying to charge high prices for Lappland Schild entries I find it is the most common shield award to find after the Krim Schild.

Don't know if anyone else would agree with that?

Cheers,
Gary.

[Ian Jewison]

Just to make things clear....he had to have fulfilled the qualification criteria for the award for it to be rendered!

I have been asked on many occassion similar questions but they were easily answered.....for example someone asked why someone serving on Crete did not have the Kretaband....after examining the document simply as he never arrived there until 1942!

So just because he was there does not necessarily mean he automatically qualified for the award!

I have one where the guy belonged to a unit that was at Cholm, he was awarded the EK II at the end of the siege of Cholm, however no Cholmschild is entered!
Maybe he was not in the Festung and did not qualify...however all my sources say that this particular unit was in the Festung and he does not have any leave dates for that period either! Was he awarded it? We may never know but it is a possibility...

Without the award entry you can unfortunaly only speculate.......

However another example would be a Fallschirmjäger who was killed on Crete would have been entiled to the Kretaband but the Wehrpaß might well have been closed and sent to the family before the award was authorised/rendered.

I do have a few examples of both Soldbuch and Wehrpaß to the same person where the awards differ in each pass....ie forgetting to enter them in one of the passes, or even not entering any at all!!!!

Another case is where some awards are entered in the pass and there are other citations for awards with the group that again are not mentioned in these passes....

Hope I haven't confused you?

/Ian

[Ian Jewison]

Another example is a Soldbuch I have to a member of Fallschirm Pioniere Bataillon, 7 Flieger Division. He joined this unit on 20.5.1941, the same day as the air assault on Crete.
Examing the Soldbuch that has entries throught to the end of the war, there is no mention of the Kretaband!!!

However the sources state that the unit was there!!!!

Over the years I got to know this gentleman and when I asked why he did not have this award he said "Because I was not there"...simple!

At the start of the campaign Herr B. was transferred to Athens with a transport unit consisting of 50 vehicles, there he assisted in the transportation of reinforcements for his unit.

November 1941 he transferred to Pioniere Zug, Fallschirmjäger Regiment 3.

Another thing about this book is no mention of the Russian Front medal when the sources say the unit was in Russia 1941/42.......again he did not qualify as the unit was pulled back to Bobruisk for a rest then back to the front.....

And the latter about this book is the fact he was jump trained but there is no entry for the Para Badge either!!!! I do have photos of him wearing his award which he sent me some years ago.......What it does say on page 1 is "Springend Personal mit Schein" indicating he was jump trained and had the para license!

So you have to turn detective in some cases to find out what really happend and read between the lines....and of course don't believe everything you read in books!!!!

/Ian

[David B]

Thanks guys! Very interesting!


Heres the link

http://www.ww-2militaria.com/b/docra...lwwpa_desc.htm


and here is a picture of the campaign page:

[Ian Jewison]

Well according to his units he belonged to an airfield servicing company.....I have no idea if they were mobile and moved from airfield to airfield or it they were static!

Looking at this he was definately mobile and travelled a bit, looks like he was either commandeered to transport units or the bases he was attached had transport units...

I don't know what does anyone else think?

Definately got around...Crete, Crimea and even Stalingrad!!!!!

From the scans I am initially happy and the price is OK as well.....if he had fulfilled the requirment for the award it looks like he was discharged around the time the majority of Kretaband citations were being awarded....

I do not think he was actually on Crete but the support staff in Greece proving for action in/over Crete and therefore much the same as my Fj. above....not entitled!!!

I would be interested in knowing what the Feldpost number is in the stamps.....

The hand that filled the unit in appears to be the hand that did page 33 also.....a good sign

/Ian

[Ian Jewison]

In fact it does say "Air landing operation in Crete from Topolia(?) and Tanagra(?) in Greece" so that is most probably were he remained.....

[David B]

Thanks Ian, yes he certainly did travel around! Thanks thats a big help.

Thanks again

[Ian Jewison]

Have a read of the following article and see if he was eligble.

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/camp...tles/kreta.htm

[Arnim]

Campaign credits

My father's paybook and Wehrpass have entries which consist of campaign descriprtions which were printed out and glued in. I have actually seen these exact descriptions on German govenment websites. My dad had several of these pasted into his book. These descriptions were very general such as "defensive battles on the Donets." If his unit was there, he was there!

Gerst