Tiger commanders of LAH Michael Wittmann Part 1 and 2 and Kurt "Panzer" Meyer books

[ironcross13]

It's interesting to note that Wittmann was never awarded the prestigious grade II, III or IV Panzerkampfabzeichen.

Schwere SS-PanzerAbteilung 501 had very few numbered Panzerkampfabzeichen's (PAB's) awarded. This was the Tiger battalion of the 1. SS-PanzerKorps, with its origins in the heavy tank company of the LSSAH, and included such panzer aces and RK winners as Michael Wittmann and his gunner, Balthasar "Bobby" Woll, Helmut Wendorff, Franz Staudegger, and others.

Some of these guys had been in panzer battles since 1939. Yet the first numbered PAB's were not awarded in this battalion until October 1944, and apparently fewer than 10 were awarded then. Wittmann never had one because of course he was dead by then, being KIA on the 8th of August 1944 at Gaumesnil, France.

The famous photo of Wittmann sitting on the gun mantlet of his Tiger shows under high magnification that his Grade 1 PAB seems by it's fairly unique design appearance to be one made by the manufacturer Hymmen & Co of Ludenscheid.

Attachment 882554 Attachment 882555 Attachment 882556

Regards, Ned.

That's interesting did people zoom in and figure out which badge he had. Seems the numbered Panzer badges was awarded later in the war.
are the Hymmen & Co of Ludenscheid a sort after badge?

here more pics of Wittmann items

[Paul D]

His cross on his grave was stolen in 2015 july...
What a shame.

Although a despicable act hopefully this will lead ro more people visiting the graves of some of the other highly decorated RKT in La Cambe instead of the shrine to Wittmann . He was a very brave young man with a high skill level in combat fighting in a Tank having really learned his trade on a Sturmgeschutz in Russia in the early days but was also the poster boy of the proganda machine !!

[big ned]

That's interesting did people zoom in and figure out which badge he had. Seems the numbered Panzer badges was awarded later in the war.
are the Hymmen & Co of Ludenscheid a sort after badge?

here more pics of Wittmann items

Yes, it was looked at closely by several of the top PAB collectors under magnification from several different photo's and the consensus was it was probably a Hymmen badge, but as for me I can't say.

Here's my example of a Hymmen & Co. badge, but in bronze. Still, it's probably an unworn example and came with the bonus of a free cardboard case that on it's own is worth a few quid. This is a very desirable badge, and I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to secure it.



Regards, Ned.

[ironcross13]

yeah some of the guys are really good at spotting what type of badge people are wearing from Photos.
I've seen some point out what type of RK just from pics.

very nice badge there ned

[Martin Bull]

Do you own any of the Federowicz books.

Yes, I have the Wittmann and Peiper titles, plus Kurt Meyer's book and the 12th SS history by Hubert Meyer. I prize them all, but the Wittmann was the most expensive - I did indeed pay £60 for a new copy at Beltring a few years back.....

[ironcross13]

Yes, I have the Wittmann and Peiper titles, plus Kurt Meyer's book and the 12th SS history by Hubert Meyer. I prize them all, but the Wittmann was the most expensive - I did indeed pay £60 for a new copy at Beltring a few years back.....

I've not seen the first edition books i've searched, I own so far Wittmann, Kurt Meyers book, 12th SS 1&2. good to know they have not missed anything out, but the pics are poor quality and the maps also really badly done.
if i had known about the First edition books i would of tried to get them.

[HPL2008]

Seems the numbered Panzer badges was awarded later in the war.

They were authorized by a Führer decree of 22nd June 1943.

For the higher grades (25, 50, 75 and 100), only days of combat starting with 1st July 1943 were recognized.

There were the following exceptions:

For those already in possession of the basic "unnumbered" grade, automatic credit was given for three days.

A limited number of days of action from 22nd June 1941 to 30th June 1943 were recognized if they had taken place during continuous deployment to the East or Africa:

• up to 10 days during 8 months of deplyoment
• up to 15 days during 12 months of deployment
• up to 25 days during 15 months of deployment

Finally, for those who were rendered permanently unfit for further active frontline service by severe wounds, the minimum number of days required for the numbered grades were lowered:

• 18 (instead of 25) days for the 2nd level badge
• 35 (instead of 50) days for the 3rd level badge
• 60 (instead of 75) days for the 4th level badge

[ironcross13]

Nice HPL very informative, so they would have to spend 25 days in combat to get the "25"PAB

[ironcross13]

Stackpole publish some great titles at very reasonable cost - many of them were originally published as much larger volumes by J J Federowicz which are now hard to find and can be very expensive.

do you know where i can find the original books? as i've not been able to find any

Cheers