Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern Award Doc – Hauptmann, Landesschützen-Bataillon 662 – Fort von Prittwitz

An original multi-document group belonging to Hauptmann der Reserve Benno Naujoks, combining his Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern (War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords) award certificate with associated military correspondence and administrative documents.

1. Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern – Verleihungsurkunde (War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords – Award Certificate)

The principal document awards the Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern to Hauptmann d. R. Benno Naujoks, identified as serving with 1./ Landesschützen-Bataillon 662 (1st Company, Landesschützen Battalion 662). The certificate is dated 20. April 1944 at Führerhauptquartier.

The certificate carries the printed name of Adolf Hitler and a handwritten signature attributed on the document to Doll, identified in the accompanying printed text as an officer of the Heeres-Personalamt (Army Personnel Office), signing für den Reichsführer / on behalf of the relevant authority as indicated by the certificate.

2. Military correspondence and administrative documents

The accompanying papers provide additional context for Naujoks’s military service:

• A document dated 23. Januar 1943 in Posen identifies Hauptmann Naujoks as Luftschutzleiter des Forts von Prittwitz and of the Wehrmacht accommodation at the school for the deaf on Bromberger Straße 4. It records his permission, in that capacity, to pass through the streets during air-raid warnings.
• Correspondence from the Wehrbezirkskommando Hamburg V, dated 23. Dezember 1942, concerns the wartime employment of non-active officers.
• A further document dated 19. Mai 1944 in Posen relates to Naujoks’s military status and assignment to the Führerreserve of his home military district. It records his reserve-officer status and personal details.
• Additional stamps, handwritten annotations and endorsements accompany the papers.

Historical Interest

The combination of the award certificate and supporting administrative documents gives this group greater research potential than an isolated decoration certificate. It documents the award to a named reserve officer and provides insight into his military administration, air-raid protection responsibilities and service in Posen during the war.

The original documents should be kept together as a group, preserving their associated provenance and research value.

Condition

The documents show age-related toning, folds, creasing, handling marks and some spotting. Several papers overlap in the photographs, and some text is partly obscured. The award certificate retains its printed details, handwritten signature and visible stamp; the accompanying papers also retain significant text and administrative markings.