Urkunde EK II / Ostmedaille question

[vic007]

Hello

I can buy 2 Urkunde: one for EK II (05/02/1943) and Ostmedaille (01/08/1942)
Before i proceed with the buy. I have two questions:

On the site i read that they used gothic letters before 1943 and latin after. But these two urkunde use Latin letters. Can this be right?

i would like to know why the EK II was given to this person. Where can i find the report why he was awarded with the EK II?

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards

[Simon O.]

Never heard that about the lettering before. Unless you're very lucky indeed and the grounds for the EKII is actually written on the doc or comes along with it then you're not going to find any individual reccommendation anywhere. What you can do however is research the unit's history and from the date work out what he got it for.

[vic007]

thank you Simon for the tips. Very helpfull.

FYI i found the text about the lettering on this site:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/iron.../documents.htm

the text is:
"One of the most notable variations is that the documents were written in gothic up until 1943, at which point the font switched over to Latin script. In addition to "early" and "late" documents, which themselves have various small variations that are to be expected due to the numbers awarded, there are those that were field made or improvised - a variation which is rare and difficult to authenticate."

[Hank C.]

Hi Vic,
One thing about "the switch". Even if they did after a certain date start printing a new format, units all over Europe had stock on hand they used up. A good example is after a certain date, the heading on the EKs changed from "Fuhrer und Oberbefehlshaber" to just "Fuhrer". But the previous documents were still being used.

Do a quick search on any of the major (or even smaller) dealers websites, you will see what I mean.

Hope that helps a little...

Hank

[Simon O.]

The article refers to the standard EK docs, it's only of value if you see an early award using latin fonts. As Hank says the gothic type was used throughout the war, but also remember that there were many variations used too.
The eastfront doc had a standard form in latin fonts but with variations printed locally by some units.

[vic007]

thank your Hankmeister and Simon.
You've been a great help

[vic007]

sorry typed it wrong
Thank you Hankmeister and Simon