More thoughts on medals.

Aside from the worn medals visible on OFW H-E Brenger's photographs, his medal bar is something of a tough nut to crack as well. The most obvious hurdle being that the original photographs are of such poor quality (not to mention miniscule size) that I have a hard time discerning whether or it is a two-piece or three-piece medal bar. Thus far I have concluded that it includes a True Dienste award and probably an "Occupation medal" (Die Medaille zur Erinnering an den 1. Oktober 1938) as well. I had my doubts about the latter one for a while, but right now I am fairly certain that my initial (un)educated guess was correct. Only fairly though. As I previously briefly mentioned the 3.Pz.Div was the only Panzer-Division that partook in the annexation and occupation of Czechoslovakia -however they were only active in taking over the remaining parts of Czechoslovakia; in March 1939. The 1. Oktober Medallie was, as its name implies, awarded to those who participated in the initial occupation in October 1938, but also to troops and personell who participated in the creation of Bohemia and Moravia. And this is what took place in March of 1939 and that is the action that the 3.Pz.Div were active in. For those that partook in the latter event a small bronze bar (featuring the Prague castle) was added to the ribbon of the 1. Oktober Medallie. This should make my grandfather a likely candidate for that medal as he served in the 3.Pz.Div up until 1940.

Another candidate medal for the medal bar I have been contemplating is the Ostmedallie. It was introduced on the 26th of May 1942 and served as a reward for soldiers of participated in the first winter of Unternehmen Barbarossa ("Operation Barbarossa); the invasion of Russia in 1941, and bears the legend: Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42 ("Winter-battle in the East 1941/42") on the reverse side of the medal. Pz.Abt.z.b.V.40, who were in Finland at the time, could be counted as likely candidates for the award as the Verleihungsgrenze, the easternmost border for being eligible for the award, ran from the Black sea in the south till Barents Sea in the North (roughly along the eastern Finnish border). That they were eligible seems to not be the case though... What causes me grief is the award criteria for the medal and the exact whereabouts of 1./Pz.Abt.z.b.V.40... Personell who operated in the area between the 15th of November 1941 and the 15th of April (April 26 according to some sources) 1942 and:

(1) Spent at least 14 days on combat operations; or
(2) Spent at least 60 days in the area, not necessarily on combat operations; or
(3) Recieved wounds, or frostbite severe enough to warrant a Verwundetabzeichen

-were all eligible as recipients of the award. The crux of the matter? 1./Pz.Abt.z.b.V.40 was ordered to move to Oulu (way west of the Verliehungsgrenze) on October 24, 1942 for rest, refit and stationing in winter quarters. Here they were to remain until reaching the front line in Kuusamo, April 28, 1942 to help stem the Russian counter attack that was launched on April 24. (This is confirmed by a field post letter dated April 29, 1942 bearing the header: Im Felde). This should, by reviewing the facts, effectively put the men of 1. Kompanie out of the race for the Ostmedallie. That is the only conclusion I can come to at the time, and unless I see an award document for the medal, awarded to a man of 1. Kompanie I am just going to have to cross this particular award off my (or my grandfather's) list.

Below is a picture of the Verleihungsgrenze as well as the location of Oulo on a modern map.

All is not confusing guesswork though. I now have confirmation from at least two photographs that OFw Brenger did recieve the Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber ("Tank Combat Badge in Silver"), but it has still become blatantly obvious that without proper confirmation (such as his Soldbuch and/or Wehrpass where his awards would be listed) it is still guesswork. Guesswork limited to ca 1941/42 as well -as that is the approximate time frame of the photographs I have in my possession. Guesswork that will only serve to frustrate and annoy me and have me walking down the same path again and again and again. An authority on the subject of documents recently told me that if WASt did not have anything on what medals and awards my grandfather recieved then no-one will. Not the most comforting of news if taken at face value. If that is true then my options for finding out about his awards are surely extremely limited and odds are that I will never find out... I have a few avenues left to tread, but... if they yield anything remains to be seen. Therefore I must, for the time being, focus on researching something else pertaining to my grandfather, such as his units and their composition and organization. Else I will most likely go mad.

Errata.

