Marinefrontspange

[BubbaZ]

I have seen document (urkunde) groups from zerstörer, HSF and S-boot etc. where marine frontspange has been awarded in 1945. It was not just given to the soldiers that was on Prinze Eugen.

Regards,
André

That's correct but most of those awards were given for minesweeping operations at the end and after the war and this is probably why citation documents and marine front clasps are found most frequently in Minesweepers groupings. Sometimes it was even called in documents 'Frontspange fur Minensuchverbande'. I have also heard of 'Marinefrontspange fur Kunstenartillerie' being awarded at the very end of the war...
Cheers,
Hubert

[Norm F]

Yes, it's well known that the Marine-Frontspange documents were awarded to units other than Prinz Eugen, especially Minesweeper units. The question was whether that particular style of "ship-made" clasp was unique to the Prinz Eugen. We've seen already posted in this thread very similar types to the Prinz Eugen type that were awarded to the 9th and 10th Sicherungsdivision.

And yet here's another, previously posted by Thomas, that shows a completely different style from the 9. Sicherungsdivision. The document is the same style of hand-typed document as the Tscharnke grouping in post #10.

So it's hard to draw any conclusions about the origins and exclusivity of the "Prinz Eugen-style" clasps.

Best regards,
---Norm