Description
HEER SOLDBUCH & DOCUMENT GROUPING – STURMGESCHÜTZ ABTEILUNG 904 – GOLD WOUND BADGE
Soldbuch issued to Oberwachtmeister Emil BEHNE. He served in STURMGESCHÜTZ ABTEILUNG 904. ID photo shows the man wearing black Panzer tunic with blank (no Totenkopf) collar tabs and EK2 and Ostmedaille ribbons. Awards entered include Black Wound Badge, EK2, Ostmedaille, GOLD WOUND BADGE and KVK2. Also comes with his Führerschein and Militär-Fahreleherschein. Soldbuch was issued March 9, 1942. His 1937 issued Militärfuhrerschein shows him wearing shoulder boards with “P13” for Panzer-Abwehr-Abteilung 13.
$465
Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 904 was formed in Jüterbog on 15 December 1942. On 3 January 1943 the Abteilung was to be renamed Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 270, but this order was soon reversed. As early as February 1943 the Abteilung left for the Eastern Front and was attached to the 4th Panzer Division in the Sevsk region to try to restore the German lines. This detachment lasted until 1 April 1943. For the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 the Abteilung was part of the northern arm, as part of the 47th Panzer Corps . However, after the failure of this offensive the Abteilung was soon attached to the 2nd Army and subsequently withdrew with it until the end of the year, ending up around Mozir . During the first months of 1944 the brigade was located around Petrikov.
After the Soviets had launched their Operation Bagration , the brigade became part of the Cavalry Corps or Korps Harteneck . With this corps, the brigade remained for the next few months, always in heavy defensive battles, eventually along the Narew . Here, around Scharfenwiese , the front came to a standstill until mid-January 1945. When the Soviet winter offensive broke out, the brigade supported the infantry where possible, but was nevertheless pushed into the Heiligenbeil pocket. During the evacuation to the Vistula Spit (German: Frische Nehrung ), the brigade (due to the loss of all Sturmgeschützen) only saw action as infantry, under the name Kampfgruppe 904. This was first at Kahlberg and later at Elbing .
The Heeres-Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 904 capitulated on May 8, 1945 at Schiewenhorst in the Vistula estuary .
