My latest aquisition and quite rare too.
As you all know the first of the campaign shields authorised was the Narvik shield. The last, officially authorised, was the Lappland, ironically enough both in the same general theater of operations. Klietmann states that only some 8577 Narviks were awarded of which 2755 were Heer, of these how many men would have fought later on in North Norway and Finland and still be around in Norway 5 years later at the surrender? The answer is not very many at all. GJR 139 was at the front more or less the whole time from June 1941 to Jan. 1945. For the Heer the only unit in the frame for qualifying for both the Narvik and Lappland shields would have been GJR.139 (not including individuals transferred to other units). Any man still alive by May 1945 to pick up his second shield could truely be considered a veteran and lucky to have survived the war.
Here's the Narvik. In 1940 our man is a humble Gefreiter
5 long years later and almost at the same place (just an hour's drive North of Narvik) our man is a salty Hauptfeldwebel, likely the kompanie spiess. This is my personal favourite style of Lappland doc, an award which comes in a large variety of styles and quality. It's worth noting that this particular style was IMO only used by GJR139 and the units co-located with it in the reservations the regiment occupied during the summer of '45.
The signature is that of Hans Rohr (RK,DKiG), the most junior rank of the Heer to win the RK at Narvik. He too was one of the regiment's survivors even though wounded 5 times during the course of the war. When 139 was formed in August 1938 he was a feldwebel newly incorporated into the wehrmacht from the Austrian army, by the end of the war he had risen to command the regiment. The stamp actually says Geb.Jäg.Brig.139 this is because in the last weeks and months of the war the unit had revert back to regiment from it's brigade status as it was to be incorporated into the new 9 Gebirgs Division (the other GJ regiment of this division was Gebirgsjäger Regiment 856, you won't find it mentioned in Tessin but nevertheless it existed at the end of the war. Worth remembering should you come across a Lappland doc to this unit)
Unfortunately the seller only had these two docs to the man
. The has to have been more so maybe they'll surface one day.
Although this isn't him i thought i'd add this photo i found a while back on a website (i can't remember where unfortunately). I think it's just a great photo of one of these Austrian vets and shows that on occasion they weren't shy about wearing their medals. Note the 'Generaloberst Dietl' cufftitle (it's postwar BTW).
As you all know the first of the campaign shields authorised was the Narvik shield. The last, officially authorised, was the Lappland, ironically enough both in the same general theater of operations. Klietmann states that only some 8577 Narviks were awarded of which 2755 were Heer, of these how many men would have fought later on in North Norway and Finland and still be around in Norway 5 years later at the surrender? The answer is not very many at all. GJR 139 was at the front more or less the whole time from June 1941 to Jan. 1945. For the Heer the only unit in the frame for qualifying for both the Narvik and Lappland shields would have been GJR.139 (not including individuals transferred to other units). Any man still alive by May 1945 to pick up his second shield could truely be considered a veteran and lucky to have survived the war.
Here's the Narvik. In 1940 our man is a humble Gefreiter
5 long years later and almost at the same place (just an hour's drive North of Narvik) our man is a salty Hauptfeldwebel, likely the kompanie spiess. This is my personal favourite style of Lappland doc, an award which comes in a large variety of styles and quality. It's worth noting that this particular style was IMO only used by GJR139 and the units co-located with it in the reservations the regiment occupied during the summer of '45.
The signature is that of Hans Rohr (RK,DKiG), the most junior rank of the Heer to win the RK at Narvik. He too was one of the regiment's survivors even though wounded 5 times during the course of the war. When 139 was formed in August 1938 he was a feldwebel newly incorporated into the wehrmacht from the Austrian army, by the end of the war he had risen to command the regiment. The stamp actually says Geb.Jäg.Brig.139 this is because in the last weeks and months of the war the unit had revert back to regiment from it's brigade status as it was to be incorporated into the new 9 Gebirgs Division (the other GJ regiment of this division was Gebirgsjäger Regiment 856, you won't find it mentioned in Tessin but nevertheless it existed at the end of the war. Worth remembering should you come across a Lappland doc to this unit)
Unfortunately the seller only had these two docs to the man
. The has to have been more so maybe they'll surface one day.Although this isn't him i thought i'd add this photo i found a while back on a website (i can't remember where unfortunately). I think it's just a great photo of one of these Austrian vets and shows that on occasion they weren't shy about wearing their medals. Note the 'Generaloberst Dietl' cufftitle (it's postwar BTW).
Wow... and the medals too! Too bad the Narvik and Lappland Shields didn't come with the group though. Pretty amazing too, that the guy was apparently never wounded. Congratulations on a really great find! 
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