Wehrpass: Gustav Geer - Luftwaffe - Flak-Strum-Regiment 20

[Simon O.]

Just to echo what Gary and Ian said about the pencil entries. Those of you who have seen my wehrpasses from the archives thread know that i have been working through the thousands of WP held in the norwegian national archives and these types of pencilled entries are very common, i have also seen them including total days for verious things, like flights and combats etc. They are preliminary notes/entries which were to be confirmed or changed later. Sometimes they go back several years for those who didn't have their books kept up to date for one reason or another.

[Ian Jewison]

One thing we are unsure of is the EK I and Ground Combat award entries....personally I am not keen on the writing, however that's not to say they are not 100%!

With that said, don't try and make it fit as it they are fake entries you will end up seeing that they are correct by trying to make the history fit! I have seen this done before by people and they convince themselves that the entry is correct!

It's a nice book with the combat history, shame if those last two awards are fake!

Also I will show some pencil entries later, especially related to combat days for Flak personnel!

/Ian

[avenger]

Thanks guys for adding those comments. I'm of the mind that we'll never know if the EK1 and GAB are original. I can't directly tie them to matches in handwriting to other parts of the pass, or to the history like I can the EK2. So, I'm very confident that the pass and awards up to and including the EK2 are legitimate. The EK1 and GAB.....that's up to interpretation I guess.

That said, even if the EK1 and GAB are embellishments, I really like this pass. This soldier saw major conflicts, all of which I can document his unit in that area if not explicitly in those exact named locations at those times. This also means, the pass was sitting behind German lines at the Battle of the Bulge, which is a pretty cool thought too.

The collector value of the piece may go one way or the other depending on the last two awards. But, the historical value shines through on it, and I have all my research and feedback from here and warrelics.eu to keep with the pass as it makes its way in the future.

[avenger]

They are preliminary notes/entries which were to be confirmed or changed later. Sometimes they go back several years for those who didn't have their books kept up to date for one reason or another.

Does that mean (such as with the locations for the Battle of the Bulge in this one) they could have noted multiple battles he could have been at, with the intention of erasing the ones he wasn't and confirming the one he was? i.e. He may not have been at absolutely everything in the pass?

[mufasa]

Difficult to say....the same rules for award entry in Wehrpass did not apply to Soldbuch i.e. each award entry must be on a separate line with an authorising signature and stamp.



/Ian

it is and a very interesting clarification ... while on Zweitschrift of course I saw that the decorations are a line by line below with a single stamp, Correct?
many tahnks.
Oriano

[Ian Jewison]

They are on different lines yes, however they would appear to have been entered on at least 4 if not 5 separate occasions. In the aspect of a Soldbuch then you should have at least 4 stamps and 4 signatures associated with 4 separate dated entries.

/Ian

[mufasa]

They are on different lines yes, however they would appear to have been entered on at least 4 if not 5 separate occasions. In the aspect of a Soldbuch then you should have at least 4 stamps and 4 signatures associated with 4 separate dated entries.

/Ian

many thanks!
Oriano