Very nice Luftwaffe 2 document and medal grouping for Obergefreiten Franz Richter.  This is an extremely interesting grouping, especially if you enjoy the organizational gyrations of the Luftwaffe field units.  Obergefreiten Richter's unit, 5th Komp. 1st Bn. 40th Motorized Flak Regiment was initially the Flak Bn. that was a part of the 1st Luftwaffe Field Division.  When that division was virtually destroyed in the fighting around Leningrad, the Flak Bn became the IV (Flak) Bn of Luftwaffe Artillery Regiment 1.  In November 1943, when the Army took over the Artillery Regiment, the IV Bn remained with the Luftwaffe and was reformed into the 1st Bn, 40th Motorized Flak Regiment.  Franz received his Iron Cross while his unit was involved in the fierce fighting near Leningrad.  The Germans were involved in their desperate attempt to keep Leningrad isolated.  Though we do not know what unit Franz served with during the first part of the war in Russia, we do know that he was there during the 1st terrible winter in 1941/42. 

The Iron Cross carries the very uncommon makers mark 27 indicating it was made by Anton Schenkl's in Vienna.

Very interesting little group.  It contains award document for a Luftwaffe Ground Combat Badge and Wound Badge in Black.  They were awarded to Gefreiten Paul Hofer.  He was assigned to Luftgau Charkow (Kharkov).  When the Soviet offensive (Operation Uranus/Stalingrad encirclement) reached Charkow, the various Luftwaffe communications personel such as in Luftgau Charkow were formed into ad-hoc combat units like Luftwaffen-Bataillon Klass.  Gefreiten Hofer's time as a combat soldier may not have lasted long.  He was wounded on the 2nd day of the battle.

Very interesting Soldbuch for Werner Klauder.  He received his training in Wuertemburg before being assigned to Flieger Regiment 53 in June 1944.  His unit was serving on the Belgien/French border and in August 1944 was forming into Feld-Regiment Belgien/Nordfrankreich.  It never completed formation and was distributed as replacements to other units in the aftermath of the allied breakout from Normandy.  Most of the 53rd members went to the 3rd & 5th Fallschirm-Jäger Divisions.  Instead of going to the  Fallschirm-Jäger's, for some reason Werner found himself assigned to the Army in November 1944.  He was assigned to the 1054th Grenadier Regiment which was a component of the 85th Infantry Division.  Werner's unit was in the meat grinder at Aachen until February when it moved to the Eifel.

Nice Soldbuch for Dieter Kuhne.  It also includes two Soviet documents for Dieter from the occupation period.  Dieter was 16 years old when he reported for duty.  His last assignment listed was the Flieger Ers. Batl. XII (Flight Replacement Battalion XII) Furth-Bavaria in April 1945.