The story of a Panzer officer and his dagger. Attached are pictures of a German Army dagger. The dagger is of very early vintage. The rare large type E. & F. Horster trademark indicates this. For more information about this trademark refer to Tom Wittmann’s Army book page 38. If you collect daggers and don’t have this book or Tom’s books on the Luftwaffe and Navy daggers then you are missing out. I purchased this dagger several years ago and die stamped on the reverse crossguard is A.V. UNGER. It is not professional done, but this is not unusual in that even in the mid-1930’s the German people did not have much money for such things. My initial research indicated that there are two Ungers listed in the 1939 Ranklist and of course the ranklist does not give the first name. I centered my search on looking for a A??? V??? Unger. I was under the impression that the V was for a middle name. It was suggested to me that V could be for von. When I explored this possibility I got an immediate hit on a Major Alfred von Unger. He was part of the LVII (mot.) Armeekorps. With a first and last name I could now write to the BundesArchiv in Aachen Germany. I soon received a letter back with information about Unger. His full name is Alfred Werner Martin von Unger, Born 10 November 1905, gefallen, as the Germans say for died, 27 August 1942. He was the commander of 2 Battalion, Panzer Grenadier Regiment 128. The 128 Pz. Gren. was attached to the 23 Panzer Division. The 23 Panzer Division was engaged in fighting in Russia in the area around Prochladnyj which is near the Terek River bend in the Caucasus region. It is possible to acquire more information about this regiment and as of yet I have not received Unger’s service record from the BundesArchiv. I wanted to post these pictures and story before I posted the item for sales. If you are interested let me know.
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