Document/Medal grouping, 23rd Panzer divison Panther V crewman ( including Panzerkampfabzeichen 25!)

A beautiful grouping of a member of the 23rd Panzer division, which saw heavy combat from the beginning until the end of the war!

Some info on the owner of the grouping and his backstory:

Karl Hugo Stock , born on April 24th, 1922 in Diez/Lahn, single and Evangelistic Protestant.

His profession before the war was Locksmith, his father named Wilhelm was a farmer and his mom Elisabeth was born with the name Klein.

He studied in the Volksschule and he had a certificate as swimmer.

He got registered for military service on October 7th, 1940 when he was declared fit for his physical exams.

Karl entered service on October 1st, 1941 with 3./Pz.Ers.Abt. 100 in Schwezingen, where he then
Passed the medical exam as fit on October 2nd and took his oath on the 8th of October, His EKM number was:
150. 3./Pz.Ers.Abt. 100.

he was trained with Kar98k, MG34, P08, P38, MP40, KwK 5cm (Panzer 3) and KwK 42/L70 (Panther) as radioman and loader.

His combat unit was Panzer Regiment 201 till it changed its name to Panzer Regiment 23, but he was always with 23 Panzer Division with the 3rd and 4th Kompanie in I Abteilung, but later 9 kompanie that was III Abteilung, and that unit was disbanded on March 5th, 1943 due to heavy losses.

He started out in a Pz III as he was trained on the 5 cm cannon that usually was installed in this model, and then 7 Kompanie when the unit was renamed as Panzer Regiment 23 on August 16th, 1943 that was equipped with the famous Panther tank, in which he served as a Gunner and a Driver.

He was initially a occupation troop in France until April 4th, 1942 , where he was then sent to the Eastern Front in Russia and he was then promoted to Gefreiter on June 1st 1942.

He avoided being killed or wounded around Stalingrad,despite his unit losing 90% of its operational tanks.

In 1943 his unit was operating in South-Russia and spend a 'defensive war' around Manych, and after that he was promoted to Obergefreiter in the 1st of October 1943 during the fights around the Dnjepr river, and he was then awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class on the 28th of October 1943.

In 1944 he spend his time still on the Eastern front, performing almost non-stop 'abwehrslacht/abwehrkämpfe' during the fights slowly going westwards.

In late 1944 early 1945 he was attached to the 6th Army and later 6th SS Panzer army fighting in Hungary and Croatia where he was promoted to Unteroffizier on January 1st, 1945.

His entire combat history and all of his actions are written down on a page at the end of the Wehrpass, and in the end of the war his unit surrendered at the German-Hungarian border.

Both propositions for the award of the Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silver and the Panzerkampfabzeichen “25” has no details of where he was credited his assault days, one just has geographical points and the other just explains that he fulfilled the requested days for the award while acting as a loader on a Panzer V Panther.

For the Panzer Assault Badge in Silver he was awarded on May 23rd, 1942 for assaults on May 13th, 15th and 17th and approved the same day by 9./Panzer Regiment 201.

For the Panzer Assault Badge in Silver “25” proposed on March 2nd, 1944 and approved on March 5th by 7./Panzer Regiment 23 while acting as a loader on a Panther tank.

Karl Stock was never wounded, despite seeing almost non stop combat from 1942-1945, but his war ended on the 8th of May when he surrendered in Radkersburg on the German/Hungarian border as a part of the 2nd Panzer Army.

This is your unique chance to obtain a very unique Grouping of a young man who started the was as a 18 year old boy in 1940, and ended the war on the very last day on the 8th of May 1945 as a well decorated war Veteran, being part of one of the Wehrmachts most well known tank divisions of the war!

The medals of this grouping belong to the documents and will NOT be sold seperately.

The catch on the PKA in Silver seems to be wartime repaired and the catch of the PKA '25' is missing but this would be a extremely intresting display in a case and a base for further research into this man's story!
For more pictures see also listing 57567