Chris Boonzaier

Just picked up a pretty good photo (front to follow)... Can anyone help with the text?

Welcome!

I just picked up a fantastic little group... this is a scarce little one....

I saw a map the other day showing that the 461 IR was in fact plumb in the middle of the battlefield...

Hi, one of the more comman trios, RAMC are usually not that much of a catch. Best Chris

So... other than this being for a very low ranking man, making it very scarce in itself... why is this of such large US interest? It was awarded in the weeks after the unit was pulled out of the line...

these two pocket tunics are tailored around the female form, so it was quite invoved to get it to look correct on a male mannaquin ! Why waste a male mannaquin!!! I have spent hours of my life cutting the boobies of female ones... about 90% of the ones you find are female. Best Chris

IMHO looking at Photos can establish that something WAS done, not WHY it was done.

Its hard to see... is it one of those stepped core ones?

Because in the Alpenkorps the boss wore the same badge and would have noticed. When I was in the army we had a new style of uniform issued, a Brevet that used to be on the shoulder of the older one could no longer be worn there. The Regt tailor said "I will just put it on a dark bit of cloth, and you can wear it on the right pocket, see if anyone says anything"... there were only a few of us with it in the comapany, no officers questioned it as they assumed it was official, and now in photos taken almost 20 years later I still see guys wearing it like that... simply because no officer has thought to question it. Sometimes the answer is more simple than it seems.

You are assuming Rohr cared one way or the other... or even noticed that other people were wearing it differently. I am assuming he had more pressing problems. best Chris

I go with the red. I do not see what would have been achieved by the latter. I would also wonder if anyone in SB Rohr other than the FW guys noticed the difference?

Tom, you get me wrong. I dont want to cover my eyes. When you show a photo where you see a badge, I WANT to see it, i study it, would even turn my screen on its head if need be, but when i cannot see it, I cannot. And if we disagree with why the badge was worn where it was, then lets agree to disagree. I simply dont see what esoteric benifit anyone would have by saying "lets wear ours 5cm lower/higher than the other guys!". I do believe that in the military orders are interprated by the people who recieve them and that the results are often not what was intended. I saw this enough when I was in the army and find it the most plausible explanation, you have a different theory, fine. The point of the forum is to discuss such theories. I defend anyones right to counter any theory of mine with one of their own, anywhere, anytime. best Chrus

I agree, and I enjoy this thread immensely, it is a lively discussion and should be seen as such.

Indeed... that is why my sister would be yours any time you wanted, if I had had one :-)

That is a total misrepresentation of what I posted. first off, the badges must have been sent to the Rohr men, so a parcel sounds logical. secondly, unless we have a copy of the accompanying letter, we have no idea how clear the instructions were about exactly where they should be on the sleeve. Noone says everyman could slap them on wherever they wanted, but the commander of the section must have given the tone. There is a precedent to my theory, the Alpenkorps. early photos shown when the Edelweiss was sent to the units show some units out at the front interpretated the just where and how it should be worn with a degree of personal initiative until it filtered down just how it should REALLY be worn.

Hi, Where can we read that? Best Chrus

I refer to your need to get this one okeyed ;-)

Hmm, I would send it back if you are not happy with it. The "Order the item and I will send you one of my choice" is always suspicious in this day and age....

"Lower Left Sleeve" could be interprated as anywhere below the elbow. Every other flamethrower Pionier may have been detached, but was still under the regt, while the Rohr FW had a certain autonomy and isolation from the parent unit. Send a parcel of badges to a Lt in another sector of front and say "wear these on the lower arm"... and it is open to a certain interpretation. Back then 200km aways was REALLY 200kms away, no quick follow up SMS to clear things. Best Chris

The Argonne was in Chaos at that time, units were disolving and dissapearing... do we have any proof that the records of the FW losses are Lückenlos? As i have stated before, i have played around with BW photography for ages, it is not hard for grey to appear as black, and even then, I dont think there is enough visable on that photo to even make a guestimate. Best Chris

If he had... even this tenuous bit of "proof" would escape your desperate clutches ;-) :lol:

Or.... a parcel of badges were sent to the Rohr detachment with a directive vague enough that they sewed it on where they did... later they met up with the "others" who said ..."What the hell!?!?!?" ... but by then it was too late. I think supposition is dangerous ground here. :-)

Pooh-pooh! :-)

Well, Rotellia or Rotellio were my first 2 guesses, but they are of course wrong :-(