Outstanding mounted medal grouping for a Tropical Oberarzt.  It contains 14 pieces.  All original and in superb condition though the mounting is fairly recent.  If priced individually the value of the items would be over $1,300.

Simply an unbelievable grouping for a soldier that started off in a Heer Flak Bn.  When the Flak Bn.  was finally disbanded he transferred into a Flak Co. of the 2nd Panzerjager Bn that was part of the 12th Panzer Div.  True premium grouping.

# 2330

Great grouping for a pre-war and early war panzer soldier.  Group contains Wehrpas, "Afrika" Armband award document & a couple other items.  Photo in Wehrpas is simply outstanding.  Italian/German document is a photocopy of original.

# 2299

Super panzer group with von Thoma signature on the Silver PAB document.  WIA at Kursk northern pincer.

# 2376

Super neat small "Grossdeutschland" Division group from it's Panzer Pioneer Bn.

General Assault Badge Document for Stabsgefreiten Paul Hiller.  His unit was the 18th Panzerjager (Anti-Tank) Bn. in the 18th Panzergrenadier Division.  At the time he was awarded his badge his unit was involved in the defense of east Prussia against the Soviets and was armed with Sturmgeschutz III G Assault Guns (essentially a tank mounting a 75mm gun without a turret).  He received his award on the last day of 1944.

# 2337

A superb maker marked Iron Cross with it's document for Oberjager Emmerich Rajbar of the 138th Gebirgsjager Regiment.  He was awarded his Iron Cross on June 30th 1943.  His Iron Cross was awarded during the time his unit was fighting in the Southern Ukraine.  They were attempting to stop the Soviet break-through near Malo Nikolajewka and Schterowka.  Great award from one of the most active German Mountain Divisions.  It was the 138th Mountain Regiment that captured Trondheim Norway during the 1940 invasion.  It was also heavily involved in the failed attempt to relieve the 6th Army at Stalingrad just several months prior to when this award was issued to Oberjager Rajbar.  W = 44.2mm

EK2 hand signed by holder of Knights Cross & German Cross In Gold

Good grouping for a German Soldier, Unteroffizier Helmut Mader of the 2nd & later 6th Komp. 385th Infantry Regiment, 223rd Infantry Division.  It contains an EK2, Infanterie Sturmabzeichen & Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz award document.

Unteroffizier Mader's division was generally composed of older men and spent the beginning of the Russian Campaign in the southwest of France at Bordeaux.  They were sent to meatgrinder near Leningrad in November 1941.  Mader was wounded and received his Iron Cross in April of 1942.  He received his Infantry Assault Badge 6 months later in October.  Several interesting things about this grouping.  The EK2 document is hand signed by Generalmajor Baron Siegmund von Schleinitz (holder of the Knights Cross Of The Iron Cross and the German Cross In Gold) using the stamp of the 96th Infantry Division which he later commanded.  Both of the other documents are hand signed by the Regimental Commander of the 385th.  Apparently the 385th was at this point attached or at least under the control of the 96th Division.  Both divisions were in the same Army Corps so not an uncommon occurance in the heat of battle.  Another interesting thing revealed by the documents is that Mader switched from 2 Komp. in April to 6 Komp. in October.  Because of significant manpower loss, in June 1942 the 1st Bn of each of the 385th sister regiments (344th & 425th) were disbanded.  The 1/385 (Mader's Battalion) was not thought to have formally disbanded until the winter of 1942 when the Division was officially reorganized.  This would at least make one wonder if Mader and at least some of the soldiers in his battalion were reorganized  to flesh out the 2nd Battalion prior to December.  A really neat collectable group.

Nice small grouping for a German Soldier, Gefreiten Kurt Fricke of the 9th Komp. 31st Artillery Regiment, 31st Infantry Division.  It contains an EK2 & Winterschlacht award document as well as his work book (Arbeitsbuch) and Household Declaration Card (Haushalts-Ausweis).  It appears that Herr Fricke did not begin his service until the Russian invasion.  His workbook indicates he was working through September of 1940 in Hildesheim.

