Why a Pioneer man would have been awarded the EKI

[turbopanzer]

hi

Hi
Heres a pictures of the uniform to Ewald Kluser , 2stk .. over the u in Kluser
He fight btw in batle of Bulge in 12 infanteri (volksgrenadier)divisjon.
10.february 1945 he get the Knight Cross while serving as Comander of company 2,engineer battalion 12,12 volksgrenadier div.
Opposing the allied advance across the Roer.

To bad i not have the Knight Cross,another waf member in Belgium i think has it,it was an KQ cross.
The medal on the tunic is orginal to the owner ,but not the German cross it was stolen on a show in US,but it was maker 20 ,and i replaced it with a cross from same maker.

Best regards

Turbo

[turbopanzer]

1

1 picthure of him

[Panzer Rob]

Why would a man in a pioneer btl. win the EKI/EKII?

What would he had to have done to get awarded this? I thought pioneers were engineers, so why would a man be awarded the EKI?

Many Thanks, Swayne

We do a lot more than build bridges

Lt.

Combat Engineers go in before the infantry to clear minefields and obstacles to make it easier for the "Queen of Battle" to enter. They build the bridges, they destroy the bridges preventing the enemy from advancing. If any branch deserves awards for bravery under fire, they are the Combat Engineers! This coming from an artilleryman.

(combat engineer for 6 years)


As Simon has pointed out, there were many different types of Pioniers, many of whom saw just as much combat, it not more, than the regular Infanterie soldiers. Matter of fact, I see quite a few Pionere Soldbücher with EKI and CCC awards, etc.

Rob

[WJW]

They were Fallschirm-pioniere, so both Pionier and Fallschirmjäger at the same time

I am aware of that.

Let me phrase my point more precisely -- the groups attacking the objectives around EE contained non-FJ personnel. Besides the obvious glider folk some of this non-FJ personnel came from the Pioniere and were demolitions experts. There are at least two known cases. One in Sturmgruppe Beton and the other most likely belonged to Sturmgruppe Stahl. They were awarded the EK I and EK II.

[Scott C.]

Wow - fantastic uniform grouping turbo!

[turbopanzer]

Wow - fantastic uniform grouping turbo!

Hi Scott thanks
Take serch on name and you will find much more nice picthure from the former owner

Best regard
Turbo