Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2 Klasse mit Schwerten + certificate - General der Flieger signed

[Martin Bull]

One of my interests is the Luftwaffe air war on the Eastern Front - especially the Crimea/Caucasus/Stalingrad campaigns of 1942/43. I just stumbled across this item on UK e-bay ; the seller usually sells autographs from sports stars and TV personalities etc. The listing just showed a pic of the award certificate and at the end of the description stated 'includes medal'....

Anyhow, here it is. The medal is nice and clean but shows no maker mark. But the certificate is issued to an Unteroffizier ( presumably groundcrew, technician etc ) of the famous 1. Staffel, Zerstorergruppe 1 which operated Bf110 Zerstorers in all three of the above theatres. It's dated 16 September 1942 and is signed by General der Flieger Kurt Pflugbeil, Kommandierende-General of Fliegerkorps IV and holder of the Knights Cross with Swords. He was a highly-regarded officer who fought in both World wars. Captured by the Russians in the Courland pocket in 1945, he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. Released due to ill-health in 1954, he died in 1955, aged 65.

This item was inexpensive and I'm very pleased with it. I've attached a couple of pics - including a model Zerstorer.