Chris Boonzaier

That is very possible, I had not thought of that.... They did not have a Mauser Bolt, it was based on mannlicher... and i assume the rifle grenades were made with the Mauser in mind....

Here is a question... these date from about 1915.... at that time the Gewehr 98 was a treasured weapon, in fact, units transfering to the Eastern front would sometimes leave them in the West and get G88 in the East.... I have also read that rifle grenades damaged the rifles, I think the british wrapped wire arounf rifles used to fire grenades, and these rifles were no longer used as regular shooters... We always see modern photos of the Schießgestell with G98.... would it not have been logical back then to shoot rifle grenades with G88 and save a "good" rifle?

Having stupidly traded the pictured gloves away some years ago.... I am now on the lookout for a "classic" pair.... what should I look for?

Hi, By chance at a show I found a selection of buttons, including a smaller shoulder board one and 4 nice ones for the cuffs. The Tailor has closed up the seems, I will use the boards as slip on boards... Almost there.... I hope to get up to the cemetary in Berlin some time soon and take the jacket for a visit.

Picked this up on the bay... not bad at all....

Another one....

Wounded in the head, breast, left arm and left leg at Verdun... Have not been able to find mentions of the unit and where they were....

Militärpass....

Soldbuch....

Probably one of the few Fortress Machine Gun units that was not disbanded....

Just recieved this nice little group.....

I think the "Big Battles" may be targeted, but the makers must not fall into the trap of "We are going to make a movie about a section that gets wiped out...." and then do some superficial introductions where we cannot tell one guy from the next, then a loooooong battle scene in which they die one by one, but we dont care because they were shallow characters anyway.... And there is no harm in saying "Screw History, i am here to make a film!!" Noone fact checked the Dirty Dozen, or Kellys heroes.... Maybe they should lighten up and give some entertainment....

Indeed... but Hollywood needs to get in at the beginning, i.e. 2014... by 2017 the interest will probably have died down somewhat. I hope they dont start on films with a "love interest" angle, or just a wall to wall battle scene.... A bit of a story is needed... Something like Gallipoli did....

Indeed... that small the world is ;-) I am guessing he must have somehow made it into the 73rd? The mention in the Jünger book could arguably be refering to two officers he knew, but were not in his unit, but if Bernhard has found them in the regimental history it seems to confirm he was there, if even for a short while...

Hi, He was in the RIR78 and Füsilier Regiment 73 Ernst Jünger mentions him in the chapter "Return to Flanders" in Storm of Steel Mein Rückweg wurde durch unangenehmes, nach faulen Äpfeln riechendes Reizgas englischer Granaten, das sich im Boden festgesogen hatte und die Augen tränen machte, erschwert. Gleich darauf sollte ich einen schmerzlicheren Grund zum Vergießen von Tränen bekommen. Nachdem ich im Gefechtsstande meine Meldung erstattet hatte, begegnete ich kurz vorm Verbandsplatze Kalve den Bahren zweier befreundeter, schwer verwundeter Offiziere. Der eine war Leutnant Zürn, den wir zwei Abende zuvor in fröhlichem Kreise gefeiert hatten. Jetzt lag er, halb entkleidet, mit jener wachsgelben Gesichtsfarbe, die ein sicheres Vorzeichen des Todes ist, auf einer losgerissenen Tür und sah mich mit stieren Augen an, als ich herantrat, um ihm die Hand zu drücken. Dem anderen, Leutnant Haverkamp, waren Arm- und Beinknochen durch Granatsplitter so zerschmettert, daß eine Amputation sehr wahrscheinlich war. Er lag totenblaß mit in Fatalismus versteinerten Zügen auf seiner Bahre und rauchte eine Zigarette. Wir hatten in diesen Tagen wieder erschreckende Verluste an jungen Offizieren aufzuweisen. Jedesmal, wenn ich heute das abfällige Urteil der Masse über den Kriegsleutnant höre, muß ich an diese Männer denken, die den alten Preußengeist von Pflicht und Ehre, den Geist von Kolin, hinaustrugen in Blut und Schlamm, aufrecht bis zum bitteren Ende.

That is a unusual item indeed... what did the police need the mail visor for?

Sorry, my bad, topic title edited... it is a BICO logo....

You sure its a Regiment and not Battalion?

