DIETRICH MAERZ ON PARTISAN WARFARE BADGE WITH DIAMONDS

When the late Dr Kurt-Gerhard Klietmann pubished his seminal reference book on Nazi awards in the early 1960s, he mentioned the existance of the Bandenkampfabzeichen in Gold mit Brillanten, suggesting that Heinrich Himmler had commissioned as many as twenty examples from the firm of C E Juncker of Berlin at the end of 1944. These badges were supposedly made of gilded silver with diamonds in the sunwheel swastika. However, is it likely that Himmler, having suspended the manufacture of the SS-Ehrenring in November 1943 as a piece of austerity grandstanding, would have commissioned twenty silver badges studded with diamonds when there would be no contenders for the BKA in Gold for another four months?

Several collectors have been fooled by fantasy pieces like this 

 

 

The most recent reference book to have promoted the existence of the Diamonds grade of the BKA is The Awards of the Heer, Vol 1 by Dietrich Maerz and Bern Hartmann, which featured the example seen at the 2012 MAX Show on Page 322. Mr Maerz wrote on 24.10.2012: “I consider this badge (and I am by far not the only one) as the original one.” This statement is at least an improvement on Dr Klietmann’s suggestion that Himmler had twenty such badges made. 

In fairness to Dietrich Maerz, he does point out that there "is no scientific way to prove that one or both of the shown examples are genuine and from the period nor is there any reasonable way to prove the opposite." Unfortunately, Mr Maerz rather spoils the effect by telling readers of the Wehrmacht Awards Forum, where he is a moderator, that the badge "sold at the Max I believe also to be authentic as the pin clasp set up match [sic] other badges from Juncker's custom shop to include a similar set-up to the 20 July wound badges. I have seen close-up the one sold at the Max, and the provenance given to its surfacing, lend to its credibility."

Dietrich Maerz

One wonders who twisted Mr Maerz's arm to make this statement. And now we have another factor deftly inserted into the ever-evolving history of Third Reich medal and badge production: the "Juncker custom shop". And just to further muddy the waters, Mr Maerz states that "the APB with Diamonds Bob [Hritz] is talking about is to be seen in my book "The Awards of the Heer, Vol. I" page 322.  “I consider this badge (and I am by far not the only one) as the original one.” 

There again, we have gone from the twenty badges alleged by the comprehensively discredited Klietmann to just one, according to the Peanut Gallery's new literary hero. This badge was sold at the MAX Show or was it? Could it be that it was described as having been sold for a substantial figure, later to resurface on the market as an "investment grade piece" to some Chinese or Russian optimist? Time will tell...

The Bandenkampfabzeichen was instituted on 30.1.1944 by Adolf Hitler after pressure from Reichsführer-SS Himmler to create an award especially for German military and security personnel engaged on anti-partisan operations.  On 1.2.1944, Himmler’s Field HQ published the criteria for the award of the badge in three classes. The qualifying time for the badge was backdated to January 1943.

The Bronze grade or 1. Stufe required twenty combat days in the case of ground troops and thirty combat days in the case of aircrew.

The Silver grade or 2. Stufe required fifty combat days in the case of ground troops and seventy-five combat days in the case of aircrew.

The Gold grade or 3. Stufe required one hundred combat days in the case of ground troops and a hundred-and-fifty combat days in the case of aircrew.

For ground units, a combat day involved taking part in close-quarter combat with partisans on a man-to-man basis. Aircrew had to be exposed to ground fire from partisans, whilst being shot down counted as three combat days or nahkampftäge. The bade could also be awarded posthumously. The BKA was consequently one of the harder awards to earn, even for personnel in the rear areas of the Eastern Front and the Balkans. According to Das Marine-Verordnungsblatt Nr 574 of 15.10.1944, the RF-SS extended eligibility for the award to naval personnel.

SS-Ostuf Kühbandner: 

first recipient of the BKA in Gold 

Heinrich Himmler reserved the right to award the BKA in Gold personally to recipients. To put this award in perspective, a soldier would have to qualify twice over in terms of combat days for the Close Combat Clasp in Gold before he was eligible for the BKA in Gold. It was therefore more than a year before the 21.2.1945 edition of Der Völkisher Beobachter could report the award on 15.2.1945 of the the first four BKAg to Waffen-SS members fighting partisans on the Adriatic coast of the northern Balkans or, in other words, Croatia.

The first recipient was SS-Obersturmführer und DK-Trager Erich Kühbandner. The three other recipients were SS-Obersturmführer Helmut Prasch, SS-Hauptscharführer Alfred Ludl and SS-Sturmmann Rudi Brauer. The four men were serving with the 24. Waffen-Gebirg (Karstjäger) Division der Waffen-SS.

