Feldgrau.net

20th panzer grenadier division [mot}
awarded below
oak leaves to five members
knights cross to 41 members
german cross in gold to 124 members
german cross in silver to 3 members
close combat clasp in gold to 8 members
honorary leaf brooch to 32 members i/e what is this awarded for please ?????
plus numerous other awards ''still working on that long job so many''
one member major gustav jochims ir.90 awarded 6 anti tank strips i/e anyone know if there is anyone better??
all my source's from http:www.20pzgrendiv.eu/indexhtm
this is a fantastic website unbeliveable so much information on this division
'' i did read somewhere their is also a division with many more awards than this one anyone know ????

charlieboy wrote:20th panzer grenadier division [mot}
honorary leaf brooch to 32 members i/e what is this awarded for please ?????

Was that the Ehrenblattspange?

to tom houlihan
re your question is this award called ehrenblattspange
yes, that is the correct german grammar of this award ''mine was'' honorary leaf brooch''
my german is very bad i use google translations to get some clues '' very bad but its a start''
but i have never heard of this award it must have been a major award though ?????????
with 32 members of this division achieving it
i await the forums members answers for what it was awarded for
best wishes to everyone
charlieboy

bah................ was only 20 minutes work, for hubert brinkforth, to knock out 9 french tanks................
first gefreiter to win the knights cross.
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_ur ... =yfp-t-501
tank hunting was a dangerous job, he was in the 25th infantry regiment, 14th company.

to mightythor99
thanks for your reply
re hurbert brinkforth
wow that is some feat 9 tanks in that small space of time
what a brave person
charlieboy

Gunther Viezenz holds the record with 21 individual tank kills. Type his name into a search engine and I'm sure you will find an image of him displaying a long row of TDB's on his arm.
The Ehrenblattspange was The Honour Roll Clasp, which is what I think you are refering to with the leaf broach. It has an entry in Wiki (but then again, what doesn't!!)..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honour_Rol ... f_the_Army

hucks' hi
thanks for your reply re ehrenblattspange
i looked it up on wikipedia.
i thought they gave a good overall appraisal of this award and how it was formed and awarded
its a very rare and specific award only given to.
4,556 recipients at the discretion of the german high command

also your man oberleutnant gunther viezenz 10.gren regt 7- 252 inf div
with 21 tank destruction badges. awarded the knights cross on 7/1/1944
makes my man from 20th panzer gren div (re my thread) with 6 badges
look like his apprentice.
all the best
charlieboy

but, to put it in realistic view................ it would be scary as hell, seeing even one of those iron monsters rolling towards you, trying to kill you!! :-)

mightythor99
yes point taken very brave people indeed.
the nearest i have ever been was watching ''saving private ryan''
when that tiger was
coming over the brow of the hill scarey is not the word that is for sure.

p.s. anyone re my thread come up with any other highly decorated divisions????
must be some more out there.
charlieboy

close combat clasp in gold to 8 members

Only 8 soldiers received this award out of whole Division?????
I assume there are a lot more with the silver and even more with the bronze?

Close Combat Bar (Nähkampfspange)

Instituted: 25 November 1942
First Awarded: Gold version - 27 August 1944
Requirements: Participation in at least 15 days of close combat (10 if recipient wounded) qualified one for the Bronze award. For service in Russia, credit was backdated to June 1941 and the Bronze award could thus also be tallied with eight month's service equalling 5 combat days. Twelve month's service equated with ten combat days and fifteen month's service with fifteen combat days. The Silver award required thirty days service (twenty if wounded) and the Gold fifty days (forty if wounded)
Rarity: Only 403 Gold awards were made. Numbers for the bronze award don't seem to be in evidence, but the high attrition rate among infantrymen probably made this a somewhat rare award.

In September 1944, it was decreed that bestowal of the Close Combat Bar in Gold would automatically result in the award of the German Cross in Gold also to the deserving soldier.
______________________________________________________


8 in that division is probably a "landslide" for that award................

hi mightythor99
thank you for your detailed post re nahkampfspange.
the first four members to be awarded the nahkampfspange in gold
re 20th PZ GREN DIVISION {MOT}.
they were all in the same regiment IR76 three were also in the same company the (10th)
also, all four were all awarded it on same day 18/05/1944.??
also while i am here re major gustav jochim IR90 awarded 6 tank destruction badges on my original thread
i was looking on another web site and they list him to only have 4 has someone somewhere perhaps made a oversight
on the 20th divisions website is a picture of him standing showing at least 5 (its a little bit blurred) ??
my source as in my orignal thread.
many thanks
charlieboy

hi everyone
i have a query re nahkampfspange in gold
in a previous post on this thread
it was stated that this award was first awarded 27/8/1944
i think perhaps this could be a typo error.
or can someone explain why re 20th pz gren div (mot) in this case.
where there where five members who where given this award well before this date i/e four on 18/5/1944.
just curious

p.s. did you know
that just for the record the highest known number of days re nahkampfspange
NO 1 SS-hauptscharfuher herman maringgele 84 DAYS
NO 2 Major georg wenzelburger 78 DAYS
(source of above wehrmachtawards.com)
best wishes
charlieboy

46.ID did not do too badly:
3 x Oakleaves
35 x Ritterkreuzträger
5 x Wehrmachtberichte [Only 5.Panzer had more with 5.]

Besides;
Disobeyed orders with it's withdrawal from Kerch.
2 of it's divisional commanders were involved in the resistance to Schicklegruber.
One of it's Regimental commanders, as a General was involved in the suicide of Rommel.

etc. etc.

Source: Veit Scherzer - 46. Infantrie-Division.

- Hans

hi hans
thanks for your info.
i think it is a good subject to explore
r/e how many awards per division.
i think it is impossible to find out exactly how many
awards where given to a specific division.
but is worth a couple of hours trying to find out????
dont you think.
best wishes
charlieboy

p/s my first name is micky
charlie is my dogs name