Show your stalingrad related urkunde's

[Jochen1000]

One of mine which I have for a long time. This is to a Panzergrenadier who saw a lot of fighting. The wound badge document is signed (I believe) by Major Schwanke.

The wehrpass gives more info about his wounds:
22.06.41 left knee
21.07.42 left arm, right shoulder (bombsplinter)
26.07.42 left leg, left arm
30.08.42 right knee
21.02.43 bullet in his right leg which resultet in an amputation and ended the war for him

Seems he had a hard time - but at least he survived

[Luft 76]

A great post, thanks luft, It looks like his first wound was awarded during the 94th Infantry Division's drive towards the Grain Silo area in southern Stalingrad. General der Artillerie Georg Pfeiffer led the Division and they suffered appalling casualties until virtually exhausted. I have two Urkunde's signed by this general and i'll post them soon.

Here is a nice quote from a soldier of the Division.
"16 September. Our battalion is attacking the grain elevator with tanks. Smoke is pouring out of it. The grain is burning and it seems the Russians inside set fire to it themselves. It's barbaric. The battalion is taking heavy losses. Those are not people in the elevator, they are devils and neither fire nor bullets can touch them."- German soldier Willi Hoffman, 94th Infantry Division, on the battle for the grain elevator.

The EK2 looks to be awarded for fighting when the 94th Division was moved from central Stalingrad to bolster up the northern flank. They were stationed between Spartakovka and Orlovka until steadily pushed back towards the city itself.

Darren

Thanks to you, for these informations I didn't have.

[Betty Swollocks]

Thanks for the post Jochen, a nice Urkunde to a soldier who must have seen plenty of fighting. Major Wilhelm Schwanke received the German Cross in Gold on the 4th September 1942 probably for the fighting to clear the city sector between the dividing line to 14th Panzer Division and the Tsaritsa Gully. During the 4th September 24th Panzer Division captured Voroponovo from the Russian 35th Guards Rifle Division, however there were reports of "friendly fire" incidents caused by supporting Stuka's.

Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Here is another Urkunde signed by a General who ultimately would end up at Stalingrad. This one is the Unteroffizier Kirchhoff of Inf Regt 279, part of 95th Infantry Division and is dated 9th January 1942 when the Division was in Kursk. The Urkunde is signed by General Hans- Heinrich Sixt Von Armin who would leave the 95th Division and take over the 113rd Infantry Division in May 1942 and command this unit until the Division surrendered in the "Kessel". Although this one is not an Urkunde signed at the battle I still think it warrants posting as the General has a great story.
The 113rd Infantry Division marched on towards Stalingrad and from June until August resided on the Don bend before being called into the Battle for the city itself, however it spent most of its time guarding the flanks of 6th Army. When the Russians launched Operation Uranus, the plan to surround the 6th Army in November, the 113rd Infantry Division was stationed out in the steppe between Gumrak and Vertyachy to the north west of Stalingrad. When the Kessel closed they were stationed around Borodkin again in the Northwest of the pocket. From then on until the surrender they steadily retreated back towards the city and General Von Armin was captured on 2nd February 1943 and was one of only seven Generals who died in Russian POW camps. 113rd Infantry Division were to suffer the worse levels of starvation of any of the divisions in Stalingrad.
General Sixt Von Armin was one of the 21 Generals and Admirals of the armed forces to be of Jewish origin and whilst In captivity he protested vocally against the "National Committee for Free Germany which had noteable members involved in the battle such as GFM Paulus, General Walter Von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Colonel Wilhelm Adam, and General Arno Von Lenski. During the battle of Stalingrad Von Armin was apparently GFM Paulus closest confidant.
The General died in captivity on 1st April 1952 and its said there was "evidence of a violent death"

[Betty Swollocks]

Hi all,
I though i'd post another Stalingrad related Urkunde. This one is to a Corporal Wahlen of Infantry Regiment 212, part of the 79th Infantry Division who were ultimately destroyed in the "Kessel" The Urkunde is signed by the 40yr old Lieutenant General Richard Graf Von Schwerin who was one of the lucky officers who flew out of the trap on 9th January 1943.
On the day the EK2 Urkunde was signed ( 15th October 1942 ) the Division were stationed on the River Don bend, in reserve and protecting the rear of 6th Army. It was only on the 17th October did Von Schwerin receive the order to head towards the city itself as German Divisions in the city were taking big losses and GFM Paulus wanted to " be ready for any eventuality". Little did they know what was ahead of them as they with the 100th Jager Division were tasked to assault the Red Oktober Factory.
The Division were delayed in attacking the factory due to three days of heavy rain and it was only on the 23rd October did the 79th Division move forward. Regiment 212 were right in the thick of the action and suffered very high losses against stubborn Russian resistance.

I have Corporal Wahlen Wehrpass but the entries are poor, having said that it looks like he was stationed in the Garrision town of St Wendel in 1944 so I can only assume he was injured at Stalingrad and evacuated. The 79th Division were in the city centre until the end it seems.

I hope you like it.
Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Come on guys, there must be some out there which i'm sure the WAF members would love to see.

Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Just to get things moving along again I thought I would post a recent purchase. It's a simple Black Wound Badge urkunde to a Helmut Schopper. He worked in the vehicle repair centre for 389th Infantry Division and was wounded on 11th November 1942. The division was ultimately destroyed in the Stalingrad pocket. The urkunde was issued the day the Division was attacking the Barrikady Gun Factory district with Schopper being nearer the Divisions HQ.
The Urkunde was issues at a German hospital in Plauen, which is a town south west of Dresden.
I hope you like it.
Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Just to revitalise the thread I thought I would show you this nice KVK 2nd class with Swords to Obergefreiten Wilhelm Haase of Vet Komp 295. Its signed by General Rolf Wuthmann who commanded the 295th Infantry Division from May 1942 to the 16th November 1942 by when the Division was in the thick of the fighting in Stalingrad city centre. Wuthmann was replaced on the 16th November 1942 by General Otto Korfes who himself was captured by the Russians at the end of the battle in 1943. I suppose Wuthmann was a lucky man to leave the battle but ultimately when captured by the Russians in 1945 was still imprisoned for 10yrs.
Enjoy

[mametz]

Really interesting i don,t collect documents but these are great a window
into history. Must take a lot of research to place the units and where
they fought. Also how do you manage to read the signatures they all
look like a scrawl to me.
Regards
Mametz

[Betty Swollocks]

Hi Mametz

Generally speaking its just a case of looking at the unit on the document and then looking on lexicon der Wehrmacht to find the officers who commanded the units.

Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Hi All,

I thought I would revitalise this thread with a recent purchase I made.
A nice Black Wound Badge Urkunde to Rifleman Josef Kesenheimer who was part of the 305th Infantry Division at Stalingrad. On the day of his wound his unit was in jumping off positions just north of the Schnellhefter Block ready to attack on through the Red Oktobar factory housing settlement and onto the factory itself. Infantry Regiment 576 was helping the 14th Panzer Division with the main attack towards the factory where they decimated the Russian Guards Division defending the area.

That day Infantry Regiment 576 were heavily involved in house to house fighting and by the end of the day had entered the corner of the Red Oktobar factory itself.

Schutzen Kesenheimer was evacuated to a hospital in Gorlitz which is in eastern Germany.

Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Hi all,

Another recent purchase. A nice Black Wound Badge Urkunde to Unteroffizier Otto Stadler of Inf Regiment 578. His unit was part of the 305th Infantry Division led by Generalleutnant Kurt Oppenländer who was replaced in November 1942 by Generalleutnant Bernhard Steinmetz.

The award was given in early July when the unit was pushing across the Tikhaia Sosna River line which is around one hundred miles North east of Kharkov. This was not awarded at the battle of Stalingrad but I bought it as it is signed by the Regiment Commander Willi Winzer who was KIA at Stalingrad on the 17th October 1942. He was posthumously awarded the Knights cross on the 3rd November 1942. Willi was killed in bitter fighting as his unit fought around the Barrikady Gun Factory.

The excellent book " Island of Fire" by Jason Mark states on the 17th October 1942 the Division lost two Officers killed, two wounded. 29 NCO's and men killed. 124 wounded and 4 missing. It was then the fighting for the Barrikady Factory turned up a gear and became very violent as the Russian 138th Rifle Division arrived led by Colonel Ivan Lyudnikov.

Thanks for looking.

Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Here is a recent purchase I thought I would share with you all. A modest KVK 2nd class with swords to Martin Waizenegger who was part of the 297th Infantry Division. The Urkunde is signed in field by the leader of the Division General der Artillerie Max Pfeffer. This in my experience is a seldom seen signature and to be dated during the battle of Stalingrad is special. At the time the Division was holding the line south of Stalingrad between Tinguta railway station and Abgonerovo railway station.

Martin Waizenegger is not listed on the Volksbund so maybe he survived the battle and the war. General Pfeffer was not so lucky and was captured along with his remaining troops.

Apparently on the 25th January 1943 as the battle was coming to a close General Preffer with General Vassol and General Hartmann were making a last stand on the railway embankment of Stalingrad south Railway Station. All three generals were ordered to stand down but Hartmann was KIA and shortly after Pfeffer and Vassol went into Soviet captivity.

General Pfeffer was to live in Soviet prisons until his death, age 72 in January 1956. The pink line across the signature is not permanent.

[Hank C.]

Nice KVK doc there, and interesting info behind it.

best

[Betty Swollocks]

I thought I would share another recent buy which I hope you will like.
It's a group to Corporal Max Pietsch of Stab Komp 191. This unit was part of the 71st Infantry Division who were destroyed at Stalingrad.

The IAB Urkunde is dated 13/9/1941 and is dated when the Division was fighting around the Kiev area. This is hand signed by Oberst Ing Johannes Schmidt.

The BWB Urkunde is dated 13th August 1942 when the Division were fighting on the River Don bend. This was particularly heavy fighting as the Russians were getting to a desperate state. This is also signed by Oberst Schmidt.

Oberst Schmidt was awarded the DKIG during the battle ( 26/9/42 ) On this date his unit was attacking the famous hill Mamaev Kurgan and also the city centre. He was evacuated late November after an illness and in 1943 died in a German military hospital. Schmidt was posthumously promoted to General.

The KVK Urkunde is hand signed by General Alexander von Hartmann who was the only General to be KIA at Stalingrad. This is dated 1/9/42 when the Division was fighting for the Stalingrad suburbs and Gumrak Station.
Hope you like it.
Darren