Just got this very nice and fairly complete grouping. Included a brief history I will just cut and past:
Rittmeister (Hauptmann d.R.) Kurt Gäde
Kurt Gäde’s documents indicate early service as a Reserve Lieutenant in the 5th Company of Artillery Regiment 66. This regiment was cadre around which the mobilized field regiment, Artillerie-Regiment 30., of the 30th Infantry Division was formed. Since reference is made to the town of Eutin and the division was part of Armeekorps 10, the conclusion that Gäde was from the area between Kiel and Lübeck is reasonable.
In the Polish campaign he was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class at Nieborow on the 2 October 1939 by the Corps artillery commander (signature unreadable). This village is located to the west of Warsaw and immediately south of the main highway into Warsaw. On 12 January 1940 he was awarded the Wound Badge for a wound received on 26 September 1939 (presumably associated with the EK2 award). During his service with the 30th Infantry, Gäde took part in the largest breakout attempt by the Polish Army. The 30th was strained to the breaking point and only a desperate counterattack, led personally by the division commander Maj. Gen. von Briesen, with the division’s last reserves turned back
the Poles. Von Briesen lost his arm and earned the first Knight’s Cross awarded to a divisional commader in the war. In the West, the 30th fought in Belgium and in the Russian invasion found itself encircled at Demyansk in January 1942.
In 1943, now first lieutenant Gäde again is decorated, this time with the Army Flak Badge by direction of the OKH and General der Artillerie Brand. He is listed as a member (perhaps battery commander) in 2./Heeres-Flak-Art-Abt. 271. That Flak unit was assigned to the 13th Panzer Division fighting in the Kuban area of southern Russia. Artillery Regiment 13 of the Panzer division was replaced by Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion 271; on 20 April this regiment again received its earlier unit designation (13). The 13th Panzer was part of von Kleist’s drive into the Caucasus in 1942. Gäde would have been caught up in the retreat through Rostov and, perhaps, was forced into the Kuban after the Russians recaptured that city. The division fought in the lower Dnieper battles and suffered heavy losses when the Rumanians defected in late 1944. the 271st Flak and the 13th Panzer were both judged “destroyed” by their combat in the southern Ukraine and required reconstitution.
In 1944 Gäde was promoted to Hauptmann der Reserve (Rittmeister) and listed as assigned to Army Flak Battalion 308. This battalion was immobile: without horse or truck tranportation. It built up from a number of other immobile Flak units in Wehrkreis II (Belgard) and assigned as GHQ troops to support the 704. Jäger-Division (formed from the 104. Infanterie-Division). Initially this unit served as occupation troops in relatively peaceful Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Upon its conversion to a Jäger division, the unit was moved to the area of Epirus, Greece where it remained until forced to retreat by the approaching Red Army. Reentering Yugoslavia led to heavy fighting with Tito’s partisans. The 704th remained on the southern sector of the Eastern Front until the end of the war. Gäde somewhere suffered a severe chest wound which was poorly treated. Doctors invalided him due to heavy scarring of his lungs resulting from the still embedded shrapnel. In June 1945, a British POW hospital patient in Spittal, Austria, discharged him from the Wehrmacht.
Documents:
1. Iron Cross 2nd (A4 mimeograph form, typed details added, unit stamped, pencil signed by General d. Artillerie ).
2. Wound Badge Black (A4 typed form, typed details added, unit stamped,
ink signed by Major).
3. Army FLAK (A5 preprinted with badge image form, typed details added,
unit stamped, pen signed by General d. Artillerie Brand).
4. Promotion Order (A4 typed form, unit stamped, ink signed by Oberst).
5. Army POW Discharge (A4 mimeograph form, typed details added, ink
signed by British Major, two Oberazrt, and a Stabarzt).
6. Soldbuch POW Discharge (A6 memeographed form, typed details added,
ink signed by British Major, two Oberazrt, and a Stabarzt).
Rittmeister (Hauptmann d.R.) Kurt Gäde
Kurt Gäde’s documents indicate early service as a Reserve Lieutenant in the 5th Company of Artillery Regiment 66. This regiment was cadre around which the mobilized field regiment, Artillerie-Regiment 30., of the 30th Infantry Division was formed. Since reference is made to the town of Eutin and the division was part of Armeekorps 10, the conclusion that Gäde was from the area between Kiel and Lübeck is reasonable.
In the Polish campaign he was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class at Nieborow on the 2 October 1939 by the Corps artillery commander (signature unreadable). This village is located to the west of Warsaw and immediately south of the main highway into Warsaw. On 12 January 1940 he was awarded the Wound Badge for a wound received on 26 September 1939 (presumably associated with the EK2 award). During his service with the 30th Infantry, Gäde took part in the largest breakout attempt by the Polish Army. The 30th was strained to the breaking point and only a desperate counterattack, led personally by the division commander Maj. Gen. von Briesen, with the division’s last reserves turned back
the Poles. Von Briesen lost his arm and earned the first Knight’s Cross awarded to a divisional commader in the war. In the West, the 30th fought in Belgium and in the Russian invasion found itself encircled at Demyansk in January 1942.
In 1943, now first lieutenant Gäde again is decorated, this time with the Army Flak Badge by direction of the OKH and General der Artillerie Brand. He is listed as a member (perhaps battery commander) in 2./Heeres-Flak-Art-Abt. 271. That Flak unit was assigned to the 13th Panzer Division fighting in the Kuban area of southern Russia. Artillery Regiment 13 of the Panzer division was replaced by Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion 271; on 20 April this regiment again received its earlier unit designation (13). The 13th Panzer was part of von Kleist’s drive into the Caucasus in 1942. Gäde would have been caught up in the retreat through Rostov and, perhaps, was forced into the Kuban after the Russians recaptured that city. The division fought in the lower Dnieper battles and suffered heavy losses when the Rumanians defected in late 1944. the 271st Flak and the 13th Panzer were both judged “destroyed” by their combat in the southern Ukraine and required reconstitution.
In 1944 Gäde was promoted to Hauptmann der Reserve (Rittmeister) and listed as assigned to Army Flak Battalion 308. This battalion was immobile: without horse or truck tranportation. It built up from a number of other immobile Flak units in Wehrkreis II (Belgard) and assigned as GHQ troops to support the 704. Jäger-Division (formed from the 104. Infanterie-Division). Initially this unit served as occupation troops in relatively peaceful Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Upon its conversion to a Jäger division, the unit was moved to the area of Epirus, Greece where it remained until forced to retreat by the approaching Red Army. Reentering Yugoslavia led to heavy fighting with Tito’s partisans. The 704th remained on the southern sector of the Eastern Front until the end of the war. Gäde somewhere suffered a severe chest wound which was poorly treated. Doctors invalided him due to heavy scarring of his lungs resulting from the still embedded shrapnel. In June 1945, a British POW hospital patient in Spittal, Austria, discharged him from the Wehrmacht.
Documents:
1. Iron Cross 2nd (A4 mimeograph form, typed details added, unit stamped, pencil signed by General d. Artillerie ).
2. Wound Badge Black (A4 typed form, typed details added, unit stamped,
ink signed by Major).
3. Army FLAK (A5 preprinted with badge image form, typed details added,
unit stamped, pen signed by General d. Artillerie Brand).
4. Promotion Order (A4 typed form, unit stamped, ink signed by Oberst).
5. Army POW Discharge (A4 mimeograph form, typed details added, ink
signed by British Major, two Oberazrt, and a Stabarzt).
6. Soldbuch POW Discharge (A6 memeographed form, typed details added,
ink signed by British Major, two Oberazrt, and a Stabarzt).
Were you able to get his badges as well?
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