Germany - Third Reich: A rare Russian Front Field Railway Directorate Sonderführer’s Voronesh and Crimea 11th Army document group to Sonderführer (Zugführer) Walter Hoffmann, 1st Field Railway Machinery Battalion, who as a civilian specialist granted a military rank, the rank of Zugführer being equivalent to the officer rank of Leutnant/Oberleutnant, and having previously seen service as a member of the Sturmabteilung, the Nazi Party’s original paramilitary wing, with whom he had gained the SA Sports Badge, and at some stage served with the replacement unit in support of the 1st Field Railway Machinery Battalion at Komotau in the Sudetenland, then saw service out on the Russian Front and serving through the first Russian winter. Later, whilst serving in the area of Voronesh and in the Crimea with von Manstein’s 11th Army, he gained entitlement to the Krim Shield awarded to him on 6th March 1943.
Comprising in order of award:
1) Eastern Front Winter War Medal Award Certificate, issued to: ’Sdf. (Z) Walter Hoffmann’, dated 7th August 1942, signed in pencil for correctness ’N. Schwartz’ as Hauptmann and acting Commander of 1st Field Railway Machinery Battalion.
2) Krim Shield Award Certificate, issued to: ‘Sonderführer (Z) Walter Hoffmann, Feldeisenbahnmaschinenabteilung 1’, dated 6th March 1943, facsimile signature of Generalfeldmarschall von Manstein as C-in-C 11th Army.
Together with:
A photograph of the recipient in parade uniform and peaked cap of a Sonderführer, he clearly being shown wearing an SA Sports Badge, the photograph having been taken in Komotau in the Sudetenland, which was the location of the replacement unit in support of the 1st Field Railway Machinery Battalion.
Walter Hoffmann saw service as a Sonderführer, a form of specialist officer who despite the lack for formal military training, was required through a particular profession, to exert some authority to get the job done. In Hoffmann’s case, as a Sonderführer with the rank of Zugführer, equivalent to the officer rank of Leutnant/Oberleutnant, and he was employed with the 1st Field Railway Machinery Battalion, which was formed on 23rd March 1942 from the 1st Field Railway Machinery Office which had itself been originally raised in Wehrkreis IV on 15th March 1941.
Little is known about Hoffmann, other than that he was previously a member of the Sturmabteilung, the Nazi Party’s original paramilitary wing, and that he at some stage would have served at Komotau in the Sudetenland, the location of the replacement unit in support of the 1st Field Railway Machinery Battalion.
Hoffmann was then present with the 1st Field Railway Machinery Battalion out on the Russian Front during the first Russian winter of 1941 to 1942, being awarded the Eastern Front Winter War Medal on 7th august 1942, and saw service with von Manstein’s 11th Army during the operations in the Crimea. The Wehrmacht's Army Group South advanced through the Crimean Peninsula between the 21st September 1941 and 4th July 1942, and to commemorate the hostilities that ended with a German withdrawal on 25th July 1942 the Crimea Shield was created for all members of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein 11th Army. As a member of the 11th Army, Klein was awarded the Krim Shield on 6th March 1943.
