Chris Boonzaier

That is indeed possible, or a Sturmbataillon, or one of the regiments in the Vogesen. The things that are tad unusual... The Carbine I have seldom seen with the 3 piece ammo pouches. The classic MG guy has a pistol and maybe binos but not ammo pouches and a carbine I am thinking that this is a MG hanger-on ... one of the guys who carries the ammo... OR... the short spade was also issued to other folks.

Aye... thats the thing... ok in real life, you can change it around.... but once it is on a photo... I once saw a General walking with the zipper on his trousers open.... as far as I know, noone said anything... I guess no one wanted to be the one walking up to him and saying "Mon General, if you do not close the cage door the little birdie will fly away!"

I meant if fresh recruits looked at a long serving NCO and saw the error ?

Yeah... imagine fresh recruits looking at that and sniggering to each other ... ?

It is a lot of fun scanning Ludwig III pics looking for him ?

Nice! there is a great uniform for the unit up for auction this month!

That is a nice knife indeed!!! It is hard to read, are the Binos unit marked?

Here is a write up about the man and his awards pics etc.... http://www.kaiserscross.com/69501/637001.html

Often, when there was a parade, the EK docs were changed to show the award had been handed out by the kaiser,,,

Agree... the swiss dudes who dream of fighting have to join foreign armies, possibly why they had such a large contingent when the French foreign legion was initially formed. I am actually surprised there were not more on the German side in WW2?

I agree... they have a craftsman feel about them, not a factory feel.

Looks like the guy assembling had a leatherman and a hangover??

used to be a fraction of that, but I think algorithms push prices high on some platforms

Maybe a machine Gunner, but he has a carbine and ammo pouches, but a machine gunners spade, leather reinforced breaches and mountain boots.... any guesses what he could be? Thanks, Chris

Some time ago I saw a more or less out of the woodwork Pickelhaube for sale which I thought was a Leibregiment Haube.... It was named to an officer named Steidle... and i only found a tiny number in the bavarian records... and seemingly only one who could have worn a silver one.... and not a Pionier, but a leiber!!!! Joe pointed out that this was prewar but he only became an officer late in the war, and Haube were recycled, there is indeed a possibility that this was his, but he also put enough doubt in my mind to keep me looking... So i focused on the Leiber oficers Father, also an officer... he did his national service in the 9th infantry regt in 1886, then called to the colors every couple of years, in 1909 and 1913 to the Leib regiment... at the same time from 1900 he was Kriegsgerichtsrat, from 1915 Kriegsgerichtsrat of the 1st Division, then Ober-kriegsgerichtsrat of the etappe 6. A.O.K. ... from what I understand, this helmet set up is (obviously) not only Leiber, Pionier etc... but also the Haube of a Kriegsgerichtsrat.... .... so it is not my war Hero of the Leib Regiment Steidle... but probably his fathers, a Kriegsgerichtsrat... would you see any error in that supposition? All the best Chris

Tony from Kaisers Bunker mentions the early regulation.. Infantry Regts 1 - 23 and Füß Artillerie: flat gilt chinscales Infanterie-Leibregiment and Pionier - flat silver chinscales Feld Artillerie, Train, 2. Schweres Reiter-Regt, 1,3,5, and 7 Chevaulegers-Regt: curved gilt chinscales. 1. Schweres Reiter-Regt, 2,4,6,and 8 Chevaulegers-Regt curved silver chinscales. But Glenn once found the following... "The Kriegsministerium-Verordnungsblatt Nr. 17 of the 20th of February 1914 introduced convex scales for officers of foot troops. The flat scales were permitted to be worn until the 1st of January 1916." Question to myself... but maybe someone else can help here.... Verordnungsblatt 17 was prewar... in a peacetime world I assume it would have been easy to transition.... but did it really happen that way? For a start... how soon after a Verordungsblatt comes out do they start to implement this? All the officers Picklehaube with flat scales sitting on tailors shelves, the spare parts in their drawers... Would they not be used up? Then the war starts... extreme materal shortage... how much priority would changing chinscales have? Ans a Pickelhaube is like a lego set.... It was surely possible to buy just the parts you need? i.e. if you badly damaged the Black shell... would you really need to buy a complete one? You already had the plate, scales and Kokarden.... My theory based on little knowledge With Material shortages, supply shortages and related costs of exchanging... I would bet that flat scaled Haube kept their flat scales, new ones probably had curved ones... and once the war machine was rolling noone really cared ? I may be wrong.. I often am... Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks Chris

I HAVE heard of, but in spite of growing up in South Africa i never actually saw one! Nice piece indeed!!

indeed... and if anyone did sneak in private stuff it is usually far away and in the field Ta-DAAAAA!!!! Beautiful pair of Rangers.... FIT sole... http://www.encherexpert.com/sacs-et-mode/chaussures-homme/163617-chaussures-rangers-militaires-43-fit-grenoble-8.html https://www.naturabuy.fr/Rangers-Francaises-brunes-stock-1er-trimestre-1962-Semelle-cousues-Taille-44--item-6963551.html

Hi, agreed for that era, but I had returned to the boots in the first post which were apparently in the soldiers possession in the 70s.

I can not speak for the 70s, I know in the 80s and 90s private purchase was not an option... when it came to uniform items there was a strict policy... some units in the legion had private purchase pullovers... "Pullvert"... but even then, they were obligatory private purchase for every member of the regiment. About the only thing where you could really go out any buy something private was sleeping bags, cooking gear, camping odds and sods... even knives on your webgear was an issue.... I do not see anyone wearing the pictured boots on their own initiative.... if they had had the normal fronts like French army boots, but were not rangers... maybe he could get away with it, but these would have been a magnet for an authority... I think private purchase indeed... but I doubt he really got the chance to wear them.... the rubber also looks a bit plasticy compared to the real rubber soles? I think this may be a bit newer than he says...

I am a paper man ?

Fantastic! My jealousy knows no bounds!!

Hi Cowboy... here it is ?

I agree... a non combattant Silesian Eagle 1st class is as rare as hens teeth... I had a long correspondence with the guy who did the articles about the award for the BDOS... he said it was technically only allowed for the 2nd class to be awarded. There are a tiny amount of exceptions... almost singel figures. I have a group with white ribbon EK2, Yellow ribbon Braunscheig, and eagles 1st and 2nd class to a non combattant (and a bunch of other awards)... rare as hell... but on the flip side... noone appretiates them

Hi, indeed, but you see pics of them with rangers as well. I do cede the point however because you are right, the Paras in Indichina were not doing a whole lot of jumping, in which case the stability of the Ranger was not essential. For the far east the Pataugas would have been a better option. In the overseas Paquetage there would have been various options, when we deployed to Central Africa we had 2 pairs of boots, one pair of Pataugas and a pair of running shoes... all rotated according to the occasion... on Occasion Rangers were worn, many Dien Bien Phu show them