Ummm... nope... that is wrong... I live in Germany... we all live with the consequences I had a helmet sent to NZ, took 6 months... apparently it gets pooled in asia somewhere before being forwarded.... and this was WAAAAY before covid. With Covid, to the USA ond overseas, due to the fact there are way fewer planes, the German postoffice offers premium airmail, or regular... premium costs eur100 and is basically the same service that regular was for EUR40 before covid... regular now goes by ship.

Just weeks ! You're lucky! I had medals mailed to me from Europe (to New Zealand), usually 2 -3 weeks. They arrived last month - mailed in March 2020!!!!!! No explanation but according to NZ Post arrived in country just days before local delivery. So much for "tracking" - European website went unchanged from time leaving the local Post Office!!! G.

This isn't really a fair point to make. Many Brits did not want to leave or people were expecting their government to negotiate a smooth transition. Like me in the USA I do not always agree with who is in power and so you can't really "blame" me for other Americans voting against my (or our) best interest. There is nothing wrong with being annoyed that suddenly mail takes 5 times as long...

No point in complaining - you English wanted to leave, now live with the consequences.

Yes that will be the issue, has to have a customs declaration now from UK to EU so if it was missing will either get seized or if lucky sent back.

for what it's worth, i don't think the problem is solely relegated to the UK or to national post offices. i'm still waiting for something from kuenker that was sent to the US on december 10th via DHL. it hasn't even made it to the US yet! ....investigation was recently begun, which takes 3 or 4 weeks....😟

I dunno, usually they would not check the contents... I am just wondering if somewhere out there there is a huge number of containers filled with mail.... the one that did make it through actually had a customs label on it from the book shop... maybe the customs pulls out anything missing the label?

International mail is slower to arrive in the UK it seems at the moment. I bought a low value item from the US and it took weeks to arrive (no VAT or customs charges due) but it was sent by USPS which is expensive and slow. Depends how things are posted. You are better off using a fast parcel service like UPS or Fedex for expensive items other than the post, more reliable and VAT and customs can be pre arranged. People importing stuff to the UK are getting caught out by VAT and customs charges on EU goods. I am surprised you have had issues with a magazine though, as that is not re

I have ordered the same issue of the IC Magazine and it came through without any troubles. It took roughly two weeks. So all went well. I am thinking of buying an expensive book from 18xx, besides the price I am not sure about shipping and customs, so I hesitate to order it, because if something went wrong with that it would be embarrsing and costly!

Without going into discussions about the pros and cons of Brexit.... I finally received a copy of Issue 7 today... third time lucky. Twice Magazines were sent from England and never made it, then I ordered one from Scotland and it made it through customs... Anyone else have similar problems with items from the UK? or in the other direction?

Great story, thanks for sharing it with us!

Still looks quite good actually, those things are robust. Thanks for sharing!

Rusted, Frame around the iron core loose, and Ring broken off. I have it in riker box mounted on wall with rest of his items...

Now I am curious how an EK looks, that was carried around in a pocket for a whole life...

Good point. I know my Great Grandfather highly prized his EKII so much he carried in his pocket his entire life until he died in the US in 1960. The story was almost legendary throughout my extended family how “Grandpa” had an Iron Cross from WWI. I was lucky enough to have it given to me after I returned from my first tour in Iraq in 2005 when it just popped up. I have seen a lot of interesting photos of guys in the paramilitary groups who just had the Hindenburg Cross; I wonder how they felt when they saw a guy to their left or right with that extra little EKII or similar state

Some fantastic ones there! there are 3 stages or award doc periods... Initially they were going to hand out Documents like the 1870 ones after the war so there was no official order for documents ... Only in the 1st months of 1916 came the order to award preliminary documents... (although many units were already doing that).. then in the last month or so of the war the Kaiser decreed that whatever paper the soldier had at that moment, (Ausweis, Besitzzeugnis etc) would be his official one. I think by 1918 some units had realized that and were giving out the sexy stuff... like the Alpenkorps do

One more thing that came into my mind this weekend. There so many different award documents for the EK2 and EK1 out there, some very impressive and beautyfull made by artists who served in their regiments who designed them. You can find these documents here: Award1, Award2, Award3, Award4 and Award5 As said, there are even award certificates from 1918 designed that beautyfull, so this again speeks against a cheapening of the iron cross.

It is not only your Musikmeister Chris, just think of the many people (over 400.000) requests after WW! to got an EK2 awarded. Would so many people try to get an order for a lost war, if it was devalued that much? I doubt it.

🙂 ... IMHO forums thrive on discussion.... Makes logging on all the more worthwhile.

Agreed.... there will always be grumpy men and there will always be a few cheats. But most will be honorable and it feels somewhat shameful to "devalue" an award when so many gave it all. But I do understand a flip side when people receive a medal or order for subpar deeds or for simply doing a regular job or for something they simply enjoy (think of sports or music). But I have really enjoyed reading your view and how others respond to it... so again Thanks

People like to grumble... soldiers more than most 😉 .. same as the one officer who was awarded the VC for the Falklands, who was KIA.... Used to be a lot of debate as to whether he deserved it or not... same goes for many awards in Vietnam, especially to officers who, as detractors say, awarded each other medals...

Thank you Chris. I would assume most would have been very proud to receive an EK and knowing how miserable WWI was I can only imagine that most who received it deserved it many times over.

Well... there is an example I particularly like... In the Wernitz Book. He uses a Musikmeister as an example of the cheapening of the Iron Cross 1st class... along the lines of "even a Musikmeister could get one!" ... and there is a photo of the guy proudly wearing the EK... but if you look the Musikmeister up in the Bavarian archives... he may be wearing it in the photo... but he was never awarded one... Interestingly enough, there is also a slip of paper where someone checked his records in the 30s... confirming he never got one... so the example of how cheapened the cross was turns into an

After reading all the various opinions above with huge interest I wonder how the recipients of the various Iron Crosses would have felt themselves.

Hi Cents, I have ordered my printed copy of the magazine only to read the article from Chris. I do think that he made good points in it. Yes we all know that things have changed in WWI. First months we had the Germans on the march and very offensive acting. So the IC was awarded for actions of bravery like the same actions that soldiers could get it in 1870 / 71. After the war changed to a static trench war people got awarded for defensive actions and as well as cumulation of small bravery deeds. So after some time the avarage soldier could get his IC even he wasn't acting a heroic deed.