Just arrived today. This one has got me quite excited even if it may not look like much to the eye and it's not because i picked it up at a bargain price.
It starts off with a de-nazified EKII signed by Willi Harmjanz. what's interesting here is the award date, 17th nov. 44. It means this NCO, perhaps commander of on of the battery's 88s got his award for fighting against the Finns. At the begining of Oct.44 just when fighting started to break out between the withdrawing Germans and the Finns around Tornio and Kemi, I./Flak Rgt. 15 (mot) was placed under the XVIII Gebirgs Korps, which included at the time the 6 SS-Gebirgs Division 'Nord' and the 7 Gebirgs Division. This is the first LW combat decoration i've yet seen for the 'Lappland war' ie. combat against the Finns
Next up is what is to me the real surprise of the group. A flak badge award from June '45! How could this be? As i've written many time vefore, the German armed forces in Norway continued to function and administer themselves for months after the end of the war, albeit under British orders, they were largely left to run their own internal affairs, hence all the Lapplandschild awards, occasionally though you can also come across other awards, sometimes in the form of catching up on paperwork as here or for service after the end, like the mine clearing EK awards. Such awards may not be 'legal' in the eyes of the post-war authorities but they are genuine nonetheless as far as the collector or historian goes.
I have some research ahead of me here but i know that I./Flak Rgt. 15 was assigned to flak defence of the two defensive lines established in N.W. Finland, the Sturmbock Stellung and later the Kilpisjärvi section of the Lyngen Stellung. I also know that the Finnish air force harried the Germans by carrying out recce and bombing missions on occasion and that some aircraft were lost to flak during these.
Sometime in early '45, perhaps around March, the abteilung was withdrawn and sent south where it ended the war near Oslo.
This doc is signed by Oberst Alexander Nieper, the Fp.Nr. on the stamp, 50550 belonged to the stab of Flak Brigade 14, from which the stab of the 29 Flak Division was formed in Jan.45
Lastly we have his Lapplandschild. Issued whilst in the LW reservation at Våler, it's signed by Major Walther Krill, previously Kdr. of Flak Abt. 561 but by this time his job was camp kommandant. There's one small but interesting technical detail on this doc and that's the way Böhme has been spelt Bøhme, in other words a Norwegian typewriter was used. Another interesting point is that he seems to have been promoted sometime between June and July '45. Something you do see from time to time. Perhaps an attempt to increase any eventual pension that might be due him.
It starts off with a de-nazified EKII signed by Willi Harmjanz. what's interesting here is the award date, 17th nov. 44. It means this NCO, perhaps commander of on of the battery's 88s got his award for fighting against the Finns. At the begining of Oct.44 just when fighting started to break out between the withdrawing Germans and the Finns around Tornio and Kemi, I./Flak Rgt. 15 (mot) was placed under the XVIII Gebirgs Korps, which included at the time the 6 SS-Gebirgs Division 'Nord' and the 7 Gebirgs Division. This is the first LW combat decoration i've yet seen for the 'Lappland war' ie. combat against the Finns
Next up is what is to me the real surprise of the group. A flak badge award from June '45! How could this be? As i've written many time vefore, the German armed forces in Norway continued to function and administer themselves for months after the end of the war, albeit under British orders, they were largely left to run their own internal affairs, hence all the Lapplandschild awards, occasionally though you can also come across other awards, sometimes in the form of catching up on paperwork as here or for service after the end, like the mine clearing EK awards. Such awards may not be 'legal' in the eyes of the post-war authorities but they are genuine nonetheless as far as the collector or historian goes.
I have some research ahead of me here but i know that I./Flak Rgt. 15 was assigned to flak defence of the two defensive lines established in N.W. Finland, the Sturmbock Stellung and later the Kilpisjärvi section of the Lyngen Stellung. I also know that the Finnish air force harried the Germans by carrying out recce and bombing missions on occasion and that some aircraft were lost to flak during these.
Sometime in early '45, perhaps around March, the abteilung was withdrawn and sent south where it ended the war near Oslo.
This doc is signed by Oberst Alexander Nieper, the Fp.Nr. on the stamp, 50550 belonged to the stab of Flak Brigade 14, from which the stab of the 29 Flak Division was formed in Jan.45
Lastly we have his Lapplandschild. Issued whilst in the LW reservation at Våler, it's signed by Major Walther Krill, previously Kdr. of Flak Abt. 561 but by this time his job was camp kommandant. There's one small but interesting technical detail on this doc and that's the way Böhme has been spelt Bøhme, in other words a Norwegian typewriter was used. Another interesting point is that he seems to have been promoted sometime between June and July '45. Something you do see from time to time. Perhaps an attempt to increase any eventual pension that might be due him.
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