When I started this "blog" I had intentions of updating it on a regular basis. At least as regularly as I could. Now, life had other ideas and intervened, but after this prolonged hiatus I am know glad to say that I am back! And the hiatus has not been totally in vain. A few things has surfaced. One of which is the following:

In the "What I knew then -and what I know now" post I made a reference to -and posted a photograph of- OFw H-E Brenger's Verwundetabzeichen in Silber. This was wrong. It is not a "Wound Bagde". As so clairly pointed out by WASt, and myself for that matter, my grandfather was not wounded until July 1944. The photograph is taken in ca 1941/42 so that alone is evidence enough. What I did was to fall prey to an old family "myth"; that the reason my grandfather came to meet my Finnish grandmother was due to being "wounded in battle and transfered to a military hospital in Finland" -a myth I would like to believe to be utterly debunked by now. But having been told the above "myth" from an early age I just assumed that it was a Verwundetabzeichen. And, as we all know, assumption is the mother of all... And for that matter it is also more likely that when he was wounded in 1944 he recieved the Verwundetabzeichen in Schwartz -the first grade of the wound badge.

So, what is it then? There is the slight possibility that it is the DRL Sportsabzeichen; the sports badge awarded for passing various physical tests. There is also the slight possibility that the medal on my grandfather's uniform is something entirely different, but at this point in time I do not want to say anything definite on that. Not until I have checked a few available avenues more thoroughly; as well as consulted a few authorities on the subject at hand.

My hat is off for Björn Leo from Military Antiques Stockholm for correcting me and pointing me in the right direction though.

Literature found!

I have finally been able to locate copies of Geschichte der 3. Panzer-Division Berlin-Brandenburg 1935 - 1945, Traditionsverband der 3. Pz.Div., 1967 by Günther Richter and Die 22./25./27. Panzer-Division und die 233. Reserve-Panzer-Division -Aufstellung-Gliederung-Einsatz by Rolf Stoves. Crucial books that will be procured as soon as I have the funds to do so. Hopefully they will help me to further fill in the blanks.

A photograph of my grandfather in a panzer?

Original image available here:
http://www.panzernet.net/panzernet/stranky/galerie/tanky/pz4/galeriepzkpfwIV144.htm

This posting will concentrate in its entirety on the image above. Although I know what units my grandfather served in, and although I have the small, personal photo album he gave to my grandmother, I have thus far no idea what kind of panzer he served in. I have a general idea when it comes to Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.) since they had a quite limited choice of panzers, but when it for instance comes to 3.Pz.Div. I am totally in the dark.

That is why I became quite astounded when I came across the photograph pictured above on http://www.panzernet.net/ The thing that immediately caught my eye was the uncanny resemblance the tank commander had to my grandfather. Now I know that the picture itself is quite small and that if you stare at something long enough you begin to see what you want to see. This is of course something I carry with me all the time when I look at photographs of panzermänner and their respective panzers. I do have an extremely hard time disregarding the fact that the two men share the same firm jawline, same base of the nose as well as other general facial features though. But hunches and "wishful thinking" is not good enough when it comes to research. And that is not something I operated solely on in this particular case... Let me explain:

First of all the panzer itself; a Pz.Kpfw IV ausf B, was not identified by the people of panzernet.net as belonging to any particular panzer division -i.e. it was more or less unidentified. What, quite literally, gave me goose bumps in this case was the moment I noticed that the panzer belongs to the 3.Pz.Div. The identifying mark, the white outlines of a bear, can be seen just on the side of the turret. Compare it to the right hand side example shown here: http://www.feldgrau.com/PzDiv.php?ID=3 And, furthermore, as soon as I identified the panzer as belonging to the 3.Pz.Div I had to try to date the photograph itself somehow. Which increased the possibilities and chances somewhat...

Second: It is a quite early photograph of a 3.Pz.Div. Pz.Kpfw IV -that much is a given. It is not as early as the campaign in Poland though, and this is evident from the Balkenkreuz at the side of the hull. During the Polish campaign these were painted as big white crosses -a dandy little affair that was changed at the end and just after the campaign as the panzermänner, through bitter experience, learned that the Polish anti-tank crews used the all-white Balkenkreuz as an aiming spot. The outlined, black and white Balkenkreuz was authorized for use in October 1939.

