Why no Narvikschild?

[Brian R]

I have a small group to a funkobergefreiten who was aboard the destroyer Bruno-Heinemann during the battle of Narvik. The group consists of four docs...

Czech Medal
Memellandes Medal
Iron Cross 2nd Class (April 16, 1940)
Destroyer Badge (October 19, 1940)

It seems he received his EK2 for actions during the battle of Narvik but the group does not include a doc for the Narvikschild. Was he not awarded it or was the doc removed from this group? Thoughts?

[torstenbel]

The Narvik shield was first awarded on 21st March 1941 ... maybe your man did not live that long?? Do you have any docs for him post that date? Cheers, Torsten.

[Simon O.]

The Narvik shield was first awarded on 21st March 1941 ... maybe your man did not live that long?? Do you have any docs for him post that date? Cheers, Torsten.

Incorrect. By the 21st March 1941 most of the Narvik shields had in fact already been awarded.


Brian

The answer is that he didn't qualify. The Bruno Heinemann was not present at the battle of Narvik, it was part of the destroyer group that escorted the heavy cruiser Hipper to Trondheim.


BTW, i have the promotion document to Korvettenkapitän of Heinemann's captain, Hermann Alberts.

[torstenbel]

Incorrect. By the 21st March 1941 most of the Narvik shields had in fact already been awarded.

.

Hi Simon, sorry about that then and I should have stated my source of the info ... it was from www.feldgrau.com and it says there that the first one was awarded to Generaloberst Dietl on 21st March 1941 : http://www.feldgrau.com/narvik-shield.html Cheers, Torsten.

PS: Also gives the same date here: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/camp...lds/narvik.htm

[Simon O.]

Feldgrau repeats the date from other sources, Klietmann for example. The confusion lies in when the shields were awarded on paper and when they were physically awarded or received.

On the award docs you'll find several 'waves' of dates, the main one for Heeres units and the KM destroyers being 10 nov. 1940, for the LW it's the end of january '41.

[Brian R]

The answer is that he didn't qualify. The Bruno Heinemann was not present at the battle of Narvik, it was part of the destroyer group that escorted the heavy cruiser Hipper to Trondheim.

My mistake -thanks for clearing that up, Simon.

[Simon O.]

My mistake -thanks for clearing that up, Simon.

Out of curiosity who signed the EKII?

[Brian R]

Out of curiosity who signed the EKII?

Admiral Marschall

[torstenbel]

Feldgrau repeats the date from other sources, Klietmann for example. The confusion lies in when the shields were awarded on paper and when they were physically awarded or received.

On the award docs you'll find several 'waves' of dates, the main one for Heeres units and the KM destroyers being 10 nov. 1940, for the LW it's the end of january '41.
]

Hi Simon, I thought something like that might be the case ... so 21st March 1941 would have been the first physical handing over of one of the shields when they were ready for handing out, but the actual awards, i.e. people being told that they would get it and being given the certificate would have been earlier in most cases...out of curiousity, would the campaign shield also have had a money award with it ... would have got 50 Marks or something like that to go with it maybe or was that never done in the Wehrmacht? Cheers, Torsten.

PS: Very impressive award cert that you have shown ....

[Simon O.]

I think Pascal might know better on that count. The dates seen on award docs are i believe for the most part when the relevant order was published awarding the shield. The actual award document wasn't necessarily filled out and signed on that date...poor Dietl would have had writer's cramp if he'd had to sign thousands of docs all on one day (and the vast majority are hand signed).


The one i posted is one of eight i currently have, though i'm always on the look out for more, especially to the smaller units. Got outbid on an FJ one a couple of weeks ago that went for 1100 Euros.

[Brian R]

Simon-

Based on the date of 16 April (above), would I assume that the EK2 was awarded for actions on that day or processed and signed that day as a result of the battle against the Norwegian guns at Trondheim on 9 April?

[Simon O.]

Likely it was awarded for the invasion operation itself, so yes the 9th April. The 16th April will be when it was awarded.