nice little suprises etc ... on award documents.

[Stijn David]

Hello,


I recently purchased a very small grouping from a soldier belonging to the Gren.Regt 511 consisting out of the soldiers Soldbuch ( very worn and all pages are loose !!! ) and two award documents for the : Eastern front medal and for the drivers profiency badge in silver .

Wihle flipping the award doc. ( preliminary !!! ) from the eastern front medal there is a award citiation that shows a little speech from the Regiments commander and that states that 2053 soldiers of this particluar regiment received the Eastern front medal +> this citation is dated 22 August 1942 and the award document is dated on 31.10.1942( nearly 2 months afterwards )

this soldier earned 3 awards in total :


* Medaille " Winterschlacht im osten 1941/42 " dated : 31.10.1942

* War merit cross 2 nd class with swords , dated : 20.11.1942

* Drivers profiency badge ( silver class ) , dated : 20.11.1943

Not the highest awards but in my eyes a nice grouping and with a little interesting remark on the reverse , i can not post pictures but can send the images towards somebody that is able to post them.

So it does not have to be the high ranking top priced items that are always interesting .

is there anyone who knows who where the Regimental commanders of this Regiment ? ( Inf.Regt. 511 ) between 1942 and 1944 .

Friendly greetings,

[François SAEZ]

I agree:

"So it does not have to be the high ranking top priced items that are always interesting".

Knowledge by research is the key

François
PS: Stijn, what about posting pics?

[Stijn David]

Interesting little groupings,

Hello,


In such a research it is always nice to know the names of the officers who signed the award documents, etc ... i always look these up to see if these commanders have earned themself high ranking awards ( such as the Honour roll clasp, german Cross, Knights cross , etc .. ) thats the fun part of it .

also researching these kind of documents can give insights in where the particular units did fight etc ... and they are still plenty available for al collectors .


Friendly greetings,

ps : Francois, i have send you scans of the award. documents , can you post them for me please ?

[Stijn David]

another nice suprise

Hello,


Whil browsing trough my reference material regarding this grouping i have found out that the Regiments commander ( period from 01.04.1943 until somwhere about 20.11.1943 ) of the Inf.Regt 511 was the later KC winner Kurt Albrecht .

The award doc. from the Drivers Profincy badge ( Silver ) bears this man's original signature => at that time stil a Oberstleutnant !!! ( read : date 20.11.1943 , so this is probably one of the last documents he signed as a Regt. Commander of the I.R. 511 !!!! )

Oberst ( his highest rank => promoted on 10.03.1944 ) Kurt albrecht was awarded the following awards :

* Spange EK 2 : 01.10.1939
* Spange EK 1 : 20.06.1940
* German cross in Gold : 22.11.1941
* Anerkennungsurkunde ( no. 1458 ) : 03.12.1942
* Honour roll clasp Heer ( no. 4106 ) : 05.10.1944
* Knights cross : 28.02.1945

So as one can see , starting from alittle grouping with not at al appealing awards etc ... can be very interesting in the end +> as Francois has mentioned before : research is the key

Friendly Greetings,

[Stijn David]

the last signature brings us even higher

Hello,


An here is the one of the last signatures to be confirmed :

the signature on the preliminary award doc. for the Eastern Front medal bears the original signature of Generalleutnant ( on the moment of the signing stil a Oberst )Karl Hermann Arndt

Karl Hermann Arndt was the commander from the I.R. 511 from 06.02.1940 until 18.03.1943 , he earned the following awards :

* Eisernes Kreuz 2 e Klasse 1914 : 03.10.1914
* Eisernes Kreuz 1 e Klasse 1914 : 26.01.1916
* Verwundetenabz. Mattweiss ( silver ) : 31.07.1918
* Ehrenkreuz f.Frontkämpfer : 31.12.1934
* DA 1 e Klasse : 02.10.1936
* Spange EK 2 : 27.10.1939
* Spange EK 1 : 17.06.1940
* Ritterkreuz des EK : 23.01.1942
* Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten : 19.08.1942
* DKiG : 02.07.1944
* Eichenlaub zum RK : 01.02.1945

so not the least if one looks towards his awards ( Oak leaves, etc .... ) => interesting to not is also that as previous mentioned from the date of 22.08.1942 => 2053 man of the Inf.Regt.511 where awarded the eastern front medal, so the commanders medal wil also be one of this above listed number.

Oh wel, with a little luck when researching one can find some vry nice facts

Friendly greetings,

[mmiller]

Documents are posted for Stijn.

[Stijn David]

thanks

Hello,


Thank you both fine gentlemen to post these scans

as can be seen the documents are not in the best condition ever , the second scans is printed on the reverse of the first scan ( vorlaufige Besitzzeugnis Ostmedaille +> i believe that there should actual many more of this citation but if they did survive the war thats another story ???? )

Thanks again for the help,

[Rick White]

Hi Stijn,

I assume, given the condition of the documents, that they were carried in the man's Soldbuch? Some folks like documents to be in mint condition. However, I always think it is special when the man carried the document(s) with him thoughout the war.

Rick

[Stijn David]

nice little grouping

Hello Rick,


Indeed , i also assume that these documents where carried along with the soldbuch , i also like ithem this way => i gives a good insight in how most papers look like when they where carried for a longer time togheter with a person and this was not always in the best probable way !!!! .

As a sidenote the soldbuch has al pages but al these are loose as wel .

I think many persons would never look to it because of the condition, but it is nice ( for me ) to know that one can find some interesting information if one is willing to research things => and i strongly believe in this powerful tool we have here in form of the forum, ask etc ... because it can reveal sometimes nice hidden info that one would never find due to several facts ( lack of reference books, etc ... ) .

So happy hunting to al



Friendly greetings,