Germany - Third Reich: Führer’s Unit Commendation Certificate awarded to the 6th Company of the 462nd Infantry Regiment - it translates: ‘I express my special recognition to the 6th Company of the 462nd Infantry Regiment for its outstanding achievements on the Battlefield near Orlovka on 30th December 1941’, issued at Headquarters on 16th February 1942, this being an extremely rare facsimile printed postcard size form of the commendation certificate, as produced by the 6th Company itself and given to specific men within the company who had presumably acted above and beyond in the action, the reverse with individual type presentation to: ‘Dem Oberfeldw. Fritz Eckardt our Erinnerung an Orlowka’ - ‘To Oberfeldwebel Fritz Eckardt in memory of Orlovka’, and signed in ink by an Oberleutnant and Company Commander. The original large format document would have been presented to the Company Headquarters for display on the wall, and would have born an original or facsimile signature of Adolf Hitler.
Oberfeldwebel Fritz Eckardt, 6th Company, 462nd Infantry Regiment, 262nd Infantry Division, as a senior warrant officer and possible a platoon commander, presumedly fought well in the action near Orlovka on 30th December 1941 which merited the award of the Führer’s Unit Commendation Certificate to his company. At the time it was present on operations in central Russia at Bryansk, Yelez and Orel. The combat involved during the first Russian winter of 1941 to 1942, would have taken place during the period when the German frontline came under extreme pressure and was forced to retreat during the Russian attacks to relieve Moscow. Orlovka is a small town to the south-east of Orel.
