Anerkennungsurkunde der ObdH

[Angus M]

Like most people I started off with building a collection of a wide variety of different documents that ended up with no pattern or nothing particularly outstanding. I have since decided to get at least one outstanding document and base a collection around that, so I did a deal with a seller and got rid of my bits and pieces in exchange for an "Anerkennungsurkunde der ObdH".

This document has to be one of the best army documents to get as it not only identifies the recipient, but also identifies the place and date of action it was awarded for. In this case it was an Oberstleutnant Karl Mellwig. He was he regimental commander of IR313 and late went on to recieve the Ritterkreuz des Eisnes Kreuz in '44, this time as an Oberst but still commander of IR313. I also know that he survived the war and died in 1960.

Unfortunately, I do not have any other documents of his and, at this stage, that is all I know about him so if anyone has any other details (ie service record, awards, etc.) about him it would be much appreciated.

regards
Angus M

[bhholst]

Oberst Karl Mellwig

Hello Angus.
This officer is not listed as a recipient of the German Cross i. Gold.
His effective dte of promotion is 1.Oct. 1943. His peacetime unit affiliation was Pz.Gren.Rgt. 33. (per Rangliste 1944/45)
Ian V. Hogg gives Gren.Rgt. 313 as belonging to 337.I.D. which was formed in 1941 . Staioned in France until late 1942 when it was shifted to the Eastern Front , Central Sector where it remained until at least 1944. Another German source gives the end of this division's existence as a formation as July 1944 while a part of 4.Armee-Heeresgruppe Mitte. Remaining segments were then utilized to form a Divisions Gruppe 337 later used to establish 570. Gren.Div. (German Order of Battle , London 1975; Tessin, Verbaende u. Truppen der Deutschen wehrmacht u. Waffen-SS) I was unable to locate any other information on this officer beyond what you already have.
Bernhard H. Holst

[Stijn David]

Anerkennungsurkunde des ObdH

Hello Angus,


Well my friend it seems that you have a rare bird in your collection, the Anerkunngesurkunde des ObdH ( not to confuse withe Honour roll clasp award document, altough identical in design, etc .... => just to make it a little more aclompished )
is one of the rare awards one can try to find, also it is ( only ? ) a award document and the recipient never received anything to actual wear on the uniform .

For example, there are only 1322 actual awards of this rare award ( much rarer when compared towards the also rare Honour roll clasp army => 4272 awards !!!! )

Both awards ( at least the second type ) are the same in appearance and one can only find out wich award doc. it is by checking out your reference books !!!!!!!!!

Angus, your award document is listed as following ( in the book from Manfred Dorr ) :

Mellwig Karl, Oberstleutnant ( Commander of the Gren.Regt. 313 ) , 25.09.1943 bei Grigorkowo ( the date & place of the bravery act + also the date on the award document ) => actual awarded on 25.10.1943

Is it possible to share a picture of this rarity with us ? as im sure this is one of the things we have not seen yet !!!!!!!!! + is widely unknown by the most collectors .

Cordial greetings ,

[Angus M]

Thanks for the info, I'll post a new thread on this subject once I've done some more research. Unfortunately, I do not seem to be able to fix a scan of the document to this response.

Regards
angus m

[Ian Jewison]

Here is the image provided by Angus.
Fire away!!!!!!

[Stijn David]

Anerkennungsurkunde

Hello,


What can we say => it is a superb award document and very rare ( and besides that im drooling about my PC when looking at it )

Is it possible that this award doc. comes from a German dealer ? => I just think that because off the red area's ( I know a german dealer who does this due to German recent laws )


Cordial Greetings,

[nick]

offer

Hello,

Here is one for sale.
I don't like the clasp, but the award seems to be good to me.
The ribbon is new and what is that on the upper right? There is something missing.
I don't know what the going price is.
The seller asks 5500$ for this group.
I think thats a bit high
link: http://www.worldmilitaria.com/cgi-bi...uery=retrieval

Have a look

[Ian Jewison]

Hi Stijn,

One thing that Angus did mention is that he does not have a scanner currently and this is the only scan that he has.....it looks like a familiar Hamburg dealer that might have had it?!?!?!

/Ian

[Stijn David]

thats crap

Hello,


Im sorry Nicky boy => that Honour roll clasp will need more inspection to say anything about it , this shows once again the confusion between the Ehrenblatt Urkunde & the Anerkennungsurkunde !!!!!!!!

These 2 are the same in appearance but are not the same in reality !!!!!!!!


Cordial Greetings,

ps : Angus & Ian, it is a very nice award document and it is not because something comes from a dealer it is wrong so Angus stick towards that beauty , it is certainly worth it

[nick]

award doc

Look's nice.
Stamp in paper is not quite visible but it's there.
Found this one on world militaria free photo classifields
here is the link:http://www.worldmilitaria.com/cgi-bi...uery=retrieval
Greetings
Nick

[nick]

Stijn

Hello Stijn

Not so fast I'm not done yet
Look at award doc.

[Stijn David]

Walter Focht

Hello,


I have had a quick look and the award doc. shown by Nick is a Honour roll clasp ( Ehrenblatt( spange ) ) award document.

After checking my references about these I found the following about

Walter Focht , Leutnant der Reserve => 1./le.Stu.Gesch.Abt. 19 , named in the honour roll from the army

So iff our friend Walter Focht survived long enough after his act of extreme bravery he was entitled to wear the honour roll clasp on his uniform ( and he certainly received probably the following entry in his personal papers : Nennung im Ehrenblatt or something similar ) = a visible sign of the award .

