Awards received in field

[Hofstetter]

Hi trying to get my head around whether these awards given "im Felde" are in indication that the soldier was still in field with the unit or not. I would have thought so, but he has a wound document dated 5th Dec. in Pforzheim. Maybe he was flown back to Germany from the front. Or does an award "im felde" not necessarily mean he is still in the field ?

As you can see the EK2 document was awarded Im Felde 27th of October 41 , then the small document says im felde 4th Dec. 41 (both to same guy so must be for same award).
I'm a bit perplexed as to the gap in time. Would this mean the 4th Dec. he was still with the unit and maybe the time he actually received the medal ?

[Hofstetter]

Here are 2 wound documents to the same soldier one awarded im felde and one in Pforzheim, both for the same wound.

[HPL2008]

The "im Felde" refers to the place were the certificate was made out, which was not necessarily the whereabouts of the recipient at the time.

The award document for the Iron Cross is dated 27 October 1941 and signed by the divisional commander Paul Hausser; the smaller document dated 4 December is the letter with which the recipient was sent his decoration. It says:

"Your company is sending you the attached EK II. The award certificate will be forwarded to you when it has arrived."

The first wound badge certificate (15 Nov. 1941) was signed by the man's regimental commander Otto Kumm and issued in the field; the second one (5 Dec. 1941) by a military physician in Pforzheim, surely at a military hospital.

So the timeline we get from this is:

• 15 September 1941 - The recipient gets wounded and eventually sent back to Germany for further treatment.
• 27 October 1941 - Award of the Iron Cross 2nd Class.
• 15 November 1941 - Award of the Wound Badge in Black by his unit.
• 4 December 1941 - The Iron Cross gets mailed to the recipient by his unit.
• 5 December 1941 - Award of the Wound Badge in Black. The recipient is still at the military hospital in Pforzheim at the time.

Apparently, the authorities at the military hospital were unaware that the recipient had already been awarded the Wound Badge in Black in absentia and rectified what they believed to be an oversight by undertaking the second award.

[Hofstetter]

Thanks HPL2008 , all clear