Do you know what unit this is?

[RJB]

Hi,

I have a KVK 2nd class citation made out to one Leutnant d.R. Ernst Topfer, of Armeekartenlager (mot) 572. Any ideas on what this is? He was part of the 9th army, and if anyone could tell me about the basic movements of the 9th army I'd appreciate it.

The papers that came with the citation states that his feldpost number was 33804 if that helps.

[Ian Jewison]

The unit is an Army Map Store. FP Nr. 33804 corresponds with Kartenlager 572, it was disbanded between Septmber 1942 and March 43.
9 Armee basically was involved with the battles for Bialystok and Minsk (6.41), Smolensk (7-8.41), Wiasma and Briansk (10.41), Moscow (10-12.41), winter 41/42 in the positions of 9 Armee around Moscow and Rshew.
During this time it came under Heeres Gruppe Mitte.
Hope this helps...
/Ian

[RJB]

Thanks for that Ian,

So what does an officer in a map store do?

The citation is dated for the 22nd of November 1941, so it's probably connected with the Moscow offensive in some way.