A 1942 Wehrpaß To Karl Hugo; First War Air Observer & Iron Cross 1St Class Recipient

Measuring 105x147mm, near mint condition. It is dated to May 18, 1942.Footnote: Karl Hugo Wittneben was born in 1890 in Basbeck an der Oste (today part of Hemmoor, Lower Saxony). He was an engineer and married to Annemarie Wittneben. They lived in Hamburg.

Wittneben was first drafted in 1914 as part of the Uhlan Regiment 14. Between December 1914 and May 1917 Wittneben served in the Snow Shoe Battalion Munich, the predecessor of the Second World War Mountain units. Until the end of the war he was stationed at the Armeeflugpark 5. Wittneben was a Lieutenant of the Reserve at the end of the First World War.

He joined the Wehrmacht in 1934 as an army clerk. In 1935 he was promoted to Baurat (construction commissioner). Between 1936 and 1943 he worked for several Luftkreiskommandos (Aerial District Commands), first Münster, then Königsberg, Berlin, Braunschweig, Hannover, Naumburg, and finally Rostow. In 1940 he made Baudirektor (chief construction director). Wittneben received an Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class, and an Air Observer Badge during the First World War. In 1934 he received a Hindenburg Cross, a Wehrmacht Long Service Award in 1937, and a War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords in 1940.