Naxos

Here is a detail from a postcard of the II.Bataillon IR169 - The card was written by my Grandfather in April 1917, but he picture probably was taken the previous summer.

TS, I tried to get pictures of members of the Baden IR169 around 1917 here is a Baden Infantry man, the picture is taken on July 3, 1917

shoulder board of the Baden Infanterie Regiment 169

another postcard: Sturmtruppen

Here is a pic of Sturmkompanie training in the Winter 1917 - Rombachs raides wore puttees instead of jack boots - no bayonets and no water bottles, only the pistol holster on the belt belt. They carried cotton bags over their shoulders with hand grenades in them. (see on picture)

The Raid December 14, 1917 it is 0200 hours ? the Sturmtrupp members are awoken. An Unteroffizier walks from bunk to bunk and whispering to each Raider ?Aufstehen, es ist Zeit!? (?Get up, it is time?). No word is spoken amogst the men, quietly they move into the tunnel. Ammunition is handed out. Everyone is given sip of schnaps to warm up. Interesting to mention here is that the machine gun teams of the raid are using captured French machine guns because of their higher rate of fire. From the tunnel the seventy-one men crawl out into their start positions. The sappers (Pioniere) move carefully long boards, with the explosive loads attached, into the enemy wire obstacles and after lighting the fuses find cover at the bottom of a crater. At 0635 hours the Artillery barrage opens up. It lasts for two minutes. At 0637 the men get up and run through the openings the sappers created in the enemy wire. Not all the obstacles were cleared and valuable time is lost as the sappers try again to blast a passage. Finally the raiders jump into the French trench and begin to ?roll it up?. The French defenders move back firing their automatic guns. At about 50 meters east of point 74, the French coming from point 77 unite with other comrades and pull a wire obstacle and Spanish riders across the trench ? a wild hand grenade fight ensues. In the cover the smoke from the exploding hand grenades the sappers blast a wire obstacle for the third time. The French resistance breaks and the defenders take flight over the open crater field past point 79 in direction of point 190 ? they run strait into the fire of the covering machine guns. The rest of the French defenders seek shelter in a dugout and fire wildly to the entrance from the bottom of the stairs. Leutnant Trefz the leader of Stosstrupp 1 is yelling into the dugout: ? Venez a? haut ? Rendez-vous!? Either he is not heard or the defenders are not willing to surrender. Now the raiders could use the Flame throwers or Brandr?hren ? but only hand grenades are available. Trefz and his men roll the grenades down the stairs of the dugout. Cries are heard as the French try to run up the stairs, but no one makes it out as the entrance collapses under the detonations of the grenades. ?Nothing left here ? lets move on? Stosstrupp 1 moves towards point 207. ?Where is Stosstrupp 2?? Two men of Stosstrupp 4 come running across the field in direction of point 205, they report to Lt. Trefz that Stosstrupp 2 was completely taken out by the German artillery in the opening barrage. Two dead (one Feldwebel and one Unteroffizier) and the rest more or less severely wounded. Lt. Schwarz the leader of Stosstrupp 2 has splinter wounds but is able to return by himself to the German lines. Stosstrupp 4 is recovering the dead and wounded. Rombach orders Lt. Trefz not to proceed forward since the left flank is no longer covered. Stosstrupp 1 is now covering the flank for Stosstrupps 3 and 5. Stosstrupp 3, lead by Unteroffizier Kloh, unites with Stosstrupp 5 and together they proceed pursuing the enemy. To be continued?.

Fallschirmj?ger Feldwebel M-44 Strap Hardy

Troy, send Uwe (his member name is speedytop) a pm - he is the expert in sport badges Hardy

Deutsches Reichs-Sport-Abzeichen Troy, read this thread it is very informative http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=874&hl= Regards, Hardy

Troy, here are the numbers: http://users.swing.be/sw017995/pfl.htm Hardy

Apparently the 1870 IC has as a Pr?sidialkanzlei number as well here is the link to the old auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-German-Iron-Cr...5QQcmdZViewItem Hardy

Good find Bernie, have a look here: http://www.german-militaria.de/details/d17487.html Hardy

It is German - but not an award. It says: "Help for German Prisoners of War, 1915" nice medaille, never seen one like it before Regards, Hardy

No, I wish. A friend of my father gave it to me thirty-five years ago. I was twelve then and didn't ask many questions. Just read your link - very interesting. Hardy

How about a CCC with some combat damage:

very nice Leigh: to own a CCC is one thing, but to have the award document with it is very special. Hardy

here is a link were you can see the award document: http://www.german-militaria.de/details/d36965.html

Yes Troy, it's the correct description. German name is: DEUTSCHE EHRENDENKM?NZE DES WELTKRIEGES des Verbandes nationalgesinnter Soldaten Regards, Hardy

Thank you Rick! Hardy

Is this a Leutnant of a Seebataillon? Hardy

That design was still fabricated in the thirties Hardy

Bob, I sent you a PM Hardy

From the Regimental History of IR126 Trench Raid against the British bunker Mebu 509 code named "Sommerreise" On the Raid that took place near Hendecourt/Fontaine on the night of July 30/31, 1917, the raid party belonging to the W?rttemberg IR126 took along a Flammenwerfertrupp from the 10th company of the Garde=Pionier=Reserve=Regiment. The flamethrower crew did not engage the enemy in that raid. Source: Das 8. W?rttembergische Infanterie-Regiment Nr.126 "Grossherzog Friedrich von Baden" im Weltkrieg; Generalmajor a.D. Gl?ck; Stuttgart, 1929 Regards, Hardy

Bob, could this be a comrade of your father? The framed document is offered by a German dealer