His unit was involved in the drive on Moscow in 1941 and Guderian's final offensive around Tula during the winter.  His unit was devastated during the Soviet winter  offensive that followed.  It is probably during this time or the following spring that Kurt Fricke earned his Iron Cross.  It is also likely he was wounded severely during the same time period because the summer found him back in Wehrkreis XI.  It was not until September in Hannover that he was actually awarded his Iron Cross.  His workbook then picks back up in 1943 in Hildesheim with him back to work (most probably recovered but disabled from his injuries) and there he remained through the end of the war.  One last interesting piece of information on his household card is that all entries except the last one list 2 individuals over 18 in the household.  The last entry indicates he was alone.

A really neat and unusual little group.  This soldier served with the Railroad Engineers on the Russian Front.  These units had a dramatic and often unknown effect on the German war effort on the Russian Front.  Especially in the early days of the invasion, the depth of the German penetrations was governed by how quickly the captured Soviet railroads could be placed back in service.  When the Germans captured Soviet territory they often had to repair the tracks and rail yards that were damaged in the fighting or by the retreating Soviet soldiers.  More importantly the German Railroad Engineers had to re-gauge almost all of the track they captured.  The Soviets used a wider gauge (the iron rails were farther apart) so before it could be used by the German engines and railcars the rails had to be reset to the narrower gauge.  Without rail transport of supplies the Germans simply could not sustain their massive penetrations of Soviet territory.  This soldier, whose name is unfortunately not recorded, received both the War Merit Cross 2nd Class and the Russian Campaign medal for the winter of 1941/42.  In addition the group includes his dog tag which notes his unit, his Sleeve Grade Insignia (Oberschutze) and his photo.  One last interesting thing to note is that in the photo he is missing part of his left index finger.

Signed - Knights Cross Of The Iron Cross Recipient - General Of Artillery Willi Moser

An extremely nice Iron Cross 2nd Class Document awarded to Gefreiten Adam Sanger of the 530th Infantry Regiment, 299th Infantry Division on July 28th 1941.  During the period of this award his regiment suffered extremely heavy losses (over 600 casualties - approx. 1/3rd of the regiment) breaking through the Stalin Line near Korosten.  It was during this fighting that his Regimental Commander - Oberst Heinrich Wittkopf earned his Knights Cross.  Gefreiten Sanger earned his Iron Cross  a little later while his III. Bataillon was involved in capturing the airfield north of Kiev.  The fighting was especially severe and his regiment was recognized for it's bravery and accomplishment during this action.  The signer of this document,  299th Division Commander, Generalleutnant Willi Moser was awarded his Knights Cross a short time later.  Great early Operation Barbarossa award.

Infantry Assault Badge Document for Obergefreiten Karl Bugener in the 293rd Grenadier Regiment, 18th Volksgrenadier Division.  Karl was awarded his badge on January 20th 1945 after his unit was involved in heavy fighting against the Americans in the Ardennes (Battle Of The Bulge).  The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was a part of the 6th Panzer Army during the battle.  While it performed better than many of the hastily formed Volksgrenadier Divisions, it also took extremely heavy casualities during the battle.

# 2303

Infantry Assault Badge Document for Gefreiten Gerhard Schonfeld in the 1096th Grenadier Regiment, 548th Volksgrenadier Division.  Gerhard was awarded his badge on Christmas Eve 1944 while his unit was involved in fighting the Soviets near Tilsit & Konigsberg in East Prussia.

# 2287

A great Black Wound Badge maker marked 110 for Otto Zappe of Gablonz with it's original Award Document.  It was awarded to Gefreiter Erwin Wangerow for his 1st wound on March 11th, 1943.  He was serving in the 2nd Company, 107th Grenadier Regiment, 34th Infantry Division.  Gefreiter Wangerow received his wound while his unit was involved in fighting near Orel just north of Kursk.