What means O.U. on a Award citation...???

[Tommy]

Hello.

Sorry but i see sometimes Citations with O.U. on the Documents. What means this?

Thanks Tommy

[frankandfrank]

Ou

hello.
o.u. = original signature (handwritting)
regards
ralf

[Rick Research]

That is incorrect. "O.U." is the location...

You will find "Div. St. Qu.," "im Felde" etc etc etc as the place preceding the date.

"O.U." = "Offiziers Unterstand," the front bunker serving as a command post.

[Tommy]

Thanks Rick.

That is what i mean the Location.

[AJ]

Ou

Hello.

Sorry but i see sometimes Citations with O.U. on the Documents. What means this?

Thanks Tommy

Hi
I just asked a friend of me, a former SS Unterscharführer, who served at the Stabskomp. in the SS PZ Regt. 11. He tells that OU ment - Ohne Unterkunft. Sorry, but I can't translate it to English, maybe a fellow member could help here?
AJ

[Simon O.]

I'm not sure i agree with 'Offiziers Unterstand' because you see the abbreviation used on docs that were quite plainly not issued from any bunker or dugout. Nor do i agree with 'Ohne Unterkunft' 'without quarters' 'no quarters' doesn't seem to make sense but i'm not fluent in German so maybe it does ? How about 'Offiziers Unterkunft' or Officers Quarters?

Out of the 6 docs i have with O.U, 4 are woundbadges (2 Heer, 2 KM), 1 IAB Heer and 1 Heer Lappland schild


I know what Ralf is refering to, you see o.u and f.u used on item descriptions at dealers sites to indicate original or facsimile signatures.


Simon

[Akira Takiguchi]

I had believed that O.U. = Ortsunterkunft (cantonment). Who can give us a 100% answer?

[Ian Jewison]

I had believed that O.U. = Ortsunterkunft (cantonment). Who can give us a 100% answer?

I argee with Akira ...O.U. on an award citations stands for Ortsunterkunft, which meant then "in the field" or something like that....

/Ian

[Simon O.]

Yup that makes sense. Thanks Akira and Ian


Simon

[bhholst]

Yup that makes sense. Thanks Akira and Ian


Simon

Hello everyone.
My two cents worth: Ian and Akira have it right . O.U. stands for Orts Unterkunft and is generic for the more or less temporary quarters the issuing headquarters happens to occupy at the time of issuance of the document . In this way the actual location is not revealed which of course is the underlying reason for this usage .
Bernhard H. Holst

[Rick Research]

Thanks to Akira, Ian, and Bernhard! Looks like the veterans who reported to AJ and me were "situational guessing" too.

This just goes to show that sometimes first person witnesses could be wrong too!

We all got the context right. I'd have used "Im Felde" myself...


rather than the German version of Dick Cheney's "undisclosed location!"

[Ludwig]

Ou

Spoke to a Swedish SS-Unterscharführer about this.
OU means Ortsunterkunft. I don´t know the exact English word for this, but the meaning is it´s the place were the unit is located at the moment the document was written. This can be seen in private letters from soldiers to their wives etc. I would say Im Felde has the same meaning.
The soldiers often jokingly said Ort Unbekannt, which means Unknown Locality.