Germany - Third Reich: A Russian Front Aftermath of Operation Citadel retreat to the Dnieper August 1943 Iron Cross 2nd Class and casualty group of award documents with supporting further documentations, awarded to Gefreiter Walter Büttner, 2nd Company, 341st Panzer Division Signals Battalion, 11th Panzer Division, and later from June 1943, the 2nd Company, 89th Panzer Division Signals Battalion, 11th Panzer Division, who saw service in Yugoslavia in early 1941, and then out on the Russian from during the advance towards Moscow. Serving through the first Russian winter, he was subsequently present in southern Russia from May 1942, and was then awarded the War Merit Cross 2nd Class in April 1943, before taking part in Operation Citadel and the Battle of Kursk. It was after the failure of Citadel and during the retreat to the Dniepr, was then awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class and wounded in action on 21st August 1943, being then evacuated to Germany for treatment in hospital at Grossenhain, where he was presented with his awards in October 1943.
Comprising in order of award:
1) Eastern Front Winter War Medal Award Certificate, issued to: ‘Gefr. Walter Büttner’, dated 14th August 1942, signed for correctness by a Stabsarzt and Chief Doctor at the Reserve Hospital at Grossenhain. Although this medal was awarded on 14th August 1942, Büttner was not presented with the actual medal until 12th October 1943 whilst in the Reserve Hospital - see entry on page 23 of his Soldbuch. Büttner would have been serving with the 341st Panzer Division Signals at the tine of the award.
2) Iron Cross 2nd Class Award Certificate, issued to: ‘Gefreiten Walter Büttner, 2./Pz.Div.Nachr.Abt.89’, issued in the field on 1st September 1943, signed in pencil ‘von Wietersheim’ for Wend von Wietersheim as Oberst and acting GOC 11th Panzer Division, later Generalleutnant and recipient of the Knight’s Cross on 10th February 1942, the Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross on 21st January 1943, and the Swords to the Knight’s Cross on 26th April 1944, as well as the German Cross in Gold on 24th December 1941. The award of the Iron Cross 2nd Class in Büttner’s soldbuch was noted as being on 20th October 1943, and not the date on the certificate, and it can therefore be assumed that the certificate was forwarded to the Reserve Hospital at Grossenhain for presentation to Büttner on the entry date made in his soldbuch.
3) Wound Badge in Black Award Certificate, issued to: ‘Walter Büttner, Gefr, Pz.Div.Nachr.Abt.89’, issued at Grossenhain on 23rd October 1943, for a wound received on 21st August 1943, signed in ink by a Stabsarzt and Chief Doctor at the Reserve Hospital at Grossenhain. The doctor’s signature is the same as the one shown for the issue of the Eastern Front Winter War Medal.
Together with the following original documents:
4) Civil Work Book, issued to Walter Büttner on 9th April 1935, when he started his apprenticeship as a joiner with a firm in Bleckenstedt which ended on 1st April 1939. He was then employed as a joiner in Immendorf from 3rd April 1939 until 1st March 1940, both of these towns being in Kreis Wolfenbüttel.
5) German Labour Front DAF Membership Book, issued to Walter Büttner on 23rd February 1939 by the Wolfenbüttel Administration Office, for work as a joiner, the paid stamps covering the period from 20th March 1939 to 30th November 1939.
6) Pages 21 to 24 from Büttner’s Soldbuch, sadly the remainder now missing. The surviving pages details his decorations earned, as well as this three periods of leave.
Walter Büttner was born on 14th November 1923 in Heerte, in Kreis Wolfenbüttel, and was an apprentice joiner with a firm in Bleckenstedt from 9th April 1935 to 1st April 1939, and then worked as a joiner in Immendorf from 1st April 1939 to 20th February 1940, these towns being all located to the south of Braunschweig. Having joined the German Labour Front on 23rd February 1939, he paid his membership subscription through to 30th November 1939,
Büttner was then called up for military service with the German Army sometime in 1940, probably from February onwards, and having completed his training, was on recreation leave from 29th December 1940 to 3rd January 1941. Büttner then saw service as a Gefreiter with the 2nd Company, 341st Panzer Division Signals Battalion, a unit of the 11th Panzer Division, and saw active service in the Balkans in Yugoslavia during early 1941, before being posted home on leave from 4th to 10th May 1941.
Büttner then took part in the invasion of Russia with Army Group Centre and was involved in the advance on Moscow during the period leading up to the end of the year. Büttner was posted home on leave from the Russian front from 15th September to 6th October 1941. Having served through the first Russian Winter of 1941 to 1942, he would be subsequently awarded the Eastern Front Winter War Medal on 14th August 1942, though the award would not be present to him till October 1943.
Büttner then continued on service in central Russia in front of Moscow during the early part of 1942, and from May was involved in operations in southern Russia, where he remained through into 1943. Büttner was awarded the War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords on 20th April 1943 whilst still serving with the 341st Panzer Division Signals Battalion, and with the redesignation of his battalion to the 89th Panzer Signals Battalion on 1st June 1943, when still serving within the same division and in the same company, the 2nd Company, was then wounded in action on 21st August 1943 during the retreat to the Dnieper in the aftermath of the failure of Operation Citadel. Evacuated to Germany, he underwent treatment for his wound in hospital at the Reserve Hospital at Grossenhain, where he was recovering when he was awarded the Wound Badge in Black on 23rd October 1943. In the meantime, Büttner had been awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class ‘in the field’ on 1st September 1943, though the award was actually presented to him on 20th October 1943 whilst in the hospital at Grossenhain and it is clear that his award was won for an act of bravery which probably occurred very close to the date of his wound.
