About half a year ago, I bought a great army dagger from fellow GDC member Robert Hassler. The dagger, he explained, was named to Franz Kecht, Knights Cross holder who was killed in Wesseloje, near Melitopol, Ukraine in 1943. After some correspondence, Robert provided me with near incontestable evidence to support the claim on this dagger. The evidence includes: Images of the original German auction catalogue in which both dagger and Knights Cross grouping (photos, death card, medals, etc) were auctioned in 1996. The grouping and dagger are cross referenced and described in the auction, including description of the blade. Robert also has receipts from the auction.

Some pics of the dagger and inscription









The other kecht items autioned separately:




Satisfied with the dagger’s authenticity, I began looking into Kecht.

First, a fellow member at Feldgrau.com shared some key passages relevant to Kecht, from the out of print divisional history by Musculus (Friedrich Musculus, Geschichte der 111. Infanterie-Division 1940 – 1944, Self-Published, 1980.)

Oberleutnant Frank Kecht: Leader of the III./GR 70 (3rd Battallion, 70th Grenadier Regimen) of the 111. Infanterie Division

Kecht received the Knights Cross from General de Angelis on 18.10.1943, for the following action:

During the 10.10.1943, III./GR 70 under command of Oberleutnant Kecht, repells nine heavy russian attacks in the "Kriemhild-Brückenkopf-Stellung" arround Melitopol. (Musculus, p. 286.) Kecht is mortally wounded in one of these attacks.


Events around Melitopol in Oct 1943 relevant to Kecht: 25.10. 1943: Breakthrough of Russian forces, South of Melitopol, attacked was the 73. ID on the right flank of the 111.ID. The breakthrough succeeded in a line of 15 km, the Russian advance went N-West in the Nowo-Nikolajewka-direction. 73. ID and 111. ID together came under command of the XXIX. AK (Gen. Brandenberger), both together named Gruppe Recknagel. Kecht died of his wounds received days before on 25.10.1943, near Wesseloje. Wesseloje was taken by Russian forces on 26.10.1943. The next day (27.10.1943) the 111.ID stood in the line Nowo Alexandrowka-Mentschikur, N-West of Wesseloje.

Another Feldgrau.com member shared a great battle map from Rolf Hinze’s book “Rückzugskämpfe in der Ukraine 1943/44“, showing the various attacks carried out in and around Melitopol by the Soviet 4th Ukranian Front in October 1943, during the days when Kecht was mortally wounded and later died:




Incredibly, I later found and acquired a great, period Heereskarte (German army map) from 1941, of the area around Melitopol, including Wesseloje! I was beginning to feel the history behind this historic dagger. Follow the road north west of Melitopol, see Wesselyj, (= wesseloje)




Further background, right up to the days Kecht was killed, are provided in another account from http://www.bartcop.com/arc4310.htm

October 7, 1943
Red Army forces launch a fresh offensive in the north capturing Nevel. In the south, the Soviets pause to bring up supplies and consolidate their recently gained bridgeheads over the Dniepr River.

October 9, 1943
The German 17th Army completes the evacuation of the Kuban Peninsula moving across the Strait of Kerch into the dubious safety of the Crimean Peninsula. 225,000 German and Rumanian soldiers and 27,000 civilians made the withdrawal.

October 14, 1943
Zaporozhye is captured by Soviet forces. German forces resist Red Army attacks at Melitopol as the German rail line into the Crimea is cut.

October 17, 1943
Soviet forces shatter the Dniepr River line defenses with attacks near Kremenchug.

October 18, 1943
Heavy fighting continues at Melitopol as Soviet forces drive into the center of the town.

October 23, 1943
After 10 days of heavy street fighting, Soviet forces take Melitopol. Dnepropetrovsk also falls as tank spearheads reach Krivoi Rog.

The historical background of the period is now complete, certainly to my satisfaction.

Then, after exchanging a few emails, another Feldgrau member agrees, for a reasonable fee, to go to NARA in Virginia and try to locate Franz Kecht’s personal file and get copies for me. The full file was not found, however, he did obtain 20+ photocopies of material that I can only describe as incredibly exciting. I will share a few pages here, including, the first telegram from the division HQ to the OKW announcing the “heroe’s death” of Knights Cross holder Frank Kecht, internal letters and memoranda from the division to the personnel dept of the Heer complaining that Kecht’s widow and three children could not possibly survive on the current pension, memorandum signed by Generaloberst Hollidtz, commander or Army Group South, OK’ing a bigger pension, and letters to his mother and widow. I am more excited than words can describe

First, the initial telegram from the 111st Inf Div to the OKH announcing the “Hero’s death” (heldentod” of Ritterkreuztrager Frank Kecht



Second the clip from Berlin newspaper telling the story of the battle and actions that earned Kecht the RK, as well as bringing about his death: Kecht led 150 grenadiers in battle over a “controlling height” against TWO soviet divisions…8 consecutive times the Soviets took the hill and were pushed back again. On one of these fights Kecht was mortally wounded. For these actions he received the Knights Cross..



