The Invasion of the Soviet Union
Operations Barbarossa and Typhoon
June 1941 to January 1942
The German Invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941. It was an attack by an invasion force of three million men, the largest the world had ever known. It began with great German victories over the Red Army during the summer months and ended with a stunning defeat before Moscow in winter. The war in the East, as it became known, became a multi-year, brutal slugfest between two great European powers instead of the quick victory anticipated by the Hitler and the German High Command. The Wehrmacht would ultimately lose the war and it was on the Eastern Front where its fate was sealed.
With an invasion by millions of men, beginning on June 22, 1941, came bravery awards in the thousands through the winter of 1941/42. One was an Iron Cross First Class with KALININ and the date of November 24, 1941 scratched into the reverse. The recipient is unknown but it was probably earned by a member of XXVII Armeekorps during the fighting north of Moscow. It was this Korps of three infantry divisions and various support troops that was pushing towards Kalinin and the Volga Reservoir at the time, about 110 miles northwest of the capital.
Army Group Center launched its attack on Moscow on October 2, 1941. It included a broad attack designed to envelope the Russian capital, with the German 9. Armee, led by Generaloberst Adolf Strauß, tasked with the push to the north, including the capture of Kalinin and as well as the confluence of two rivers, the Volga and the Tvertsa. The Germans captured the area by late October, but were slowed as the entire front began to bog down before Moscow and its approaches to the north and south. Weather and seasonal changes, stiffening Soviet resistance, and the exhaustion of German troops, weapons and equipment all took their toll. Casualties mounted on both sides given the significance of Moscow’s potential capture.
The fighting before Kalinin was the responsibility of XXVII. Armekoorps, comprised of 86. Infanterie-Division, 162. Infanterie-Division, and 129. Infanterie-Division, along with various Heerestruppen and Korpstruppen. Among the Germans fighting in the area in late November was the unknown recipient of the Iron Cross First Class, an enlisted man or officer who chose to remember the date in which he earned/was awarded his cross with Kalinen, 24 11/41 scratched on the reverse.
The cross is made by Klein & Quenzer, a jewelry maker founded in Idar-Oberstein in 1904, who went on the become a prolific manufacturer of various German awards during World War II, including all three classes of the 1939 Iron Cross. This example is without a maker mark, appropriate for a late 1941 award and before the establishment of the Präsidialkanzlei numbering system in mid to late 1942, a structure that specifically managed the manufacture and sale of orders and medals within the German Reich. It is one of many awards rendered for bravery on the Eastern Front during the first six months of war between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. While the recipient is lost to time, he is remembered among the named awardees below who distinguished themselves during the massive German assault on the Soviet Union.
The cross is made by Klein & Quenzer, a jewelry maker founded in Idar-Oberstein in 1904, who went on the become a prolific manufacturer of various German awards during World War II, including all three classes of the 1939 Iron Cross. This example is without a maker mark, appropriate for a late 1941 award and before the establishment of the Präsidialkanzlei numbering system in mid to late 1942, a structure that specifically managed the manufacture and sale of orders and medals within the German Reich. It is one of many awards rendered for bravery on the Eastern Front during the first six months of war between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army. While the recipient is lost to time, he is remembered among the named awardees below who distinguished themselves during the massive German assault on the Soviet Union.
|
|