232 Generalleutnant Hans Degen, Kommandeur der 2. Gebirgs - Division: Große 6-teilige Ordensspange
Iron Cross 2nd Class 1914. Bavaria: Military Merit Order 4th Class with Swords, silver and enamelled. Bavaria: Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with Crown and Swords. Frontline Fighter's Honour Cross. Wehrmacht Service Cross 2nd Class (18 years of service). Wehrmacht Service Award 4th Class (4 years of service). Black fabric cover on the reverse. On a cross pin.
With the original award documents: EK II. on a decorative leaf of the German Alpine Corps (6 November 1917). Bavarian MVO 4th Class with Swords (16 October 1918). Bavarian Military Merit Cross 3rd class with crown and swords (27 October 1917). Front Fighters Honour Cross (21 December 1934). Service Award 4th - 2nd Class (2 October 1936).
A very nice collection that reflects the military career of the later Lieutenant General (Mountain Troops) Karl Degen from his beginnings as a senior hunter in the 2nd Jäger Battalion to his rank as Major (1936).
Hans Degen (born 18 February 1899 in Rosenheim; died 18 November 1971 in Greiling) was a lieutenant general.
Degen was the oldest son of a customs officer in Rosenheim. After graduating from the Humanistisches Gymnasium in Lohr am Main, he began his military career.
At the age of 17, Degen joined the 2nd Bavarian Jäger Battalion of the Bavarian Jäger Regiment 1 in Aschaffenburg, where he served as a group and platoon leader in the German Alpine Corps from 1917 to 1918 in the theatres of war of Romania, Italy and Serbia.
Promoted to lieutenant on 10 February 1918, he fought most recently as a company commander in France, where he was slightly wounded in August 1918 in the defensive battle of the Somme but remained with the troops.
After the First World War, he became battalion adjutant in the III. Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment in Aschaffenburg. On 1 January 1921, he was transferred to the Reichswehr. After that, he was initially deployed as battalion adjutant of the 2nd battalion of the Infantry Regiment 20 in Ingolstadt and then as platoon leader of the machine gun company of the same unit, initially as a first lieutenant from 1 April 1925 until 1929. From 1929 to 1930, he was a platoon leader and deputy company commander in the 7th Motor Vehicle Division in Munich and Würzburg. From 1930 to 1933, he took part in a training programme for assistant officers in military district VII and at the War Academy in Berlin. After being promoted to captain on 1 April 1933, he served as a general staff officer in the 4th Department of the General Staff of the Army at the Army High Command in Berlin until 1937. On 1 October 1936, he was promoted to the rank of Major. In 1937 and 1938, Degen was the company commander of the 100th Mountain Infantry Regiment in Brannenburg. On 10 November 1938, he was appointed the 1st General Staff Officer (Ia) of the 2nd Mountain Division in Innsbruck. There he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 1 March 1939.
The awards and documents from the estate of Knight's Cross holder Lieutenant General Hans Degen will initially be auctioned off individually and sold subject to a possible overall bid.
After that, it will be possible to place a total bid for all the lots in the awards group. To do this, the sums of the individual hammer prices are added up and it is possible to place bids on the complete group. If several total bids are received, the highest bidder is awarded the bid.
If no total bid is received that exceeds the sum of the individual hammer prices by at least 10%, the conditional hammer prices for the individual lots remain valid.
A combined bid can also be made in advance of the auction.
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When the Second World War broke out, Degen moved with the 2nd Mountain Division into the Polish campaign in September 1939. After its end, he was transferred to the 1st Mountain Division as the 1st General Staff Officer from 16 October 1939. In this position, he took part in the Western campaign until the end of 1940. On 1 January 1941, he became Chief of Staff of the VI. Army Corps, which was deployed as part of Army Group Centre in the central sector of the Eastern Front at the beginning of the Russian campaign in June 1941. On 1 February 1942, Degen was promoted to colonel in the General Staff. On 1 July 1942, he was assigned as Chief of Staff of the XIX Mountain Army Corps on the Arctic Ocean front. There he took over as commander of the 2nd Mountain Division on 1 November 1943. On 1 January 1944, he was promoted to Major General and on 1 August 1944 to Lieutenant General. After the retreat from the Arctic Ocean front and the march back through Norway in winter, he still led the division in the defensive battles in the Colmar/Vogesen area, where he was seriously wounded on 6 February 1945.
Lieutenant General Degen was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his successes in the defensive battle in the Vosges on 11 March 1945.
On 2 May 1945, he was taken prisoner by the Americans in the military hospital in Bad Tölz and was released on 15 October 1947.
Awards:
Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class (1917)
Bavarian Military Merit Cross 3rd class with crown and swords (1917)
Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th class with swords (1918)
Wound Badge in black (1918)
Spanish Cross, bronze without swords (1939)
Clasp to the Iron Cross, 2nd class (1939 Poland Campaign)
Iron Cross, 1st class (1939 Western Campaign)
Medal Winter Battle in the East 1941/42
German Cross in Gold on 12 March 1942 (Battle of Rzhev)
Finnish Order of the Liberty Cross, First Class (Continuation War, 1944)
German Army Honour Roll (Lapland War, 1944)
Wound Badge (1945)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 March 1945 (defensive action in the Vosges).
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