Sturm-bataillon ....

[JimZ]

No... Robin is on the right trail though. I wish I could tell, but I am sworn to silence...

Gonna dig out my Monty Python cd's......

Jim

[Ulsterman]

Could it have been . . .

Yup-true-read Toland's biography.

[Steve K.]

Flamethrower unit..... nah too mundane! .....maybe an Imperial Frogman group.....

ahh...gotta be an early Skydiving unit (so few volunteers)!

[Les]

Holy grail of fighting EKs? How many crosses did Hitler give away in his time? One to Geli, one to Eva, one to...

Lufti....

Vielleicht Blondi??????? Don't forget the fondness a boy/man has for his dog.

Les

[PKeating]

The officer who recommended the EK1 for AH was Leutnant Hugo Gutmann. Check out this webpage for some interesting information: http://holocaust-info.dk/shm/2_uk.htm. It gives some interesting information although, being somewhat partisan in nature, seeks to downplay Hitler's entitlement to the EK1.

Hugo Gutmann was Hitler's immediate superior officer from January 29 to August 31, 1918. His military papers have been preserved, and they tell that he was born on November 19, 1880 in Nuremberg as the son of the shop-keeper Salomon Gutmann and his wife Emma. He himself stated his religion as Jewish. In 1902 he volunteered for the army and was appointed non-commissioned officer, before he in 1904 was transferred to the reserve. At the outbreak of war in 1914 Hugo Gutmann was called up and soon after he was transferred to Regiment List. On April 15, 1915, he was promoted to lieutenant, and after that he acted as adjudant for the regiment's artillery battalion. On the same day as Hitler received his Iron Cross, the regimental commander, Freiherr von Tubeuf, wrote a recommendation on Gutmann which shows his energy as a front officer. Gutmann was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class on December 2, 1914 - incidentally the same day as Hitler - and the Iron Cross 1st class on December 4, 1915.

Hugo Gutmann was still unmarried when, at the age of 38, he was demobilized on February 8, 1919. He married the year after and his wife later bore two children. Late in 1933 he asked the Bavarian War Archives for a copy of his military papers - probably in order to take advantage of President Hindenburg's stubborn defence of the civil rights of the Jewish war veterans. Hugo Gutmann at that time owned an office-furniture shop in Vordere Steingasse 3 in Nuremberg. Together with his family he escaped in 1939 to Belgium, and in 1940 he came to the United States, where he changed his name to Henry G. Grant. According to the historian Werner Maser, he received - by Hitler's intervention - a pension from the Third Reich down to the end of the war.

PK

Edited December 10, 2006 by PKeating

[Daniel Murphy]

Chris,

This had better be very good, for I am defending my title as Protector of the Grail. I am not really in competition with you, we just like the same things.

Edited December 12, 2006 by Daniel Murphy

[PKeating]

That's one of the most amazing EK documents I have ever seen.

PK

[JimZ]

Still waiting Curious picture of Hitler and the Pope.....

.... made me wonder what the current Pope Razzinger would have looked like in German Flak uniform prior to his desertion and capture by allied forces during the war.

Now that indeed would be a holy grail indeed!

Jim

Edited December 12, 2006 by jimzammit

[Luftmensch]

Here ya go...with offensive symbols trimmed by the wire service...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/19/...ain689498.shtml

[PKeating]

I was amused by the assertion that Panzerpope was forced to join the HJ. Rubbish! Nobody was forced to join. People were not even pressurised. One volunteered because one wished to be in the Hitlerjugend. Oh well, the Vatican has a safe pair of hands at the helm: contraceptives remain illegal.

PK

[Luftmensch]

I just learned there still is a Holy Office of the Inquisition!

Rgds

Col-lapsed Catholic

[JimZ]

Here ya go...with offensive symbols trimmed by the wire service...

Wow - Thanks Lufthmench!!! That made my day!!! See.....I am so easy to please

Jim

PS - Wonder if the Holy Office of the Inquisition also have a website nowadays....... ! I know this is but hey....gotta keep occupied till Chris reveals his Holy Grail to us

[Luftmensch]

Here ya go...

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congrega...4071997_en.html

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_...ne_of_the_Faith

I almost @#$% myself when I noticed someone reading this thread named VATICAN...then I looked again and he was called VATIAN...

[Chris Boonzaier]

OK.... Dans was really, really nice......

But here we go..... EK1 to an officer of Sturmbataillon Nr. 5 "Rohr" with a special print for the unit and a real "Rohr" signature.....

Anyone want to advance on that :-)))))))))))

[Chris Boonzaier]

I think this must be THE elite unit of the war from the german side.... maybe partially because of their fame but also for their time in Verdun.

[Chip]

Chris,

I know they often worked together with Rohr, but what about the Garde=Res.=Pionier=Rgt.? Maybe sort of one dimensional, but without question amongst the most elite units. They certainly found favor with the crown prince. But alas, I have seen no Schmuck award documents for them....unless, of course, you have one.

Chip

[Ralph A]

That was worth the wait.

Really.

[joe campbell]

lovely!

lovely!

lovely!

glad this one found such a good home!

joe

[Rick Research]

Ow! ow! My EYES! I can't take in the amazing multi-chromatic excess!!!!

OK, so what else you have on Lt dR Alwin Zirkler? I find nawtheeng.

[Chip]

Chris,

Is this a new one for you? I could swear I have seen it or one like it before on another forum. Could it be the same one or are there two?

Chip

[Naxos]

My guess: Hauptmann Willy Rohr, Sturmbataillon 5 (Rohr)

How close was that for a guess?

Whatever happened to Willy Rohr after 1918 - did he serve in the Reichswehr and later in the Wehrmacht? If so, what unit?

By the way that is a great EK document Chris

Regards, Hardy

Edited December 30, 2006 by Naxos

[Chris Boonzaier]

Chris,

Is this a new one for you? I could swear I have seen it or one like it before on another forum. Could it be the same one or are there two?

Chip

I think just one... a fast thinking copper pointed me towards the Auction... it was to end 3 weeks before I would be back from holiday... so no chance.

i did a dirty and contacted the seller to pull it and sell it to me for a wad of cash.... dirty move, but I would have knifed half the denizens of the average militaria show in a back alley to get this.... so me be OK with my bad conscience ;-)

Maybe someone had copied a pic from the auction to another place to ask a question.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Ow! ow! My EYES! I can't take in the amazing multi-chromatic excess!!!!

OK, so what else you have on Lt dR Alwin Zirkler? I find nawtheeng.

Googling him shows him as a post was Dr. writing articles about history and industry in the Saarland. The seller lived in the Saarland as well....

[Chris Boonzaier]

....unless, of course, you have one.

Chip

more by coincidence than by design.... I only realised it when I had it....

[Robin Lumsden]

... a fast thinking copper pointed me towards the Auction...

Chris.

The copper in you avatar is faster thinking!