A dodgy award doc???

[Simon O.]

Barrie

The point is that the division wasn't called Reichsgrenadier until june 1943.
also, the entire unit designation is mangled, as was pointed out Grenadier is misspelled and you cant have a division within a division. Completely unacceptable for a doc being issued by division.
Secondly, the divisional commander in dec.40 was generalmajor Friedrich Siebert
thirdly, the stamp is a fantasy, units used unit stamps, their purpose is to identify the authorising unit. A generic OKW stamp is meaningless and is well known in badly executed fakes.

[jmark]

The division was rebuilt in Belgium, (NOT FORMED, JASON), when Hitler ordered the Stalingrad divisions should be reconstructed. By the summer of 1943 it was back up to strength and was sent to fight in Italy, where it was heavily engaged at Monte Cassino.

Hi Barrie,

Firstly, welcome to WAF.

I think you missed my point. The division was plain old "44. Infanterie-Division" from 1938 until its destruction in Stalingrad in 1942-43. Only upon its reformation (note that I never said "formed" in my original post, I said "renamed") in 1943 did it receive the name "Reichsgrenadier". How do you explain this 1943 term being used on a document dated 1940?

All the best,
Jason Mark
Author of several books about Stalingrad. Check out the positive reviews of my books on Amazon.