A month later, six Karstjäger NCOs and Other Ranks received the BKA in Gold from Generaloberst Heinz Guderian on 10.3.1945, their award documents being dated 9.3.1945. These were SS-Oscha Walter, SS-Uscha Sinemus, SS-Uscha  Fabel, SS-Strmn Armstark, SS-Strmn Götzinger and SS-Strmn Mootz. Guderian was Chief of Staff of the Army at the time but was dismissed for “health problems” by Hitler on 28.3.1945.

SS-Ostuf Prasch of the SD

As an aside, Kühbandner’s award document describes him as SS-Obersturmführer with III./Waffen-Geb.(Karst)Jg.Rgt.-SS Nr. 1 Adriatisches Küstenland  but he was actually SS-Hauptsturmführer u. Kdr of I./Waffen-Gebirgs (Karst) Jäger)-Rgt 59 from 5.12.1944 to 10.2.1945. He was perhaps acting Captain as there seem to be no photos of him with two pips on his shoulderboards. Ostuf Prasch was actually an SD officer attached to 2./WGeb(Karstjäger)BdSS, most likely in one of the intelligence sections.

At this time, the Karstjäger Brigade was active around the Julian Alps, where the frontiers of Austria, Italy and Yugoslavia met. For a few weeks, the unit was thrown into the fight against advancing British units in northern Italy before being withdrawn to the Istrian penninsula south of Trieste at the end of March 1945.

In the middle of April, the Karstjäger were moved north of the Austrian border between Villach and Klagenfurt, where it formed the cadre of a new Kampfgruppe or Battle Group with elements of the Prinz Eugen Division and officer cadets from SS-Junkerschule Klagenfurt. The Kampfgruppe was sent keep mountain passes and road and rail routes through river gorges open for German forces retreating from Yugoslav partisans under the command of Arnhem veteran SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel. The Karstjäger surrendered to the British 6^th Armoured Division on 9.5.1945.

Two Karstjäger officers are led down the Rosen Pass on 9.5.1944 by British soldiers 
to negotiate surrender terms. The officer in the shorts wears the Silver BKA 

It is significant that the only recipients of the BKAg were Karstjäger. By that stage of the war, with the German armies in the East and the West in headlong flight, there was not much opportunity for German soldiers to accumulate enough days in close combat with irregular forces to earn the Gold class of the BKA. But the story was different for the Karstjäger, whose sole mission was the suppression of partisans and bandits in the northern Balkans. However, further awards of the Bandenkampfabzeichen in Gold have not been traced despite the efforts of many historians and collectors trawling through SS personnel files and other documents in various archives and collections.

Himmler

As for the alleged BKA in Gold mit Brillanten, it may be possible that Himmler thought about a silver-gilt version with diamonds or rhinestones, intending it to be his personal gift in the manner of the Diamond-studded badges handed out by Göring and Dönitz but there is no proof that he did or that if he did, he ordered a proof example. Had he done so, would he have commissioned C E Juncker when he had other firms more suitable for such work at his disposal, like Gahr or Rath, to say nothing of the craftsmen and artisans employed within the SS? To whom would Himmler have given this badge? Perhaps to any field or general officer who had, in Himmler's opinion, excelled himself in the fight against bandits and terrorists on the Eastern, Southern and Western Fronts since the qualifying period began in January 1943. 

Whatever the case, the Anti-Bandit Warfare Badges in Gold with Diamonds that pop up occasionally in auction houses and the showcases of the same dealers involved with monotonous regularity are not wartime pieces. Nor is the badge displayed at the MAX Show and shown in Dietrich Maerz’s new book, which simply does not look as if it would match up to the quality expected by someone like Himmler, who was just as fussy about details as Hitler and Göring when it came to awards, particularly high level awards. 

No matter how many "advanced collectors" and "respected dealers" are mentioned in connection with the "provenance" of such badges, and no matter how many overpriced reference books from Klietmann through Littlejohn & Dodkins and Forman to Maerz give this badge page space, the fact is that this so-called provenance cannot be established as tracing further back than the mid-1960s. There is no proof whatsoever that Heinrich Himmler commissioned a Diamonds grade of the BKA, even as an unofficial, private award. 

In conclusion, the much-vaunted Bandenkampfabzeichen in Gold mit Brillianten can only be considered a postwar fantasy piece first mentioned in the early 1960s by the now widely discredited Dr Klietmann and intended for sale to gullible collectors with more money than sense, who were just as plentiful then as they are now.