Third: The panzer, the Pz.Kpfw IV ausf B was a model, or variant if you will, that went into production in 1938. 42 ausf B were produced between April and September alone of that year. They stayed in service until 1943. The short barrel of the main gun is another hint that this is a quite early photograph since the longer barrels did not show up until roughly around 1942.

Fourth: The panzermänner themselves. This is perhaps the most telling part of the whole photograph: The are wearing the panzer berets (Schutzmütze); a garment that was becoming increasingly unpopular with the panzermänner during 1939/1940 and discontinued as of January 15th, 1941 and then phased out after that.

All this points towards the photograph dating from after October 1939 but probably before 1941 (at the latest). Now, my grandfather served with the 6./Pz.Rgt6, 3.Pz.Div. from 1935 until March of 1940 (when his company was transferred to the newly formed Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.). Pz.Rgt.6 had 9 Pz.Kpfw IV's in August of 1939 (10 in May 1940) -how many of those that were in the 6. Kompanie I do not know though.

Could this photograph depict a Pz.Kpfw IV from my grandfather's 6. Kompanie (as well as my grandfather himself)? It is phesible yes, but not anything I am willing to put my money on. Especially since there is no identification numbers visible on the side of the turret. (There is the slight possibility that the numeral "2" is what is visiblejust to the right of the 3.Pz.Div. insignia -which would make this a 2. Kompanie (2nd Company) panzer- but I can not tell for certain. Possible it is my grandfather: yes. Beyond the shadow of a doubt: Definately not. It might as well be a panzer, with another panzersoldat than my grandfather, from just after he has been transfered to his new unit. Without total, undeniable identification of which unit in 3.Pz.Div. the panzer belongs to I can never know for certain. If anyone out there can identify this panzer properly I would love to hear from you.

Forgotten dots...

I almost forgot one of the, to me, most interesting pieces of information: the "dot" between the 3.Pz.Div. and Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.):

It was the 6. Kompanie of Pz.Rgt.6 -the first unit my grandfather served in- that on the 8th of March 1940 was used to create the 1. Kompanie of Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.). It is a shame that I forgot to mention this the first time around because this was one truly crucial dot for me to connect.

Panzers from Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.)!

Photographs of panzers from Pz.Abt.40 (z.b.V.) are quite few and far between. Especially ones from the 1. Kompanie. The first company in Pz.Abt.40(z.b.V.) only had Pz.Kpfw I and Pz.Kpfw II (as well as a couple of Kleiner Befehlswagen Panzers) at their disposal. I have come across a handfull of identified panzers from the 1. Kompanie in books and on the internet before, but I was still delighted to find these a couple of days ago:

Pz.Kpfw I from the 1.Kompanie. The small "v" visible on the frontal armor stands för "Volkheim", one of the commanding officers of the unit when they served in Denmark and Norway. The photo was found, and can be viewed in better resolution here:

http://www.panzernet.net/panzernet/stranky/galerie/tanky/pz1/galeriepzkpfwI5.htm

1.Kompanie Pz.Kpfw II being unloaded. Quite possibly in Oslo where the unit arrived on the 24th of April 1940. Once again the small "v" and the numeral "1" are visible on the frontal armor. Source picture: http://www.panzernet.net/panzernet/stranky/galerie/tanky/pz2/galeriepzkpfwII3.htm

The first company supposedly had some 13 Pz.Kpfw I, 7 Pz.Kpfw II and one Kleiner Panzer Befehlswagen I when they arrived in Oslo between the 20th and 24th of April. Different sources differ on the exact date of arrival, although the daily reports for Heereslage Nord pinpoints the 1./Pz.Abt.40(z.b.V.) advancing (as a part of Kampfgruppe Fischer) towards Tynset on the 23rd of April.

What I knew then -and what I know now.

