How about another Panzergrenadier Soldbuch

[Angel Farré]

Maybe not enough with the other two pieces I showed earlier so what about another nice group to enjoy?

Our guy was a brave NCO.

Friedrich claves was born on August 21st, 1.918 and he was inducted in the Wehrmacht on September 27th, 1.939.

He was promoted from Pionier to Schïtze, then Gefreiter, Obergefreiter, Unteroffizier, Feldwebel and a last rank I can not decypher, any help is welcomed.

He first was a Pionier, maybe he was not good on it or prefer to serve in other unit, but he changed his 4./Bau Batailon 77 for the 1./Fla.Kp. (mot) 46 (maybe a mistake as he was with 1./Fla.Batl. (mot) 46). With this unit he was attached to 6 I.D. and during the French Campaign this unit was credited with 6 confirmed and 2 probable kills, suffering 1 KIA AND 3 WIA.

On June 1st, 1.942 it was transfer and renamed as 12.(Fla)/Schützen Regiment 110 and later named as 10.(Fla)/Pz.Gren.Rgt. 110 in the 11 Panzer Division.

Angel

[Angel Farré]

With the 11 Panzer Division he took part into the relief attempt of the 6 Armee in Stalingrad and during the battles after the fall of the city he was wounded and spent the rest of the war from hospital to hospital till the end of the war.

As normal he received some medals during his service,

Iron Cross 2nd class on September 4th, 1.941
Sturmabzeichen on November 20th, 1.941
Ostmedaille August 20th, 1.942
Iron Cross 1st class on March 2nd, 1.943
Wound Badge in Black on April 3rd, 1.943

Angel

[Angel Farré]

Unfortunately the Ostmedaille citation is missing, but the rest is present into the group so I have them and here they are.

EK II and GAB are signed by the commander of the 6 Infanterie Division General der Infanterie Helge Auleb winner of the DKiG on December 26th, 1.941.

EK I is signed by Generalleutnant Hermann Balck who received all grades of the RK,
RK on June 3rd, 1.940
OL (155) on December 20th, 1.942
S (25) on March 4th, 1.943 just two days after Cleves won his EK I
D (19) on August 31st, 1.944

Angel

[Angel Farré]

A pity that the photo was damaged, but no worries, here we have a couple to show our NCO with his sweetheart and a full display of his hard won medals.

Also a letter informing him of his EK I award.

Angel

[Luft 76]

Nice. You can restore his photo with domestic alcool. It is without any danger on B/W photos. the result will be great.

[Angel Farré]

I will look well into the damage and pending on it I will try or not to clean it a little, if only paper glued due the damage to 1 page I will try, if the photo itself is damaged I leave it as I can not risk to erase the stamps or damage it further.

Thanks for the advise.

Angel

[albertofl]

This is a great set with soldbuch and citations.
Photos are a nice bonus to the set.
I like it so much. Congrats Miguel.

[Luft 76]

Such as I see, they are only fine dandruff of paper coming from the front page, they are stuck on the photo. No problem to remove them. But not with some water.

[Angel Farré]

What do you think about the las promotion on page 1? Oberfeldwebel? for sure the clerk was also a doctor, unreadable writing.

Angel

[Archi]

Hello Angel !

I like all 3 Pz.Gren. groups/Docs you presented very much !
Congratulations to your search/finding/network capabilities !

=> I think the last promotion/resp. "Ernennung" here could be to : Ober-Fähnrich ?!

2. Pz.Div. and 11. Pz.Div. are indeed very interesting units, but also very well covered.
Therefore, I would like to add some info, specific to 1./Fla-Btl. 46, which might be more difficult
to find and I hope is of some interest.

At mobilization and also for the attack on France, 1./Fla-Btl.46 was attached to Pz.Jg.Abt. 6 as
4th company and therefore made the way of the 6. Inf.Div.
After the campaign in France, the unit became independent again, trained for "Unternehmen Seelöwe" and
then was given the task of coastal defence in the area of Bayeux.

In 1941, it took part in the Balcans campaign under 2. Armee and was at Agram/Zagreb on the 12.4.1941 and then
returned to Germany for rest and refit.

In May 1941, it became again attached to 6. Inf.Div. and served with this division until spring 1942.
In spring 1942, many of the independent Fla-units of HGr. Mitte were ordered to the area of Bobruisk,
(1./Fla-Btl. 46 to Marina-Gorka), for rest and refit. After that it was attached to 11. Pz.Div. and then
shared the way of this Pz.Div.

Below are some photos related to 1./Fla-Btl. 46 :
1.) shows typical vehicles it was equipped with (at least in ~1940)
2.) shows some action in Russia and is mentioning Oberlt. Hißmann. I think he signed some entries on p. 3!

Best regards,

Archi

[Angel Farré]

Archi, as always you are such an invaluable source, thanks a lot for your help.

Can you point me to where can I find more info about the relief attempt of the 6 Armee by 11 P.D. and the subsequent battles in the first months of 1.943?

Thanks a lot again.

Angel

[JUNGCO]

I sure like this grouping. It's a wonder he only received a Black Wound Badge with over two years in the hospital.
Jeff

[Archi]

Hello Angel !

Thanks for the kind words !

Can you point me to where can I find more info about the relief attempt of the 6 Armee by 11 P.D. and the subsequent battles in the first months of 1.943?

I think a very good and very detailed overview covering that timeframe, can be found in :
Horst Scheibert, Panzer zwischen Don und Donez

Also very good :
Wolfgang Paul, Brennpunkte (divisional history of 6. Pz.Div.).
(After it had to be diverted from the relief attack, 6.Pz.Div. fought in close connection to 11. Pz.Div.)

best regards,