While our friend Oberstleutnant Karl Mellwig ( award document shown and property of Angus ) received also a award document that was the same in appearance but he was not entitled to wear the Honour roll clasp as his act of bravery was only enough to receive the " Anerkennungsurkunde des ObdH " instead of the " Ehrenblatt " and he could never show this award on his uniform . ( both officers are without doubt very brave, the only thing that made a difference was most probably the persons at the desks who decided wich award was appropriate for this or that soldier )

Just hoping to bring a little cleareness into this complicated mather

ps : Nick from wich dealer did you snatch these pictures ? => please give a proper Credit towards the current owner ( dealer )

Cordial Greetings,

[Angus M]

Hello All

Firstly, thanks to Ian for posting the scan of my document and thanks to Stijn for his comments. In respect to the other document and honour roll clasp posted by Nick, are you sure that the document is not an annerurkund der ObdH? I was lead to believe that the honour roll clasp was issued as a list of recipients and did not have individual documents. Does Leutant Focht show on the roll for the ObdH? Perhaps he recieved both awards?

Anyway, the document is nice but like Stijn, I'm not so sure about the clasp without closer inspection. I have to admit I'm biased against these clasps and I don't think I've seen a good one yet. You have to remember that they probably weren't constructed with the best of gilding or metal (after all they weren't made until '44) and after nearly 60 years I would expect to see some degradation, especially if the award had actually been worn.

regards
Angus M

[Stijn David]

Anerkennungsurkunde versus Ehrenblatt

Hello Angus,


Thanks for the comments => concerning your question

are you sure that the document is not an annerurkunde der ObdH? I was lead to believe that the honour roll clasp was issued as a list of recipients and did not have individual documents

Yeps im positive that the piece shown by Nick is a " Ehrenblatt " award document and that he was only entitled to the ehrenblatt(spange ), the only way in telling wich document ( Ehrenblatt versus Anerkunnungsurkunde ) it is , is by checking reference books.

therefore you need 2 books :

* " Die INhaber der Anerkennungsurkunde des ObdH 1941 - 1945 " , written by Dorr Manfred, Biblio Verlag, Osnabruck 1993 , ISBN : 3-7648-2426-3

* " Die trager der Ehrenblattspange des Heeres und der Waffen-SS ................ " , written by Scheibert Horst, Podzun Pallas Verlag
=> This one is long out of print

And in crosschecking these one can be sure wich award the person received.

Angus you are partially correct in your believe => the persons who where entered in the honour roll their names where made public ( on the lists that you mention !!!!! ), these lists where a part of the HVBL ( Heeres Verordnungsblatt ) , Teil C .

Now lets check the basic system behind these 2 very similar awards ( a little simplifyd ) : First off al a soldier had to be in the possesion from both grades of the Iron cross ( meaning : Ek 2 & Ek 1 ) and he had to perform a act off bravery that was exceptional but that this deed was not sufficient enough to receive the KC !!!!!!! ( to keep it simple the German cross whil not be taken in consideration because one could only earn it after several repeated acts of extreme bravery !!!! )

Their was kept a special book ( Vorschlagbuch ) with the Heerespersonalambt , Abteilung P5 ( this section was responsable for high end awards, etc .. ) and the titelpage of this book bears the following name :

Meldungen fur Nennungen im Wehrmachtbericht bzw. fur besondere Anerkennungen

In the sideline of this book their are always 2 remarks =>

1 ) Vorschlag : A(bgelehnt ) or W(urdig ) => translated : non approved & approved

Once a person had the notice W. behind his name their was another remark ( entscheid ) placed after the name :

2 ) Entscheid : EB ( Ehrenblatt ) and A ( Anerkennungsurkunde )

so for example , on page number 8 of this book we see entry number. 74 : Leutnant Kirchner , I./Schtz.Regt.113 ( am 23.06.1941, Skandville ) Vorschlag : W , Entscheid : EB

so this means that this person was approved for the award of the naming in the Ehrenblatt and his name would be mentioned in the Ehrenblatt and he received the large award document ( and later on in 1944 after the institution of the honour roll clasp ) + he was entitled to wear the clasp as a visible sign of his bravery after 1944 .

While a person who received the remark : Vorschlag : W ,entscheid : A , was never mentioned in the Ehrenblatt and he received only the award document !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Their are soldiers known who received both a " Anerkennungsurkunde des ObdH " and later on a mentioning in the " Ehrenblatt " , when looking at these soldiers award document estate these have 2 award documents that ar exactly the same in appearance but are a total different award !!!!!!! ( for example : Phillip Freiherr von Boeslager ( also a KC holder )

Another soldier is known to receive the " Anerkennungsurkunde des ObdH " twice => Johannes Spielmann ( ended the war with Oak leaves towards the KC )

This is a very complex mather but after a little study one can understand, etc .. and learn to find out the difference between the 2 .

ps : I feel that it might be the time to write a little article about this for our beloved association

Cordial greetings,

[Ian Jewison]

Another person that received both Annerkennungsurkunde and Ehrenblattspange was Major Kurt Schäfer Pz.Gren.Rgt. 33.
I will post some photos later of him and his award ceremony.....
He was also holder of Deutches Kreuz in Gold, Ritterkreuz and Nahkampfspange in Gold!!!!

As Stijn has mentioned you need both books to be certain which award was which! With that said though there is another book which I do have but can not remember the title but I think it is Annerkennungsurkunde for shooting down aircraft!!!! This one I have never compared names and is thinner than the other two books .......

/Ian