Can anyone translate the sign in the background held by the woman in this photo please?
She is not holding it, her hands are down. IMO its the backside of a (recycelt - the upper parts of the letters are missing) signpost, nailed to the tree:
This document is printed on heavy stock, and then has been folded down to pocket size and carried around for a long time. Looks like some kind of ground rules from the Commander in Chief (Der Fuhrer) on accurately reporting information?
Hi Guys - I've tried translating this but am still a bit confused. The letter is to a the mother of a soldier who was lost (or MIA) at Stalingrad. It seems they are teling her about his being awarded the EK2 and General Assault badge. However, I am unclear... are they asking her if she has already received them? I've seen examples where guys that were lost in the Kessel got an EK and a War Badge sent to their family so I'm assuming this is something similar. It seems that she is supposed to contact the local authorities?
Hi Guys - I've tried translating this but am still a bit confused. The letter is to a the mother of a soldier who was lost (or MIA) at Stalingrad. It seems they are teling her about his being awarded the EK2 and General Assault badge. However, I am unclear... are they asking her if she has already received them? I've seen examples where guys that were lost in the Kessel got an EK and a War Badge sent to their family so I'm assuming this is something similar. It seems that she is supposed to contact the local authorities?
Thanks a million!!
Brian
Brian, with this letter they were sending her (the mother Rosa Köhler) an attached envelope containing the award documents of her son Otto Köhler and a letter to Fräulein Helene Köhler. The award documents are for the EKII and the (allgemeine) Sturmabzeichen. However, the awards themselves are not sent. If the mother wants to get the awards, she can obtain them from the nearest Wehrmeldeamt or through the local mayor's office by giving the sons name, birth date, birth place and presenting the abovementioned award documents.
Brian, with this letter they were sending her (the mother Rosa Köhler) an attached envelope containing the award documents of her son Otto Köhler and a letter to Fräulein Helene Köhler. The award documents are for the EKII and the (allgemeine) Sturmabzeichen. However, the awards themselves are not sent. If the mother wants to get the awards, she can obtain them from the nearest Wehrmeldeamt or through the local mayor's office by giving the sons name, birth date, birth place and presenting the abovementioned award documents.
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Naxos - Thanks so much for this. It's a huge help!! Ironically, Köhler already had an EK2 that he earned in August, 1942. His, or his family's, awards should have been a GAB and an EK1. Probably not surprising as his division was destroyed - perhaps any record of his previous awards were gone.
Naxos - Thanks so much for this. It's a huge help!! Ironically, Köhler already had an EK2 that he earned in August, 1942. His, or his family's, awards should have been a GAB and an EK1. Probably not surprising as his division was destroyed - perhaps any record of his previous awards were gone.
Brian ,it does not state that they are newly presented awards. So it is probable that the EKII document sent to Frau Köhler ist the one from August 1942.
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My uncle Wilhelm was with the same Division (Inf. Div. Nachr. Abt. 376 1 Kp.) he went missing in December 1942 at Stalingrad.
Do you have any award or award information concerning your uncle Wilhelm? His story, as well as all if these, is very sad. I feel strange at times, collecting and studying clerical items that represented, or were related to, such pain for each of these families.
The first is something like "Auf der Fahrt nach Lutjana" (Skopje) 4.19.43 (which is odd, since normally the month is the 2nd number in European dates) and at the bottom "Stier" von Willy ....(can't make out the rest)
The second is the relatively common "Zum ewigen andenken von deinem Hubert"
O.U. (ortsunterkunft) 4.12.1944 (4 December 1944)
best
Hank
Last edited by Hank C.; 07-11-2012, 05:14 PM.
Reason: more info
Unless it was nighttime, or the weather was bad, and you were running out of gas - then it was a sweaty nightmare, like a monkey f*ing a skunk.
~ Dan Hampton, Viper Pilot
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