Third internal memo of the Oberkommando des Heers personnel dept, discussing the investigation carried out by fellow officers on the condition of Kecht’s widow and three children: Interestingly the troop of Kecht’s Regiment is here acting as advocates of this family, complaining of slow moving bureaucracy etc.



Next, internal army memo, from HQ of Army Group South, OK’ing the pension, signed by Generaloberst Hollidtz himself!



Last from this selection is the letter to Gertrud, Frank’s widow




Last of all, although they had ignored me this time, Martin Schuster managed to get a one page letter from the Bundesarchiv with a summary of Kecht’s career. The contrast between whats available from the US and German archives is, in this case at least, amazing.



Next step? Try to find one of the surviving children ….. to be continued

Interesting signed photo of Generaloberst Karl Adolf Hollidt, Oberbefehlshaber (commander in chief) VI Army, compare signature on photo and on document above

111 Infanterie Division War Service (from Feldgrau.com)

Gustavo, Congratulations on a amazing research
project. It just goes to show, that there is still a lot of info out there is one has the desire to dig it out. -Wagner-

Are the documents/medals yours as well.

I LOVE researching this stuff and am now less focused on acquiring a collection as opposed to researching a collection.

Anyone can buy this stuff, far fewer can actually tell you about it.

FKnorr, the medals grouping is not mine, unfortunately, just the dagger. The grouping was auctioned separately in the same aution, and Robert bought only the dagger. I agree with you, the research is just fascinating...and thanks to the internet results can be obtained reasonably quickly if you are persistent and know where to look

Gustavo, gratulations for your great research and it is nice to see someone is really interested in this hobby.

That is outstanding Gustavo! I agree with Robert that it is really great to see someone is so into the hobby and the history! Can't give you enough praise, your efforts are great. JohnJ

There were many corageous men fighting in and around Melitopol in October 1943, most of them believing equally in the rightness of their cause.

In the course of my research into Kecht, I came across the story of another young first leutnenant, also a Batallion commander (as a first leutenant!), who was also mortally wounded in the fight for Melitopol, Ukraine, and who also received his country's highest military award for valor. His name, first leutenant Irbaikhan Adelkhanovich Beibulatov, a young Chechnian officer serving with the Soviet 4th Ukranian Front. He died fighting for the freedom of his country. Did Kecht and Beibulatov face each other in battle in the fierce fighting of those days?




The story of Irbaikhan, from http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=eng§ion=fwareng&row=14

Born 1912 in the village of Osman-Yurt to a peasant family. In 1935, took up a teaching position in the village school after finishing a teaching college in Grozny. After a few more years, rose to Headmaster. In 1941, joined the Soviet Red Army to fight the invading Nazis, together with all three of his male siblings.He later remembered how their elderly mother told them to come back victorious or die rather than surrender or desert the ranks.In the summer of 1942, the 690th Rifle Regiment where Lieutenant Beibulatov led a platoon of machine-gunners got engaged in heavy fighting for the town of Zimovniki in the southern Russian region of Rostov. Beibulatov's men used smoke and havoc from fierce nighttime exchanges of artillery fire (the Soviet side fired dozens of big-caliber mortars and Katyusha multiple rocket launchers) to clear passages in barbed wire and secretly place their Maxim guns within metres of enemy lines around a vantage hilltop.

In a battle the following morning, they easily neutralized all Nazi firing positions in the vicinity. Beibulatov took part in a subsequent running assault, using his ancestral Caucasus dagger to stab a huge red-haired German soldier who attempted to bayonet the regimental commissar. The hilltop fell to the attackers and for a number of days after that, served Beibulatov's gunners a vantage point from which to control the surrounding terrain.In a later battle near the rail station of Chir closer to the river Don, Beibulatov's platoon masterfully used its big-caliber machine-guns to hit enemy tanks and mow down enemy infantry after cutting it off from the protection of armour.In January 1943, his machine-gunners wrecked an attempt by thousands of German troops to break out of a Soviet stranglehold around the village of Proletarskaya on the River Manych. Beibulatov himself was badly wounded in the battle and even mistakenly given up for dead. His mother received an official notification of his supposed death. Later, however, he turned up an army hospital and told his mother in a letter to her that he had received the Order of Battle Red Banner for his role in the operation near Proletarskaya.

Once back in his regiment -- already near the town of Melitopol in the region of Zaporozhye in Ukraine -- Beibulatov got promoted to First Lieutenant and received a rifle battalion to his command. His battalion knocked out 7 Nazi tanks and eliminated up to 10 hundred Nazi soldiers in days of ferocious street fighting to liberate Melitopol. Irbaikhan Beibulatov fell in that battle.On the 1st of November 1943, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR posthumously made him Hero of the Soviet Union...

Time Magazine, Nov 1st 1943

"TRIUMPH ON THE DNIEPR"

In Berlin, the Wehrmacht's spokesman addressed the correspondents: "I am sorry I have to announce a Russian breakthrough on the German front..."

