Chris Boonzaier

Some nice stuff, mainly Africa related.... A Beau Geste Era Foreign Legion colonial Medal award document, with the Sahara Bar... and a Penal Battalion Colonial medal. And a great new article by Harry... http://www.kaiserscross.com/152301.html

During the night the enemy rear area was heavily gassed. At 4:53am a flare went up and a heavy explosion signalled the beginning of our bombardment. At 5:00am the bombardment rolled forwards, the assault began. The Sturmtrupps crossed the badly churned up forest. In bitter hand grenade duels the French pockets of resistance are reduced and ground is gained. After an hour the Commanders saw that the goals had been reached. With tapes the approximate new front line was laid out and with spades a front line of interconnected shell holes was dug. By evening the enemy artillery has the range of our new positions. Counter attacks in the 1. and 2. Komp areas are beaten back with some heavy close quarter fighting. The attack had been a success for all the Baden Battalions, 700m in depth gained along a 2000m front. 700 prisoners and many Machine Guns captured. The success of the I. Batl attack was thanks to Major Stelzer. The 2nd of August showed that the assault was just the beginning, now came the hard task of holding the ground gained. The I. Batl. was attacked a number of times but the enemy was beating back each time with hand grenades. The II. Batl is in the 3rd line position of the 113. I.R. At 7:45am after a heavy bombardment the French send in strong assault columns who succeed in rolling up the front lines. The enemy reaches the lines of the II. Batl. and soon they run out of grenades and their only machine gun jams. Leutn. d. Res Just commanding the 8. Komp gives the order to "Fix Bayonets!" and with a loud "Hurrah!" the 24 remaining men of his Company charged the enemy. Some men of the 113. I.R. under Leutn. Wolf join in this brave counter attack. The enemy was not expecting such a move and turned and retreated with our men at their heels. They succeeded in clearing the first line that had fallen to the French just a short time before but could not advance further due to their small numbers and the danger of being cut off. The 7. Komp had assisted in the counter attack and also took prisoners. Along with the commander of the 8. Komp, Leutn. d. L. Leibiger as well as Unteroffizier Krämer and Becker distinguished themselves in the counter attack. That evening another enemy attack was destroyed by artillery fire. More enemy attempts were stopped in the days that followed. The Battalion was relieved on the 5th of August. The 113. I.R. described the action as follows The French Attack on the 2nd of August was critical. A heavy bombardment started at 4:30am, but mainly lighter calibre artillery. At 6:30 their were a few probes that were beaten back by our artillery and Machine Guns. After a new bombardment the 12. Komp (113. I.R.) was pushed out of its positions by French assault troops, about 2 Companies worth. They regrouped and with the strong support of the 8. Komp, 112. I.R. storming forward under Lt. d. R. Just they threw the enemy back, capturing 1 heavy and 2 light Machine guns. Unfortunately Lt Wolff. commanding the 12. Komp (113. I.R.) paid for the success with his life. He was killed during the counter attack. Leutnant d. Landwehr Leibiger received the following citation "In the name of his Majesty the Kaiser and King I ward you the Iron Cross 1st class in recognition of your extraordinary bravery, especially for your exemplary, energetic and successful actions during the recapturing of the French positions at Verdun on the 2nd of August 1917. I congratulate you for earning this high award"

Here is a Photos of the Haucourt Esnes road taken by a German pilot a month earler... you can see the smoke of the artillery....

On the 1st of August 1917 "Operation Zähringen" was carried out on a 2000m wide front along the road leading from Haucourt to Esnes. An overview of the "big picture" and the situation in the Height 304 sector can be found http://www.kaiserscross.com/136501/234801.html The I. Bataillon had been designated the Assault Battalion in the 112. I.R. sector, the II. Batl. was in reserve in the 113. I.R. Sector, the III. Batl. in reserve in the 142. I.R. Sector. The Badeners (supported by men of the 5th Company of the Sturmbataillon Rohr) carried out a successful attack. The 112. I.R. describes the attack in their history...

A nice small EK group here to an officer of the 112 I.R. These "Citation" form award documents are a big favourite of mine...

Just wondering if anyone has any new docs related to this?

It is indeed a medal of quality.

Sorry. misunderstanding, I meant the signature on the front. The back is Capitain

Here we go... this is the era.....

Hi, waht is the TNA Website? best Chris

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/mixed-metaphors.aspx :-)

Hi, It is signed by 3 officers, the Colonle under the Regimental stamp. I think the ribbon is an emergency measure... I have a drawer full of old medals without ribbons... if I could only teach the wife to Crochet!!

Signature seems to be Col Bruneau

The PILE are Legion Recruiting centers. I did not know they had any in Austria after the war. With some googling I found out that there was indeed Legion recruiting done in Innsbruck in the late 40s, the one example I found was a Pole recruited from a displaced persons camp near Innsbruck. I guess the Austrians were happy to get rid of displaced persons. Best Chris

HI, I think "In memory of the post d'Information " (The PILE) The disk is stamped "Lemaire" and the wreathed suspender are definately french made though. Best Chris

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I have been going through a phase where most new things make me yawn.... But this made me a happy boy..... My old Regiment 2eme Regiment Etranger,,,, my favourite clasp... Sahara.... and within the first year of it being issued..... this is really, really Beau Geste stuff.... I assume the Medal has a period repair... cannot figure out what is going on at the back of the frame...

Here is my favourite set... and not that far away from the Linenkopf... http://www.kaiserscross.com/40029/129601.html

I was lucky enough to find this... The Lingenkopf is a very interesting sector, it is relatively small and easy to visit. It was nice to get the doc and photo originally framed....

MM.. MJF shares the honour of of a 12 letter screen name with you... but you take up more space with the space between the "n M" :-)

I am curious... does anyone know of any other medals that are illegal to own in their respective countries? Best Chris

Indeed.... I guess as it is a comapany level card the numbers printed are pretty low... I wonder if E Scheufen was in the comapnay?

Hi, It was actually quite comman especially in the units in the Vogesen, When you had a regiment of old farts and their aches and pains, basically good to defend a quiet mountainous zone... they would have a Divisional or regimental assault detachment to make sure the whole sector did not fall asleep...

So what can... or can not be sold?

I think it should be for wounds recieved. There is however one thing to take into account. I read an interesting article that The new Generation (post 9/11) have issues that the older Generation never had to deal with. It has a lot to do with Modern Body Armour, Helmets etc. Whereas an Older generation guy would have an explosion go off near him, would get some concussion/Shock and a shell splinter... go to hospital for a month or two then come back fresh and ready to fight.... the modern generation are sometimes next to 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 explosions over a period of months, suffer the concussion/Shock a number of times... but are saved "bleeding wounds" due to body armour... and as a result never leave the unit. This means they will be a generation that suffers more brain and psychological damage than the older generation. I dont know how to factor that into the equation, but it needs to be kept in the back of your head.