Chris Boonzaier

All over you hear again and again... "If Wilsons 14 points had been accepted...." my question is... "What difference would it have made?"

An interesting point floated by a reader... "No, you have picked up a story from Spiegel that was worded in a very tricky way. Germany has not paid off "the last of the reparations". Germany has only ever paid about one fourteenth part of the reparations in total. What Germany has paid off is the Bonds that it floated in the twenties to fund the *initial* reparations payments, not the full amount of reparations. What actually happened was that in the Twenties Germany issued Bonds to pay the first few years - a small part of the total - and then reneged on the Bonds. So the people who actually aid the first few years of reparations were Western Bondholders, not Germany itself. And the remainder of reparations were never paid at all. Of course, in the end, the damage Germany did in Belgium and Northern France - the damage reparations were supposed to pay for - was eventually paid for, but by French and Belgian taxpayers, not by Germany. It is startling, to say the least, to see Spiegel, and now the Daily Telgrah, repeating what is essentially Nazi propaganda.

The important question (I think) is who did the French army buy their stuff from? I would imagine that there were (over the years) countless different firms that produced tools for the french army. Not limited like arms makers under contract. I am sure that when it comes to coupe coupes the only real difference was whether you bought it at the store, or were issued it with a sheath. Sperry does not sound very french at all. Maybe made in the USA? maybe French made without a stamp and "Sperry" was a retailer who stamped the handle? I imagine it is impossible to say. Best Chris

Hi, tthe design is very much like the French one. Fact is, this was not ISSUED as a wepaon. I saw your post on the British Blades forum where someone listed the official french army makers, the official army makers had nothing to do with making tools. The colonial troops had these as tools and brought them with to europe for the war, so then a regular soldier may have used his spade for trench fighting, the colonials would have had a coupe coupe. A practicle thing to have. Most armyies entrenching tools doubled as weapons. best Chris

By the way, this is not a weapon as such... it is a outil individuel (sp?)... or tool. Some soldiers had an entrenching tool some an axe, some a serpe and some a coupe coupe. It is still the same way in the French army today. Best Chris

Hard to say.... why do you think it is US as opposed to French?

I think no matter what the Photos show, this will be a "feelings" call. My stomache says "Achtung!". Its the same as with The variation FW skull way back on the thread, no matter how well it is made, my stomache says "No!" and some guys say "Yes!"... and we will never agree on it. If we were to see closer photos, and the quality was great... would it mean they were good? IMHO no. I dont like the way this group is made up... it is to "complete" with 2 rare badges and a bunch of comman stuff. No original paperwork, no pics... is that the ribbon bar a Lt Col would have had? what happened to his old WW1 dogtag? ... lots of little things that make me think as a group it is fishy... For me the group is just not "right"... and I will never be able to proove it...

Posts like this scare me.... I remember the original one... time goes by fast!

I think the cufftitle and skull ahve been added to a pile of originals, to give the skull and title a bit of credibility. best Chros

Hi, here is the passage... "Wird das Treudienst-Ehrenzeichen an der Ordensschnalle getragen so sind sie an der für staatliche Dienstauszeichnungen vorgeschriebenen Stelle anzubringen. Bei Beleihungen mit mehreren Stufen derselben Auszeichnung durfte stets nur eine, und zwar die zuletzt verliehene Stufe getragen werden. " i.e. only one may be worn, the highest grade awarded. As Sascha says, maybe someone barking in the face of regulations. best Chris

i.e it originally had police ones, that were then switched?

I found a German site where it says what I thought I remembered... only the highest grade awarded may be worn... so even if he had at a later date been awarded the gold one.. the silver one would have to be deep sixed. But still, if you were awarded a 25 year medal in 38... and awards were stopped in 42... you cannot have made it to the 40 year medal by then. Any chance the ribbons are good, but someone switched medals?

I am pretty sure I remember from my 3rd Reich collecting days only one of these was possible on a bar... but I no longer mave my books..... :-(

But they came out in 1938, silver for 25 years of service up to that date.... there can be no way to jump to 40 years (gold) between 38 and 45. I think of these as for teachers etc. (As Naxos says, railways post office) i may be wrong, but did customs not get the police one?

Is it possible to have both crosses on the bar? I dont think police qualified for these...

Something new? Yup indeed! http://www.kaiserscross.com/152301.html

So... thanks to Dan, I was able to find out when his war ended... He was captured on the 20th of July 1916 at Verdun.... that is the leg up i needed.... Anyone who has been to Verdun has probably walked through the village of Fleury... maybe even to the South where the furtherest point of the german lines lay, occupied by the bavarian Leib Regiment. I remember a trip there with Jens about 6 years ago, we were at the "powder House" (Poudriere or M-Räume) and Jens mentioned it had been cleared by flame throwers when the french retook it. As it turned out, using the date of his capture, and where his company was, I managed to find the following.... Look here... http://www.verdunbilder.de/zentrales-schlachtfeld/vestiges-de-la-poudriere/ See the metal door? Well, Dreitzel commanded the 4th section, 5th company. They were in the M-Räume whjen the French attacked. The M-Räume were a U shaped set of tunnels. When the French arrived Dreitzel was the one who banged the doors on the left hand tunnel closed and pushed the bolt closed. he was then wounded by a splinter. After some time the french managed to get a flame thrower up and start shooting up one of the tunnels... at the end of which was a bunch of artillery shells. The Germans, battered after days in the line came streaming out of the other tunnel to surrender, Dreitzel amongst them. ironic as the Germans had also used a flame thrower to take the M-Räume in exactly the same way some time earlier. A fantastic bit of research luck. I will be doing a write up on him and his EK doc (awarded a month before his capture). Thanks Dan!!

Actually, i was reading an interesting thing a few weeks ago. The theory that todays soldiers will be suffereing more psychological damage than the older generation. The reason given was that modern soldiers have such improved helmets and body armourr that they are more difficult to wound. The older generation would suffer a wound then either die, or be evacuated... todays soldier has a good chance that his body armour will stop it. So, if a greanade goes off, the ww2 soldier would have got a slight concussion and splinter wound and leave the line. Nowdays he may just get a slight concussion... and stay in the line.... The modern helmets and bodyarmour may mean that he can withstand more explosions (and the resulting brain Trauma) than his grandfather.... ergo the higher portion of modern day vets with brain trauma and problems than there was after WW1 or 2... where men going through the same amount of explosions may have been dead... or evacuated loooong ago...

Right you are! I was typing too fast ... Regt it is..

This has 3 flat prongs on the back... anyone know what its for?

I saw the RCMP riding team in action a few years ago. After the show the mounties handed out collecting cards. I just picked up the one, shown here...

If I remember correctly the only part I missed was a post war Austrian red cross service award. Pity... Here is his postwar card "Reichswehr Miniterium U7 (Abwehr)" he was in the abteilung responsible for the repatriation of Russian POWs and combatting Bolschie Politics in the camps. Best Chris

Was he too young to fight in WW1 and has the full "BYOM" (Buy your own medals) rack?

To be honest, the Ehrenlegion and Landwehr Dienstauszeichnung are od zero interest to me, I just wanted them to keep a bit of history together and because I have a ton more paperwork to him.

Well, its taken over 3 years, but I got the rest of the group today....