"...Melitopol. Two weeks ago another force, under rotund and brilliant Colonel General Fedor Tolbukhin, increased pressure on Melitopol. Himself a veteran of Stalingrad, Tolbukhin had under him many a Stalingrad veteran—tough and fire-tested. To these men, fate seemed kind, for in Melitopol there were Germans they hated most: units of the Sixth Army, destroyed at Stalingrad and now resurrected with new blood; the Seventeenth Army, responsible for atrocities in the Caucasus.

The Germans fought well. Ordered to hold the city and its suburbs at any cost, they sprinkled the fields with pillboxes, fortified every house, battled with bayonets, knives, trench shovels. A blinding dust storm raged over the city. Sweating and cursing, the men fought and died by the thousands in hand combat, in shattered buildings, in tanks and self-propelled guns set afire by "Molotov ****tails."

Last week, on the eleventh day of the siege, Melitopol fell. Said Moscow's Izvestia: "Not one live German remains in the town. The dead ones can be counted by the thousands." Before the city fell, Hitler reportedly trebled each officer's pay, gave each soldier the Iron Cross. Stalin made the bravest of the victors Heroes of the Soviet Union.

I hope you understand that you are getting me to like named items again

Congatulations Gustavo! Excellent work and very very interesting. A read well worth the time to any interested collector/ww2 historian.

Just bought this original period aerial photo map of Melitopol, produced by the Generalstab of the Heer in 1941 and highlighting targets for bombardment such as kaserne (army barracks), bahnhoff (rail station) etc. I hope to identify here some locations mentioned by 111 ID historian Musculus in connection with the battle for the retake of the city by the Soviets in Oct 1943

That's an incredible research project that you've accomplished.
I'm very much impressed and like Bob said, you also getting me interested into named daggers.
It is very rare to be able to actually find the exact provenance of a dagger.

"Félicitation, trés belle trouvaille !"

Hallo guys !
I must say that this is amazing story, but there is one thing that is starting to buder me more and more latly !
I am also a german 2.WW colector ( specialy german daggers, swords and bayonets ), but i am not satisfaied hove we all have get ouer colection items ( moust of as ) ! I noticed that
that herman ofizer have left wife and 3 children after his dead ! Who seal his medals, his dagger, his history, dont tell me that it was sold by his family members 1 I am almoust sure that after the 2.ww it was taken ( like almoust all beoutiful german daggers and other german militarija that we colect ) by american solders, who make greath profit sealing to colectors as we are ! What abouth the german familys who acualy belong this items, how woud they get their memorys on their loveones back !
There shoud be some law, abouth all items with nown history to be returned to their lawfull owners or the family members that are steal alive ! I woud be the first one, that woud be glad to return the items or buy them from the real owner !
I am sick of hearing how some rely praisles items have bean sold by vets !
The things that hapend in Germany after the 2.ww, was pure and simple robbery, just like what hapend in Egipt some 100 years ago !

That is my opinion !

Matthias Fritz

Hallo Matthias, I appreciate what youre saying. I think you are right in some instances. Having said that...

1. Every victorious nation since Roman times has taken the "spoils of war", beautiful simbols of the banquished enemy. In the case the US, British forces etc, upon their arrival in Germany they required all surrendering German forces to give up certain items sush as all weapons, cameras, etc. Such is life.

2. Many german vet families DO in fact sell the items as soon as they realize how much they are worth. I can tell you several stories, e.g. daughter in law of a Heer Captain who has been selling 500+ photos on eBay and is now selling me his medals. These folks are one generation away from the original owners and events and often feel little attachment it seems to me. This lady paid for a nice family vacation in Lanzarote this way ;-)

3. Also, nazi aggression brought such pain and destruction to Europe and Germany that people simply want to put all this behind them. The families of my named daggers etc I have managed to contact have helped me to some extent, but one definitely gets the feeling this is not something they want to revisit.

Lastly, having said all that, Im glad that GIs, having liberated Europe, also loved these items...largely thanks to them we can have a great hobby :-)

Gustavo mentionned that he acquired this dagger from Robert Hassler, who himself got it from an auction house.

I know Robert is German, and I suspect he got the dagger from a German auction house such has Hermann Historica or Berliner Auktionhaus. If this is the case, there is a good chance that the lot was sold by the family of the officer.

If this is true, I would say this dagger is in better hands with Gustavo than with the original owner's family.

Doing that much research on a piece is a way of paying tribute to the original owner.

Just my humble opinion of course.

I must say that muybe i yump the concluzion a little bit ! As a colector i notise, that all realy the best nazi items are often ofer for seal in USA and only very small portion can be found in Evropa ! But you are wrigt Gustavo, the germans dont realy like to took abouth the 2.ww, but it is yust sead if you think how some german vet see his medal, dagger or yust some item he own during the war for seal in some foren military shop ! Ok that woud be dificult since they are not realy compyuter freaks but anyway i feal sory for them as they have bean left withaut their weal earnd medals and rings for example, for which we are paying big bucks in this days !
But you are right, we adlist gave them onher with colecting and toking abouth their items and their past and that is the way that they are becoming part of history itself !

That is my apinion !


Matthias Fritz

Hi Gustavo,Thanks for your time and effort.NICE Dagger!!Dutchman.

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