3x Award Docs: EK2 (Poland 1939!), EK1 & VWA (1940!) (Signature of Joachim von Kortzfleisch! Distant relative of Claus von Stauffenberg & July 20 Plot)
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Original award document set of Feldwebel Hahn, who served with the 7. Kompanie/ Infanterie-Regiment 43 and the 3. Kompanie/ Infanterie-Regiment 504. During his service, he earned the:
- Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (Iron Cross 2nd Class) for his service on October 9, 1939 during the Invasion of Poland, which was signed byJoachim von Kortzfleisch (RK, KIA 1945).
- Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse (Iron Cross 1st Class) for his service on July 9, 1940, during the Westfeldzug, which was signed by Kurt Herzog (RK+EL, Died in Captivity).
- Verwundetenabzeichen in Silber (Wound Badge in Silver) for his first wound suffered on June 11, 1940. Signed by an unknown officer.
Joachim von Kortzfleisch is a very interesting historical figure and signature to have! Very nice early war grouping!
Claus von Stauffenberg was a distant cousin of Joachim von Kortzfleisch! It didn’t stop there, after the assassination attempt on AH during the 20 July Plot (Operation Valkyrie), Kortzfleisch as commander of the Military District III (Berlin) even became involved in the Operation!
On 20 July 1944, he was summoned to the Bendlerstrasse by General Friedrich Fromm. When he arrived, he was perplexed to see that Fromm was no longer in command and that Ludwig Beck was now in control. He angrily refused to obey Operation Valkyrie orders issued by one of the leading conspirators General Friedrich Olbricht and kept shouting “the Führer is not dead” and referring to the oath of loyalty to Adolf H. He was arrested and put under guard by the plotters and said that he was not willing to take part in a coup as he was just a soldier interested only in going home and pulling weeds in his garden.
Kortzfleisch was later shocked to learn that the officer leading the plot was his own distant cousin Claus von Stauffenberg, with whom he had attended a wedding the previous year (and many other plotters!).
He met his fate in March 1945, when he was the commander of the Rhine Bridgehead in Army Group B under Field Marshal Walter Model. Kortzfleisch and a handful of soldiers had tried to get to Berleburg, moving behind the enemy lines. A U.S. patrol encountered them at Schmallenberg-Wulwesort, Sauerland. The general defended himself with a machine pistol as he was surrounded by U.S. soldiers, and was told to put his hands up. Kortzfleisch refused to comply with this command, instead raising his arm in a Hitl.. salute. He was promptly fatally shot in the chest by a U.S. soldier of the 737th Tank Battalion of the United States Army on 20 April 1945. (Although there are also rumors he was murdered after capture).
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