I never got to know, nor met, my German grandfather; Hans-Egon Brenger. I have known about him since childhood, but other than that he was "German", "fought in WWII" and "served with the armored troops", my knowledge about him was very limited. To say the least. To me, he had always been just a collection of photographs and a bunch of field post letters. And that is it. All that began to change last year. I came in contact with a militaria collector, and he helped me to track down some of my grandfather's units with the help of the field post numbers printed and written on the envelopes of the letters I had in my possesion. That little glimmer of knowledge was the spark that set off what have now become one of my biggest interests: to learn as much as possible about my grandfather and what he and his units did during the war. The helpful collector gave me a nudge in the right direction and I set off on a very interesting and educating journey. Never could I imagine that the internet would be such a treasure trove of information regarding the German armed forces during WWII.

As previously mentioned what I had in the beginning was: a small photoalbum with personal, war-time photographs of my grandfather and a collection of field post letters and envelopes; written by my grandfather to my Finnish grandmother whom he met when he served in Finland with one of his units. The letters and envelopes provided me with, among other things, three different field post numbers and his rank: Oberfeldwebel (equalient to the US Military rank of Master Sergeant or the Swedish Military rank of Fanjunkare). The photographs, all probably taken in 1941-42 in Finland, confirmed his rank as well as what medals and awards he had (in 1941-42), as well as confirming him as being a soldier in the panzertruppe -this due to the black uniform worn and the Panzer Totenköpfe on the collar of the uniform.

One pair of Panzer Totenköpfe (sing. "Totenkopf") from my personal collection. Earth-find from Poland.

The first three units found were:

1./Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V. 40

1st Company, Panzer Battalion 40. The "z.b.V." stands for zur besonderen Verwendung ("for special purposes"). That basically means that Pz.Abt.40 (z.b.V.) was a battalion without a true parent division. This abteilung was created in 1940 for the invasion of Denmark and Norway.

1./Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 25

1st Company, Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 25. Armored recon unit that belonged to the 25. Panzer-Division.

1./Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 7

1st Company, Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 7, 7. Panzer-Division.

Things definately started to look up at this point. I had gotten somewhere. I now had three units he served with. Down to company level! What was necessary now was to try to "connect the dots" so to speak. My grandfather's correspondance dates from 15.12.1941 to 19.05.1944 -letters sent from a total of three different units. Cronologically speaking, the first unit he served with (that I knew of at the time) was Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.); a unit that after serving in Denmark and Norway was shipped of to Finland in 1941. This, of course, immediately made me realize how he came into contact with my grandmother. Especially since Pz.Abt.40(z.b.V.), when not in the field, was stationed in Oulu, where I believe my grandmother was living at the time. The first two dots were connected.

The dates of the letters (and locations mentioned therein) that were sent to my grandmother while Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.) were serving in Finland all corresponds nicely to the activities of said unit:

06.03.1942 & 01.04.1942: Oulu

(Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.) were stationed in their winter quarters in Oulu until the end of spring.)

29.04.1942 to 17.11.1942: Im Felde ("In the field")

(From the end of spring until late fall/early winter the unit was involved in stemming Russian counter-attacks, limited anti-partisan activities and patrol and escort duties along and behind the Finnish frontline. I recommend Kari Kuusela's excellent book "Panzers in Finland" for those of you who want to learn more.)

Pz.Kpfw II from my grandfather's company in the vicinity of Kuusamo in 1941.

The first odd letter that came along was one dated 09.12.1942, bearing the header "Am Bord" ("On board"). This turned out to be a real gem, especially since I needed to "connect the dot" to the 25.Pz.Div. As it turned out, Pz.Abt.40.(z.b.V.) was shipped back to Oslo in December, where they came to form the II Abteilung of Panzer-Regiment 9 -a unit belonging to the 25.Pz.Div. My grandfather's letter obviously confirms this -especially since the following letter has the field post number that belongs to 1./Pz.AA.25. The third dot was connected.

From then on I was able to track him and his units from Norway over to the central and Southern sectors of the Eastern Front. At first I had a hard time connecting the dots between 25.Pz.Div. and 7.Pz.Div. That cleared up immensly when I (thanks to http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.com/) discovered that the 25.Pz.Div. fought in and around Shitomir on the Southern sector in December 1943 -which the 7.Pz.Div coincidentaly also did. (OFw H-E Brenger served with the 25.Pz.Div from 01.05.1943 until 19.01.1944 when he was transferred to 1./Pz.AA.7, 7.Pz.Div.) Another dot was connected.

