Chris Boonzaier

I have been translating some stuff from a regt Diary but am having problems reading the following.... does someone have time to transcribe this into readable french? I will then translate it. Thanks Chris

Alternately, there was still a modicum of control and inspection when you sell to the army. After the war when you are selling direct to the wearer this control falls away... its like retail today... many people are willing to accept bad quality if the price is right. Some of the worst quality EK2s are 1920s-30s pieces, made cheap and sold cheap. Lets not forget... many, many, many vets did not have a lot to spend in that period....

Indeed.... I will be marketing Tins of "Boonzaier Helmet Preserver" on Ebay in the near future. :-) And also... have you ever noticed, when you ask some dealers why an article of theirs looks so new.... the answer is usually Bullsh1t.... so it must actually work ;-)

Maybe she would sell it to you? P.S. have you asked her to join? Best Chris

What are all the ribbons on the ribbon bar, I do not recognise them all. Thanks Chris

Absolutely fantastic Jacques !!!!!!!!!!! Felicitations! Lets see some pix.... that makes a fantastic bar indeed!!! How often do you find German Awards on French bars, and vice versa! Usually it is only sport stuff.

Bottom of the garden reenactor.... Legend in his own mind ... ;-)

Here is a rather neat photo.... Perfect to display the "Place of the EK " in 2 ways.... physically, and the fact that this dude has taken off all his many other awards to pose just with his EKs....

A wild, wild guess.... but "Steinackers horse" would fit....

2

For ages I have wanted a pair of Gamaschen.... not WW2 ones, or post WW1 ones or Civilian ones.... it is just so very hard to tell pre 1918 from "the rest"... But finally a set from an NCO from the 2nd Bavarian Reserve Inf. Regt. There were 3 sets of his Gamaschen up for sale... this was the 2nd best one... the best were some canvas ones with labels "Hindenbrg Gamaschen", but I missed them.... Still these warm my heart... ;-)

All three are really nice, but the first one does it for me! Really nice piece!

Hi Jacques, I think the Overseas and Commemorative (ex Yougoslavie) etc fall in a different category, they would have parallels in the British or US system of Campaign Medal. I dont think that is what Hugh is on about. I think what Hugh is talking about are medals for non operational deployment, then a bronze one for 30 days at sea, and a silver one for 50 days at sea, and a good cunduct for not being late for a year and a happy face medal for not pssing your commander off, then a "my wifes gonna kill me" medal for being posted to Luxembourgfor 6 months etc. etc. In France this will all be covered by a Defense National.... but some other countries may have a seperate medal for each of the items listed ;-). Best Chris

Seeing who posted it, and a jump of imagination... I imagine it is a "V" and that this is a Versuchs Pionier or something along that line. Best Chris

Hi, I think most nations have a "Catch all" medal along the lines of a "National Defence" medal. Covers service, deployment, conduct etc. etc. Best Chris

Thanks guys, that really helps out in a big way. Best Chris

I agree, it is for me the only logical conclusion here.

Hi, I dont have the 1st name :-( It may be, but apparently he was in the reserve Inf Regt 2. best Chris

Hi, I no longer have access, so cannot say... but with just the name BIECHL, and the fact that he was a Feldwebel (possibly) and served in 11. Komp of Bavarian Res. Inf. Regt 2... Would it be possible to find something? Thanks chris

Its a good question.... I am of the firm belief that by 1918 wearing sandbags had become a fasion... anyone wanting to look cool would get himself photographed wearing them... Give us a clue... does he need this get up for his job, or is he just posing "cool"?

Well, if you wanted to get from our kitchen to the front door with a couple of bags of candy... and make it past out 3 year old... this would be the only way to do it... although I would sunstitute pepper spray for the 08..... :-)

Hi, the bubbling on the back is more visable than on the front, it does have some bubbling on the front though. Best Chris

Very nice indeed!! Maybe if I was born again at some time in the future I would not collect German but do something like 19th Century South American... it certainly makes for a wonderful collecting theme...

A Bunch of new stuff today, I still have a lot of "almost finished" stuff, but just dont have the time to finish it at the moment. Harry moves to the Middle east for this update, the Machine Gun Corps in the Arab Insurrection, Mesopotamia 1920-21 can be found here A nice addition to the article on the fighting on the Souville Nase in August 1916 can be found here Some more fake Iron Cross documents have been added to the database Last time the link to the New Photos on the MG Photo Album was not working, so have added another pic with a new link HERE

A silly question, should the name be engraved.. as opposed to stamped?