Hi
I got this small charm pendant with silver content halmark on the reverse of the Hoch-und Deutschmeister-Kreutz, the soldier was in Motorized Infantry Regt. 120 which I think was wiped out at Stalingrad and reformed into Feldherrenhalle rgt which is listed in his soldbuch and is the next listing he moved into in it
WAF was down and this is the only info I could find on this tiny pendant, It is an old thread by Bill Stump who was looking for info on these...
Unusual honors were bestowed to certain units of the German Army during W.W.II. During the monumental campaign at Stalingrad one German infantry division was completely annihilated by the Russian Army during the long and costly battle January, 1943. It was the 44th Infantry Division. This division was honored, and fittingly so when a new division was formed and given the honorary title of Reichsgrenadier division "Hoch-und Deutschmeister". Infantry regiment 134 of the division was renamed Grenadierregiment "Hoch-und Deutschmeister". It was given the distinction of wearing the "Hoch-und Deutschmeister-Kreutz" on the shoulder strap of their uniforms. See Scan below.
This insignia was known as the "Stalingrad Cross" and it was made of stamped metal, with a silver finish with a blue background of the inner cross. A banner with the words "Stalingrad" was surmounted by the national eagle on a shield. These shoulder straps are very rare and seldom seen in collections today.
A forum friend purchased a small lot of German W.W.II relics and in the lot was a small silver charm made in the form of the devise worn on the shoulder straps of the 134 regiment. It is marked 835 on the reverse.
I would like to know if anyone else has such a charm, original shoulder straps or ADDITIONAL information concerning the "Stalingrad Cross."
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Bill,
For what it's worth, I have also seen one of those silver Stalingrad Cross charms. It belonged to the daughter of a German veteran. I assumed that her father had been in the Heer unit - Inf-Regt 134 - entitled to wear the Stalingrad Cross shoulder strap emblem. She obviously wouldn't sell it to me. Whether it was a postwar veterans' association thing or a wartime 'sweetheart badge', I couldn't say. But it seems reasonable to assume that these charms are not fantasy pieces. The Hoch-und-Deutschmeister Kreuz has been faked. I remember people buying, as original, well-made but cast fakes fixed to original infantry officers' straps back in the late 1970s. I think the real ones were stamped in sheet metal. The fakes lacked the blue finish to the fields of the cross but enterprising dealers quickly rectified this with blue felt-tip pens or modeller's 'enamel' paint. I was shown one of these fakes recently. The owner was and remained convinced that it was genuine. These fakes, in dark, matt grey base metal, were made by a wellknown London wholesale supplier of copies who now lives in the USA. He didn't intend them as anything other than copies along with the rest of his stock of repros but dealers will be dealers when there's the rent to pay… Not all dealers, of course.
This is all I could find and for some reason pictures are not showing up on WAF
When I first saw this pendant in the box I got it in I thought it was just junk until I looked in hand at it and it appeared to nice to be a fantasy piece, than I found this thread Bill wrote.
In the group I have his Soldbuch, Bronze IAB with Doc, EK2 with Doc, Ost Medaille, Ribbon Bars and this little silver pendant.
Does anyone else have ANY info on these crosses at all?? I know about the shoulderboard ones but I mean these little crosses.
I will post pics of the group tommorrow, unfortunately Iam not home and do not have my camera on me.
Best
Dion
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I got this small charm pendant with silver content halmark on the reverse of the Hoch-und Deutschmeister-Kreutz, the soldier was in Motorized Infantry Regt. 120 which I think was wiped out at Stalingrad and reformed into Feldherrenhalle rgt which is listed in his soldbuch and is the next listing he moved into in it
WAF was down and this is the only info I could find on this tiny pendant, It is an old thread by Bill Stump who was looking for info on these...
Unusual honors were bestowed to certain units of the German Army during W.W.II. During the monumental campaign at Stalingrad one German infantry division was completely annihilated by the Russian Army during the long and costly battle January, 1943. It was the 44th Infantry Division. This division was honored, and fittingly so when a new division was formed and given the honorary title of Reichsgrenadier division "Hoch-und Deutschmeister". Infantry regiment 134 of the division was renamed Grenadierregiment "Hoch-und Deutschmeister". It was given the distinction of wearing the "Hoch-und Deutschmeister-Kreutz" on the shoulder strap of their uniforms. See Scan below.
This insignia was known as the "Stalingrad Cross" and it was made of stamped metal, with a silver finish with a blue background of the inner cross. A banner with the words "Stalingrad" was surmounted by the national eagle on a shield. These shoulder straps are very rare and seldom seen in collections today.
A forum friend purchased a small lot of German W.W.II relics and in the lot was a small silver charm made in the form of the devise worn on the shoulder straps of the 134 regiment. It is marked 835 on the reverse.
I would like to know if anyone else has such a charm, original shoulder straps or ADDITIONAL information concerning the "Stalingrad Cross."
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Bill,
For what it's worth, I have also seen one of those silver Stalingrad Cross charms. It belonged to the daughter of a German veteran. I assumed that her father had been in the Heer unit - Inf-Regt 134 - entitled to wear the Stalingrad Cross shoulder strap emblem. She obviously wouldn't sell it to me. Whether it was a postwar veterans' association thing or a wartime 'sweetheart badge', I couldn't say. But it seems reasonable to assume that these charms are not fantasy pieces. The Hoch-und-Deutschmeister Kreuz has been faked. I remember people buying, as original, well-made but cast fakes fixed to original infantry officers' straps back in the late 1970s. I think the real ones were stamped in sheet metal. The fakes lacked the blue finish to the fields of the cross but enterprising dealers quickly rectified this with blue felt-tip pens or modeller's 'enamel' paint. I was shown one of these fakes recently. The owner was and remained convinced that it was genuine. These fakes, in dark, matt grey base metal, were made by a wellknown London wholesale supplier of copies who now lives in the USA. He didn't intend them as anything other than copies along with the rest of his stock of repros but dealers will be dealers when there's the rent to pay… Not all dealers, of course.
This is all I could find and for some reason pictures are not showing up on WAF
When I first saw this pendant in the box I got it in I thought it was just junk until I looked in hand at it and it appeared to nice to be a fantasy piece, than I found this thread Bill wrote.
In the group I have his Soldbuch, Bronze IAB with Doc, EK2 with Doc, Ost Medaille, Ribbon Bars and this little silver pendant.
Does anyone else have ANY info on these crosses at all?? I know about the shoulderboard ones but I mean these little crosses.
I will post pics of the group tommorrow, unfortunately Iam not home and do not have my camera on me.
Best
Dion
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