3rd Reich Kriegsmarine Minensucher-abzeichen und Urkunden

In an excellent condition a Kriegsmarine Mine seeker badge and award documents

Official name for the badge is

The award documents are made out to Willi Pache, he was according to the feld post number M51342 a Matrosen(ober)gefreiter of the 4. Artillerieträger-Flottille

He received on July 27th the black Wound badge and on October 27th 1944 the mine seeker badge.

The mine seeker badge is in excellent condition and maker marked R.S. which stands for Rudolf Souval from Wien. The award bag is also the same maker marked.

Background info:

The 4th artillery carrier flotilla was formed in November 1943 in Amsterdam. At the end of 1943, the first parts of the flotilla moved to Riga and to Doprat on Lake Peipus. The boats MAL 13 - MAL 24 of the flotilla are to be used on this lake, whose eastern shore is occupied by the Red Army. The towns of Kastre am Embach near Dorpat and Mustvee on the western shore of Lake Peipus were made into bases for the flotilla. The boats of the flotilla were mainly used for escort duties, with skirmishes with Russian units occurring almost every day. On July 19, 1944, MAL 19 was set on fire by a bomb hit in front of Mustvee and had to be abandoned. On July 21, the part of the flotilla deployed in Mustvee moved to Rana Pungerja. Since the KS boats were considered unsuitable for the shallow sea, they were transported to Reval in July 1944. On July 27, 1944 MAL 13, V 124, V 132 and V 135 in Rana Pungerja were sunk by bomb hits, on July 28, 1944 MAL 14 and V 241. MAL 16 was lost on August 2 before the mouth of the Embach by bomb hits. On August 16, 1944, the Kastre base was cleared and 10 V-boats were transferred to Reval. On August 17, MAL 22 was abandoned, MAL 20 sunk. Since Dorpat was almost completely surrounded by mid-August, the remaining MAL were used to support the army units. All personnel of the flotilla who were not needed were used for ground operations. On August 31, 1944, the flotilla base moved to Avinumre. The flotilla consisted of two MAL (14 and 21) and 12 V boats. On September 16, the two remaining MAL managed to sink a Russian gunboat and damage another. On September 18, 1944, the remaining V-boats in Mustvee and Rana Pungerja were sunk itself, leaving only the two MALs 14 and 21 in Mustvee. After firing the last ammunition, they were sunk on September 19, 1944. The crews of the boats tried to make their way to Gotenhafen, where the flotilla was disbanded in October 1944.

Code: 53179