Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine First and Second World War group of nine attributed to Korvettenkapitän Paul Schubert, Kriegsmarine, late Imperial German Navy

Germany, Prussia, Iron Cross 1914, 2nd Class, with 1939 Bar to 1914 Iron Cross, 2nd Class, with prong fittings attached to ribbon; Hamburg, Hanseatic Cross 1914, enamelled; Germany, Cross of Honour 1914-18, combatant’s, bronze; German Empire, South West Africa Campaign Medal, non-combatant’s, silvered metal; Third Reich, War Merit Cross 1939, 2nd Class with swords; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Order of the Wendish Crown, Silver Merit Cross, silver; Finland, Order of the Cross of Liberty 1918, Military Division, 3rd Class, gilt; Commemorative Medal for the War of Liberty 1918, mounted German style for wear, very fine and better (9) £500-600

With a most interesting and well presented photograph album containing a card signed ‘P. Schubert’ on which is listed his wartime services between 26 August 1939 and 30 December 1940; together with a fine a portrait photograph of Schubert in uniform at the time of the Great War, wearing four of his medals. The main body of the album contains approx. 103 photographs of the period December 1939-October 1940, most neatly captioned, showing Schubert, his fellow officers and crew, his own and other ships and a funeral ceremony.

Schubert’s wartime services during the period, 26 August 1939 and 30 December 1940 are given as follows: ‘Leiter Begleitoffizierdienst-Pillau’, 26 August-11 September 1939; ‘Untersuchungsoffizier beim B.S.O.’, 12 September-5 October 1939; ‘Leiter Sperrlotsendienst Sund-Gjedser’, 6 October 1939-28 April 1940; ‘Kommandant Vorpostenboot “Unitas 3”’, 29 April-28 July 1940; ‘Kommandant Vorspostenboot “1702”’, 29 July-17 December 1940; ‘Kommandant Minensuchboot “M 1908”’, 18-30 December 1940.

The photographs in the album correspond with the above positions and services, with photographs of ships of the Third Reich Pilot Service to which he was attached in September-October 1939; ships of the Third Reich Blockade Service Flotilla to which he was attached during October 1939-April 1940 - his ship being the Habicht, with images of himself, his crew and ship; scenes at Waremünde on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast; addressing the crews of the patrol boats Unitas 3, Unitas 4 and Unitas 5 at Kiel, May 1940, with photographs of the ships in harbour and at sea; Unitas 3 ship at Alsensud, Norway and Sonderburg, Denmark; of readying the ship for action; photographs of Schubert and crew aboard the patrol boat 1702; the ship at sea and at Oslo, September/October 1940; photographs of patrol boat 1501 - Viking VII, at Frederikshavn, 15 October 1940 - the ship having been sunk by a mine in the Skaggerak, off Frederikshavn on 7 August 1940, was subsequently raised and repaired; the album ends with 23 photographs recording an official funeral ceremony at Frederikshavn, 7 September 1940 - well attended by officers and men of the Wehrmacht and Kriegsmarine, present at the military funeral of 245 soldiers who died on the troopship Pionier. The Pionier, en route between Denmark and Norway, was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine H.M.S. Sturgeon, some 15 miles north of Skagen, Denmark, on 2 September 1940.