There are three variations of the Heeres-Flak Award documents and I am trying to figure out who signed which and when to better understand them. I have compared 24 so far and there is total consistency. The badge was instituted on July 18, 1941 and the first announcement I can find is September 1, 1941 in Uniformenmarkt. I recently found the earliest Heeres-Flak award document I have ever seen: February 10, 1942. I have seen an Antrag with the first kill listed as July 16, 1941, so they were definitely keeping the records. Now onto the meat.
I use 1, 2, and 3 to describe the three variations. The third is definitely the last of the variations, but 1 & 2 appear simultaneously. The Heeres-Flak units were part of Infanterie units and also Artillerie units, so there were two different parallel awarding organizations until possibly late 1943 when we stop seeing the use of the first 2 versions, but certainly by 1944 there is only one type when the documents are changed to Heeresflaktruppen. This gives us 5 possible variations (not to include the Im Auftrag/Im Vollmacht which could have been signed by just about anyone).
I use 1, 2, and 3 to describe the three variations. The third is definitely the last of the variations, but 1 & 2 appear simultaneously. The Heeres-Flak units were part of Infanterie units and also Artillerie units, so there were two different parallel awarding organizations until possibly late 1943 when we stop seeing the use of the first 2 versions, but certainly by 1944 there is only one type when the documents are changed to Heeresflaktruppen. This gives us 5 possible variations (not to include the Im Auftrag/Im Vollmacht which could have been signed by just about anyone).
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