Hi, Does anyone know which Company he served in? Or if he is mentioned in the Unit History? Thanks Chris

We often complain about Hollywood rewriting History to make their stories more interesting... but that is normal... they are in the Money business... not the history business. If France made another WW1 Movie it would have a strong French theme, The Australians made "gallipoli" not a movie about South Africans on the Somme... each movie industry knows who its target audience is.... So... Spielberg needs to find an American angle...... how about this one.... On this day in 1916 (August 31), Harry Butters, an American soldier serving in the British army during World War I, is killed by a German shell during the Battle of the Somme, while fighting to secure the town of Guillemont, France. The son of a prominent San Francisco industrialist, Butters was raised partially in England and schooled there at Beaumont College, a Jesuit academy in Old Windsor. He later attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, before inheriting his father’s fortune upon the latter’s death in 1906 and moving back to California, where he worked briefly for Standard Oil and purchased his own ranch. When World War I broke out in the summer of 1914, Butters rallied to the Allied cause and decided to join the British army. Through his old school connections in England, he received a commission in the Royal Artillery, 24th Division, 107th Brigade in April 1915. In September, Butters traveled to France with his comrades, where he took part in the ill-executed British attack during the Battle of Loos later that month. "I find myself a soldier among millions of others in the great allied armies fighting for all I believe right and civilized and humane against a power which is evil and threatens the existence of all the rights we prize and the freedom we enjoy," Butters wrote home on October 5, 1915, describing his experiences on the battlefield at Loos. "It may seem to you that for me this is all quite uncalled for, that it can only mean either the supreme sacrifice for nothing or at best some of the best years of my life wasted; but I tell you that I am not only willing to give my life to this enterprise (for that is comparatively easy except when I think of you), but that I firmly believe—if I live through it to spend a useful lifetime with you—that never will I have the opportunity to gain so much honorable advancement for my own soul, or to do so much for the cause of the world's progress, as I am here daily...I think less of myself than I did, less of the heights of personal success I aspired to climb, and more of the service that each of us must render in payment for the right to live and by virtue of which only we can progress." Butters was on the front lines near the Belgian village of Ploegsteert in April 1916 when he met Winston Churchill; Churchill was serving as a battalion commander on the Western Front after leaving the British Admiralty in the wake of the disastrous Allied operations on the Gallipoli Peninsula the previous year. Impressed by the young American volunteering in service to England—"I just lied to ‘em and said I was British born," Butters told Churchill, explaining his commission in the Royal Artillery—Churchill invited Butters to dine with him in his bunker, where the two men ate and drank champagne on the evening of April 11. After suffering from shell shock—the newly diagnosed psychological trauma of battle—Butters was sent on leave in June. Although Churchill, then back in London, urged Butters to take his time before returning to service, he went back to the Western Front on July 2, one day after the Allies launched the epic Battle of the Somme. On August 31, 1916, Butters and his unit were at the Somme, firing on Trones Woods, outside Guillemont, when his gun received a direct German hit during a massive barrage; he and all the members of his battery were killed. "I don’t exaggerate when I say nearly 100,000 shells dropped that day in an area of about 800 square yards," wrote Reverend A. Caseby in his diary entry recounting Butters’ death. Butters was buried in the Commonwealth Graves Commission Cemetery at Meulte, a little village south of Albert, France. In accordance with a request he made in late August to a British chaplain, his gravestone reads simply "An American Citizen." Churchill himself wrote a memorial to Butters in the London Observer: "He had seen much service on the front line, including the battle of Loos, and came through unscathed until in June last a bouquet of shells destroyed his observation post and stunned him. He could be induced to take only a week's rest before he was back at the front, disdainful as ever of the continual threats of death. And thus, quite simply, he met his fate. He was one of the brightest, cheeriest boys I have ever known, and always the life and soul of the mess. We realize his nobility in coming to the help of another country entirely of his own free will, and understand what a big heart he had."

I wonder if he is a "one trick pony" (Sorry !) or if he can do other stuff as well?

We have all nationalities here on the forum, British, German, American, Italian, French etc. etc.... 100 Years ago relatives of many members were getting rifles ready to go and do battle... I am sure they had no thought that 100 years later their relatives would be on the internet comparing medals and helmets.... How about showing items you have that are directly related to yout Family? The Great Grandads Trio, the wifes Grandfather Gasmask.... I would be very curious to see what you have....

Luckily there is a very standard 4th Ersatz Division EK document... without those the stamp is worth little as far as faking goes ;-)

Hi, I have a couple of Militärpass where there are combat entries for the Feldrekrutendepot. Not all soldiers there were combat virgins. Sometimes the Divisional Sturmkompagnies seem to be detached en block from a Regiment, but I think it durchaus possible that Instructors or combat experienced men attached to the Feldrekrutendepot were also attached to the Divisions Sturmkompagnie, they more than anyone were better trained than average, and also needed to be experianced in the latest tactics. I agree it much more likely that he was from a regiment, but would not exclude that he may be from the training group.

Hi, It is also possible that he was part of the Feldrekruten Komp of the Division