At this point I felt that I had gotten quite a good grip on my grandfather's situation. However, at this point in time I also started to run out of dots to connect. The last preserved letter in my possesion is dated 19.05.1944. After that there is nothing. Total silence. I knew he survived the war. But what happened after May of 1944? A quickly answered request to Deutsche Dienstelle (WASt) changed all that... Not only did they provide me with his date of birth, the date of his enlistment (04.04.1934) but they also provided me with two other units that were outside the time span of the field post I had in my possesion:

6./Panzer-Regiment 6

and

Panzer-Aufklärungs-und Ersatz-Abteilung 9

A new, more comphrehensive picture immediately evolved. Pz.Rgt.6 belonged to the II Abteilung of the 3. Panzer-Division. And, since my grandfather entered service in 1934, and they have no prior units listed for him, it is therefore reasonable to assume that he served with Pz.Rgt.6, 3.Pz.Div. from the start (the first three Panzer-Divisions were created in 1935). The Pz.AA und Ers.Abt.9 was a unit the he joined in the beginning of January 1945. This being after a four month long lazarette (military hospital) stay. This particular unit was towards the end of the war subordinated under Pz.AA.9 and the 9.Pz.Div -a division that fought on the Western Front where they ended up, and subsequently surrendered, in the Ruhr-pocket. A brief note from a British demobilization camp dated 13.12.1945 more or less confirms that he fought in the Ruhr-pocket and surrendered together with the rest of his division.

My research situation today.

To sum things up a bit: What I currently know is that OFw H-E Brenger entered military service at the age of 18 in 1934. He served till the end of the war and fought in total in six different units in Poland, Denmark, Norway, Finland as well as the middle and southern sectors of the Eastern Front and, finally, on the Western Front.

Unfortunately what WASt lacked information on was what kind of medals and awards he recieved during the war, so unless I come across his Soldbuch and/or Wehrpass, I will probably never know what kind of military awards he recieved after 1941/1942 -if he did recieve any more medals and/or awards at all! Based on the photographs I have, I know that when he served in Finland he had:

Schützenschnur (1 Stufe?)

Marksmanship Lanyard. Awarded for skill with either pistol, rifle or machine gun. It is probably the First Grade he has, but it is hard to tell from the portrait photograph.

Eisernes Kreuz II Klasse

Iron Cross Second Class.

Verwundetabzeichen in Silber

Silver Wound Badge. Awarded for 3 or 4 wounds (or single, more serious wounds such as loss of a hand or foot etc.)

True Dienste 4 Jahre

Service Medal for four years of service. Having entered military service in 1934, this one is a given that he had (besides being visible on the photos of course).

(and most likely) Die Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938

Occupation medal awarded to the troops participating in the march into Czechoslovakia. Some sources point out the 3.Pz.Div. as being the only panzer unit partaking in this action.

A truly nagging thought is one concerning his Wound Badge. I know he had the Silver one in 1941/1942; even though I do not know when he was awarded that one -WASt provided no information on that. What, as I have previously mentioned, they did provide information on was that he was quite severely wounded again, on the Eastern Front while serving with the 7.Pz.Div, on 02.07.1944. Now, does this mean that he was awarded the Wound Badge in Gold as well?! Or was that one, final wound, his fourth one -thus not qualifying him for the WB in Gold?

Photograph showing my grandfather's Iron Cross 2nd Class, Wound Badge in Silver, Long Service Medal and(?) Occupation Medal. The Iron Cross is the ribbon visible above and to the left of the ribbon bar, the WB the round badge beneath the ribbon bar and the Long Service award is the left ribbon in the ribbon bar. It can be identified as such since because when mounted in the ribbon bar the Long Service medal carried the Reichsadler ("Reich's Eagle") -and the Reichsadler is here visible as... the little white blimp on the first ribbon.

I would like to think that I have come a long way since spring last year, but there is still a ways to go, and there is lots and lots of information to be gathered. I will continue though and update this blogg whenever I find out something worth while.