VWA document of regiment Das Reich.

[scharfschutzeNL]

Hello all,
An friend of my bought this VWA award document last week. Can someone give us some opinions on this VWA award document? It is from regiment das Reich.

Thanks in advance!

[AJ]

Impossible to tell from these poor pictures!

[scharfschutzeNL]

Is it possible to give a opinium on the first inpression even they are poor picture`s ? Sorry but next week I have better pictures of it.

[hucks216]

Based on the unit designation of SS-Aufk.1.Abt I'm going to say it is a fake. There is probably a reason why the person has hid most of the details with the sight.

[scharfschutzeNL]

This document is one of many items in a lot and bought straight from a vetran.

[hucks216]

Take a look at this Das Reich OOB for Kursk and notice the designation of the Aufkl.Abt - there is no 1 between the Aufk & Abt...
http://www.dasreich.ca/kursk_oob.html

The citation shown above is either a fake or it was a mistake by the admin at the Lazarett. If I am wrong then I will be happy to hold my hands up and say so but at the moment I will stick with my original assessment until better photos are forthcoming.

[Hank C.]

Unfortunately "bought from a veteran" doesn't always mean "original".

I'm highly skeptical of framed docs like this, after having been burned on one myself in the past.

Need to get it out of the frame for quality close-ups.

best
Hank

[scharfschutzeNL]

Better pictures of it.

[hucks216]

I am still not comfortable with this citation. It looks far too 'new'. The signature ink looks fresh and the rank of the signer seems a bit too high for an Abt commander. Looking in Mark C. Yerger's 2 vols of DKiG Holders Of Das Reich it shows the commander of the Aufkl.Abt as being an SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer in 1940 (I think that is the date reference) which is 2 ranks below that of SS-Oberfuhrer. I would of assumed that as the war progressed and casualties had an impact on appointments this position would of been held by a similar rank as the 1940 one or a lesser rank, not a more senior one.
In March 1943 Brasack was in command of the Das Reich Division for a brief period before Krüger took over and that signature doesn't match either of those. Maybe I am wrong and someone will be able to identify the signature & the Abt Commander and correct me in which case great as I'll learn something new but my hunch is that it is a fake.

[Simon O.]

Very much a fake.

I understand Jakob Fick was commander of the battalion at the time with the rank of Sturmbannführer

[Mark C. Yerger]

No officer with the rank of Oberführer commanded the "AA" of "Das Reich" and as stated the unit as typed is wrong. Also from the initial post, "Das Reich" was a division (not a regiment).

I also feel it's a poorly researched copy, not signed by anyone with Oberführer rank I've seen with the division and I think I've seen them all. Also, in 1943 an Oberführer would have been a divisional commander or rare regimental commander rank, not the leader of an Abteilung (Bataillon equivalent).

Jakob Fick took command of the Aufklärungsabteilung in May 1943 when the reconnaissance element absorbed remnants of the divisional Kradschützen Bataillon (Fick's prior command). Fick commanded it until becoming ill in August 1943. Even with his postwar hyphenated name, the signature on the document obviously isn't Fick's (see below).