Germany, Heer. A Pair of Award Documents to Generalmajor Johannes Hochbaum, Commander in Occupied Franc

(Heer Verleihungsurkunden). A pair of award documents to Generalmajor Johannes Hochbaum, including:

1. One for a War Merit Cross II Class with Swords, named to Hochbaum as an Oberst, awarded in Paris on 1 September 1941, certified by the handwritten signature of General Otto von Stülpnagel in his capacity as Militärbefehlshaber (Military Governor) of France, measuring 21 cm (w) x 31 cm (h), demonstrating minor creasing, in extremely fine condition. 

2. One for a War Merit Cross I Class with Swords, named to Hochbaum as a Generalmajor, issued from headquarters of the Supreme Command of the Army on 1 September 1942, certified by the handwritten signature of General Bodewin Keitel (German Cross in Silver, 2 October 1942), measuring 15 cm (w) x 21 cm (h), demonstrating minor creasing, in extremely fine condition.

3. A studio portrait depicting Hochbaum, seated in the uniform of a Heer General and with an array of decorations clearly visible, the reverse in postcard format and bearing a partially-legible Goslar studio mark, printed on Voigtläder postcard paper, measuring 8 cm (w) x 12 cm (h), in extremely fine condition.

Footnote: Johannes Theodor Albert Hochbaum was born on 26 December 1877 in Eisleben, Germany. He entered service with the Prussian Army on 24 March 1898 as a cadet with Infanterie-Regiment „Fürst Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau“ (1. Magdeburgisches) Nr. 26 and was rapidly through the ranks, being promoted to Leutnant in August 1899. After furthering his education at the Prussian Staff College, Hochbaum saw extensive service during the First World War, primarily with Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 26, with which he participated in the invasion of Belgium. He transferred to railway directorate duties on both the Western and Eastern Front, before shifting to a post with the Ottoman General Staff in Constantinople (Istanbul). He received numerous awards for his service, including both classes of the 1914 Iron Cross, a Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, a Black Grade Wound Badge, a Hamburg Hanseatic Cross, an Austrian Military Merit Cross, a Franz Joseph Order, and an Ottoman War Medal, among other distinctions.

After the war, Hochbaum served with Freikorps Görlitz, and subsequently resumed his military career with the Reichswehr, where he held a number of minor commands and was promoted to Oberst on 1 February 1931. Discharged from service the following month, Hochbaum was recalled on the eve of the Second World War, and made available for Wehrmacht service on 26 August 1939. He held a command position in occupied Paris, and was promoted to Generalmajor on 1 March 1942. His mobilization order was subsequently lifted on 31 August 1943, and Hochbaum finally concluded his military career, and retired to private life, dying on 15 April 1952 in Hamburg.