Stalingrad Survivor

[TWS]

Have this small grouping of three award documents to Richard Gühl who was an officer in Army Construction Battalion 16 which was attached to the 6th Army. KVK II, Ost Front, and KVK I. Unfortunately the document that was awarded during Paulus' command is not signed by him, but rather just by Gühl's Battalion Commander. The first one has the stamp for Paulus' predecessor von Reichenau and is signed by some Oberstleutnant probably on 6. Armee staff. And the last one has an original signature for Karl Hollidt the successor of Paulus for the reconstituted 6. Armee. The middle document confirms that Gühl was a member of the unit during the time of Operation Blau and the last document confirms that he was still alive after Stalingrad. I tried to do some research but data on such a minor unit was scarce on-line. I didn't find much beyond the tried and true Lexikon der Wehrmacht. The battalion could have been West across the Don and outside the pocket, but I haven't been able to determine that. There is no grave listing for him on the Volksbund, so likely he survived the war. Interestingly Gühl's rank is given as Leutnant in the first document, Oberleutnant der Reserve in the second, and then back to Leutnant in the third (chronologically).

Sub-par photos with reflections because I didn't feel like pulling the docs out of the riker mount. Sorry not sorry as the kids say these days.
If anyone has a lead on more info about Bau-Bataillon 16/Bau-Pionier-Bataillon 16, I would really appreciate it.

[hucks216]

Nice set. To be in chronological order you need to swap the Ostmedaille and KvK I Klasse citations around. The date seen on the Ostmedaille isn't the date it was awarded, it was the date the unit was allowed to award it from; you can see many such citations dated with 1942 but with an additional date near the signature with 1943 and sometimes 1944.

[BlackCat1982]

Interesting to see the award documents cross the period when Bau Bataillon 16 was renamed as Bau Bataillon (K), utilising POW labour.

[TWS]

Nice set. To be in chronological order you need to swap the Ostmedaille and KvK I Klasse citations around. The date seen on the Ostmedaille isn't the date it was awarded, it was the date the unit was allowed to award it from; you can see many such citations dated with 1942 but with an additional date near the signature with 1943 and sometimes 1944.

You bring up a good point that some collectors may not be aware of. However, your degree of certainly is unwarranted. That could be true in this case. BUT, there is no second date on my document. The "Gefrierfleisch Orden" was for service on the Ost Front from 15 Nov '41 to 15 April '42 - subject to certain qualifications - and was instituted in late May of '42. Because there were over 3 million awardees, it took a very long time to get them all issued/presented which is why we often see much later award dates. Since there is no actual award date on my document, we cannot know if it was presented to Gühl before or after his KVK I. He most certainly earned the Ost Medal before he earned the KVK I. Which is why, in absence of an actual award date I don't know which award was presented first, but I do know which was earned first. So, that's why I feel the order I laid them out is my best rationale.

[hucks216]

Don't overthink things. Why has he gone from Leutnant to Oberleutnant and then back to Leutnant when it makes more sense that the rank on the citations go Leutnant, Leutnant and then Oberleutnant? A lot of Ostmedaille citations don't have an extra date on but the one I added was to show the difference between when it was authorised to be awarded and when it actually was.

[TWS]

Don't overthink things. Why has he gone from Leutnant to Oberleutnant and then back to Leutnant when it makes more sense that the rank on the citations go Leutnant, Leutnant and then Oberleutnant? A lot of Ostmedaille citations don't have an extra date on but the one I added was to show the difference between when it was authorised to be awarded and when it actually was.

Ah geez, you're right. I didn't pause to think that the rank progression would indicate that the actual (unknown) presentation date of the Ost Medal is after the KVK I. (slaps forehead) Man, I wasn't firing on all cylinders.