I picked up this Flak SB and EK2 doc from the stand recently. It's to an unteroffizier belonging to 2./gem.Flak.Abt.352 serving on the Murmansk front within the area of the XIX Gebirgs Korps.
It's just an SB and EKII but what makes this more special than usual for me is that I can place the battery exactly, I've visited the battery's positions, which are remarkably well preserved, and have some relics connected with the actions that earned this flak soldier his EKII.
2./gem.Flak.Abt.352 was equipped with four 8.8cm Flak 18 and two 2cm Flak 30 guns, it spent several years in permanent positions defending the LW airfield of Høybuktmoen where amongst other units elements of JG 5 were based, and the important port town of Kirkenes. You can see the battery named in the list below taken from a 1944 map. From aerial photos you can still clearly see the gun positions and the range finder position in the center.
I visited the site four years ago and there was still a lot to see, piles of 8.8cm cases, either fired or blown up. A range finder blown up and all the bunkers.
Because it was a static battery, the guns were blown up in place around the 25th October 1944 as the Soviet forces pushed in to Norway. Prior to that, the luftwaffe's 88s were in action as regular artillery as well as their regular job. On the air photo you can see I measured the distance from the battery to a spot by the border (today) with Russia, an important crossroads which I've also visited and found plenty of shrapnel, including 88 rounds, easy to identify with their distinctive double driving bands, which would have been within range for this battery.
Uffz.Brendle spent most of his war with this battery and had the KVKII and Flakkampf abzeichen prior to his award of the EKII in Nov.44 after they had pulled out from the area. He should also have a Lappland shield, he certainly qualified for it, but sometimes they either weren't awarded or weren't recorded.
Being able to connect documents, with a location and remains from the same actions that led to an award is not something you get to do very often, so this little group is extra special.
It's just an SB and EKII but what makes this more special than usual for me is that I can place the battery exactly, I've visited the battery's positions, which are remarkably well preserved, and have some relics connected with the actions that earned this flak soldier his EKII.
2./gem.Flak.Abt.352 was equipped with four 8.8cm Flak 18 and two 2cm Flak 30 guns, it spent several years in permanent positions defending the LW airfield of Høybuktmoen where amongst other units elements of JG 5 were based, and the important port town of Kirkenes. You can see the battery named in the list below taken from a 1944 map. From aerial photos you can still clearly see the gun positions and the range finder position in the center.
I visited the site four years ago and there was still a lot to see, piles of 8.8cm cases, either fired or blown up. A range finder blown up and all the bunkers.
Because it was a static battery, the guns were blown up in place around the 25th October 1944 as the Soviet forces pushed in to Norway. Prior to that, the luftwaffe's 88s were in action as regular artillery as well as their regular job. On the air photo you can see I measured the distance from the battery to a spot by the border (today) with Russia, an important crossroads which I've also visited and found plenty of shrapnel, including 88 rounds, easy to identify with their distinctive double driving bands, which would have been within range for this battery.
Uffz.Brendle spent most of his war with this battery and had the KVKII and Flakkampf abzeichen prior to his award of the EKII in Nov.44 after they had pulled out from the area. He should also have a Lappland shield, he certainly qualified for it, but sometimes they either weren't awarded or weren't recorded.
Being able to connect documents, with a location and remains from the same actions that led to an award is not something you get to do very often, so this little group is extra special.
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