Battle of Kovel 1944 – RARE Photo & Document Set (Signed by Gille as Kdr. “Festen Platzes Kowel”!)

A historically unified and RARE frontline-issued German combat award document set belonging to Gefreiter Martin Mohr, serving in a motorized Eastern Front artillery unit equipped with RSO tractor-towed Ie.F.H. howitzers (1. Batterie/ Heeres-Artillerie-Abteilung 426).

The centerpiece EK2 award certificate for the Iron Cross 2nd Class was issued in the field on 9 May 1944 (“Im Felde”), during the height of the Battle of the Kovel Pocket, and is personally signed in ink by Herbert Gille, in his role as Commander of “Fester Platz Kowel” — the fortified defensive sector responsible for the heroic containment and breakout of encircled German forces in April–May 1944.

Accompanying it is the matching Wound Badge in Black Besitzzeugnis, issued 2 July 1944, officially documenting Mohr’s first combat wounding sustained on 22 April 1944, a date that aligns precisely with the heaviest engagements of the Kovel defensive battles under Gille’s command.

Included original period photographs further reinforce the Eastern Front provenance, showing German troops, motorized artillery vehicles, and RSO unit field conditions, forming a cohesive historical grouping.

Award documents signed by Herbert Gille are exceptionally scarce — and examples explicitly issued under “Fester Platz Kowel” authority, dated during active combat, are among the rarest battle-attributed Iron Cross documents known to survive. This is a museum-grade artifact of unquestionable historical weight and extraordinary collector significance.