BerlinerLuebecker
Senior Member
Not nearly as cool as Peter U's Soldbücher, but here's something I acquired recently. These are published in Brian Razkauskas' Iron Cross Award Documents of World War II and are for a radio operator of the 106th Infanterie Division.
On the very first day of Operation Typhoon, radio operator Gerhard Rühl is wounded in action. There is no way of knowing what he was doing at the time, but it warranted a recommendation by his Kompanieführer for the EKII. He only hears about this as he is recovering in a Lazarett in Metz on 10 December 1941, in a letter from his Kompanieführer (who notes that nothing unusual has occurred in the unit since Rühl was wounded, save for a Gefreiter Hartmann getting killed in an air attack). His medal and certificate apparently accompanied the letter. His paperwork for the award had already been processed on 10 November (signed by Generalmajor Dehner of 106. Inf.-Div.), and he had received the wound badge in black on 20 November, before receiving this letter. A later letter on 29 January 1942 from his Kompaniechef is addressed to Rühl in Landskron, Czechoslovakia - he must still have been convalescing from his wound. This letter confirms his award once again, and announces that he will be presented with the award in a proper ceremony once he returns to his unit.
The 106. Infanterie-Division later suffered heavy losses in Operation Citadel and was subsequently reorganized. In the Fall of 1944, it was destroyed in the southern Ukraine and officially disbanded on 9 October. It was briefly reactivated in the spring of 1945, but was instead formed into a Kampfgruppe in southern Germany. It entered American captivity at war's end.
On the very first day of Operation Typhoon, radio operator Gerhard Rühl is wounded in action. There is no way of knowing what he was doing at the time, but it warranted a recommendation by his Kompanieführer for the EKII. He only hears about this as he is recovering in a Lazarett in Metz on 10 December 1941, in a letter from his Kompanieführer (who notes that nothing unusual has occurred in the unit since Rühl was wounded, save for a Gefreiter Hartmann getting killed in an air attack). His medal and certificate apparently accompanied the letter. His paperwork for the award had already been processed on 10 November (signed by Generalmajor Dehner of 106. Inf.-Div.), and he had received the wound badge in black on 20 November, before receiving this letter. A later letter on 29 January 1942 from his Kompaniechef is addressed to Rühl in Landskron, Czechoslovakia - he must still have been convalescing from his wound. This letter confirms his award once again, and announces that he will be presented with the award in a proper ceremony once he returns to his unit.
The 106. Infanterie-Division later suffered heavy losses in Operation Citadel and was subsequently reorganized. In the Fall of 1944, it was destroyed in the southern Ukraine and officially disbanded on 9 October. It was briefly reactivated in the spring of 1945, but was instead formed into a Kampfgruppe in southern Germany. It entered American captivity at war's end.