Germany – Third Reich: A Superb Stalingrad Casualty Tank Combat Badge in Bronze, Iron Cross 2nd Class, Driver’s Proficiency Badge in Gold, Gold Wound Badge and Close Combat Bar in Bronze Document Group to Obergefreiter Karl Dumler, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Companies, 16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, 16th Panzer Division, who wounded on 23rd October 1942 in the northern suburbs of Stalingrad missed his units destruction and went on to fight against the Allied landings at Salerno in Italy, during the famous escape of the 1st Panzer Army from the Hube Pocket, at the Baranov Bridgehead and was wounded in the opening days of the great Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive of January 1945. Dumler was still in hospital in Prague recovering from his wounds just two weeks prior to the final Surrender.
A fine and scarce bravery document group consisting of 8 award certificates relating to a Junior Non-Commissioned Officer in a Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion.
Decoration:
Driver’s Proficiency Badge in Gold, on cloth backing with some loss of the gilding.
Award Certificates:
The Tank Combat Badge in Bronze awarded on 22nd August 1941 as an Obergefreiter, 3/16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. A certified true copy of the original signed for correctness by an Oberleutnant and Battalion Adjutant on behalf of Major von Witzleben as Battalion Commander
Note: this copy of the original award certificate has obviously has been issued at a much later date as Dumler is now an Obergefreiter and the unit stamp is for 16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, Dumler would have been a Gefreiter in 16thMotorcycle Battalion at the time of the original award of this Combat Badge.
The Black Wound Badge awarded in Breslau on 30th August 1941 for a wound received on 7th July 1941 as a Gefreiter, 3/16th Motorcycle Battalion. Signed by an Oberleutnant and Ordonannz Offizier, 16th Motorcycle Battalion.
The Silver Wound Badge awarded at Teupitz on 6th March 1943 for a wound received on 23rd October 1942 as a Gefreiter, 3/16th Motorcycle Battaloin. Signed by Dr Beier as Oberstabsarzt and Chief Doctor of the Reserve Hospital Teupitz.
The Iron Cross 2ndClass awarded on 8th June 1943 as an Obergefreiter, 3/16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. Signed by Sieckenius as Generalmajor and General Officer Commanding 16th Panzer Division.
Sieckenius was awarded the Knights Cross on 17.9.1941 as Oberleutnant and Commanding Officer 2nd Panzer Regiment, 16th Panzer Division. Committed Suicide on 28.4.1945 in the Berlin area near Markisch-Bucholz as Generalmajor and General Officer Commanding 262nd Infantry Division.
The Driver’s Proficiency Badge in Bronze awarded in the field on 22nd November 1943 as an Obergefreiter, 3/16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. Signed by Dornemann as Major and Battalion Commander.
Dornemann was awarded the Knights Cross on 28.11.1943 as Major and Commanding Officer 16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion and the German Cross in Gold on 25th January 1943 as Hauptmann and Commanding Officer 16th Motorcycle Battalion.
The Driver’s Proficiency Badge in Gold awarded by Battalion HQ on 2nd February 1944 as an Obergefreiter, 3/16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. Signed by Schiller as Hauptmann and Battalion Commander.
Schiller was awarded the Knights Cross on 6.4.1944 as Hauptmann and Commanding Officer 16thPanzer Reconnaissance Battalion.
The Close Combat Bar in Bronze awarded on 1st October 1944 as an Obergefreiter, 2/16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. Signed by Schiller as Hauptmann and Battalion Commander.
The Gold Wound Badge awarded in Prague on 23rd April 1945 for wounds received on 7.7.1941, 23.10.42, 28.10.43, 3.8.44, and 15.1.1945 as an Obergefreiter, 1/16th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion. Signed by a Stabsarzt and Chief Doctor of the Reserve Hospital XIII Prague.
Karl Dumler was likely called up on the outbreak of WW2, and served in the same Division throughout the war, beginning as the 16th Infantry Division it was transformed into 16th Panzer Division in December 1940.
16th Panzer Division served in the west over the winter of 1939-40 before taking part in the invasion of France in May 1940, the Division being involved in the fighting near Verdun and then over the Meuse and to the area of Nancy. Immediately after the campaign in France, the Division was moved back to Germany to be transformed into 16th Panzer Division. Upon completion of its refit, it moved to Romania and prepared for Operation Barbarossa which it took part in as part of Army Group South.
Advancing over the Bug, the Division was quickly entangled in a major Tank battle near Dubno, this would most likely explain the early award of the Tank Combat Badge in Bronze on 22nd August 1941. Dumler was also wounded early in the campaign, receiving a Black Wound Badge for a wound he had received on 7th July 1941 while recuperating in Breslau. It is unclear when he returned to the Eastern Front, the lack of an Ostmedaille would suggest he missed a portion of the fighting along the Sea of Azov and into the Donetz basin, and the Mius River where the Division ended 1941 and spent the following winter defending against Russian counterattacks.
The Division was engaged in the Second Battle of Kharkov in May 1942, before advancing initially to the Don and then the River Volga near Stalingrad as part of the German Summer Offensive of 1942, the Division was involved in fighting in the northern suburbs of Stalingrad where he was wounded on 23rd October 1942. Being evacuated from Stalingrad it appears that Dumler escaped the destruction of part of his unit in the pocket in January 1943, being awarded the Silver Wound Badge on 6th March 1943 whilst in Teupitz.
The award of the Iron Cross 2nd Class is interesting in that it would appear to be a very late award for fighting in Russia, probably in Stalingrad itself. Being awarded on 8th June 1943, the Division had seen no front line action since December/January 1942-3 in the Stalingrad area, so this could be either a very late award for an action there, or maybe for a security action in either France or Italy where the unit was reconstructed before being sent to Italy in August 1943.
The Division saw fighting in the area around the Salerno landings in Italy in September 1943 before moving to Termoli on the Adriatic Coast, it is likely that Dumler’s wound on 28th October 1943 was in this area before the Division was transferred to the Bobruisk area of the Central Eastern Front where it was refitted with heavier tanks in preparation for frontline fighting. Throughout the remainder of 1943 up until the middle of 1944, Dumler appears to have served as a Driver, being awarded the Driver’s Proficiency Badge in Bronze and Gold on 22nd November 1943 and 2nd February 1944 respectively.
Through 1944 the Division fought defensive battles on the central sector of the Eastern Front, firstly in the Pripyet Marshes area up to April 1944, then in the breakout from the ‘Hube’ (Kamenets-Podolsky) pocket in April 1944, before retreating westwards as a result of Operation Bagration, the Russian summer offensive of 1944, the Division was fighting on and around the Vistula in Poland by the time Dumler was wounded for a fourth time on 3rd August 1944.
Involved in the heavy fighting in the summer and autumn in the Baranov Bridgehead, Dumler was awarded the Close Combat Bar in Bronze on 1st October 1944, this a recognition of the fact that Reconnaissance units often were thrust into front line defensive battles at this stage of the war.
Continuing to fight with the Division into 1945, Dumler was wounded for a fifth and final time on 15th January 1945 whilst attempting to stem the beginning of the Russian Vistula-Oder Offensive from the Baranov Bridgehead. It would appear at this point, he was moved back to Prague for recuperation as his Gold Wound Badge Certificate is signed by the Chief Doctor of the Reserve Hospital there on 23rd April 1945, two weeks before the final surrender.
It is clear that Dumler was a highly experienced combat soldier who had seen himself in a variety of roles during the war beginning at the outbreak of 1939 and still serving with the same unit (which had been redesignated) on 23rd April 1945 just before the end.
