Minesweeper doc for review

[realone]

Heres a DINA4 doc I just got in today,,could use help IDing the signer on this one
thanks
Greg

[RichardT]

Greg, pics could be better but the signature is Konteradmiral Hans Stohwasser, FdM Nord 10.08.40 - 13.10.40. Received rank of Konteradmiral 01.02.40.

Richard

[realone]

Hi Richard,,,Yeah your right ,need to learn how to use new camera I got last year,,Im still using old one,,and cant always get as clear as I would like,,I guess its time to bust out the 1500 camera,,,theres so many buttons to push Im telling you,,lol again thanks so much for the IDing,,your great
Thanks
Greg Scotto

[Simon O.]

Compare it to this one. The actual style is different but that isn't necessarily a bad sign. Even though the date is the same, it doesn't always reflect when the award was typed up.

[Norm F]

Just pulling up this old thread for an observation and a question. Here's another certificate of the same type as Greg's and the same date and signature as both Greg's and Simon's. All three have the same stamp which reads "Führer der Minensuchverbände Ost".

But my understanding from this link:
http://www.axishistory.com/books/366...-ost-f-d-m-ost
is that the Minensuchverbände Ost wasn't formed until March 12, 1942 out of the Führer der Minensuchboote Nord?

Stohwasser's title was "Führer der Minensuchboote Nord" not "Führer der Minensuchverbände Nord". It seems the term "verbände" came later?

So I'm very confused. Were the terms "Minensuchverbände" and "Minensuchboote" used very loosely and interchangably early on?

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's the same type of document but dated in December when Kapitän zur See Kurt Böhmer was the "Führer der Minensuchboote Nord". Again there's the same stamp reading "Führer der Minensuchverbände Ost". Very confusing terminology.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Another signed by Stohwasser from a few months earlier in Wilhelmshaven. Same unit stamp. The bizarre thing about this is the date is before the Minesweeper Badge was even announced by Raeder on August 31, 1940!

Could these all have been awarded much later and just back-dated to when the sailor met the qualifications in retrospect?

Best regards,
---Norm