Wehrpass - Awards Stamp

[HPL2008]

In regards to the awards, does the book indicate the EKII was for wounds rather than bravery, or is it likely due to the issue date of the awards being more or less the same time?

The EK could not be awarded for wounds, only for bravery or leadership accomplishments.

(However, wounds could play an indirect role in a soldier being decorated for bravery, for example in cases when wounded men continued to fight in spite of their injuries rather than seeking medical attention. Also, it was, of course, possible to be decorated with the Iron Cross and the Wound Badge for the same action.)

[avenger]

Thanks for the clarification HPL. I must have misunderstood.

[hucks216]

The EK could not be awarded for wounds, only for bravery or leadership accomplishments.

...

That is not strictly true. EK's were awarded in some cases for those who received severe wounds. There is evidence that shows that wounded soldiers who were flown out of the Stalingrad pocket were eligible for the EK II because they were wounded (Pg 176/177 of Iron Cross Award Documents of World War II by Brian Razkauskas). Likewise later in the war men who suffered amputation caused by frostbite were entitled to an EK as long as the frostbite occurred at the front and in a fighting unit. This is why sometimes you see entries in WP or SB that show the award of an EK II which occurs at a time of the award of a Wound Badge in Black but then if the injury worsens then the EK II is upgraded to an EK I along with the Black Wound Badge also being upgraded.

And then you have the 'percentage' award of the EK where a unit is handed a certain number of EK's first and then told to find suitable candidates (as evidenced in the book Into Oblivion by Jason Mark), a process that is open to favouritism. (From memory) In An Artilleryman in Stalingrad the author complains that a signalman behind the front and was relaying instructions from a Forward Observer was awarded an EK because of this nature of awarding the EK.