Chris Boonzaier

I am sure by now some of you recognize WHY these are such unique combinations ?!?!?! Here is Botha with his staff in the boer war....

This is a very complex group.... one of my favorite Boer war/WW1 groups... H.S. Pretorius was an aide/despatch rider on General Bothas staff during the Boer war. In 1914 Botha was Prime minister of the Union of South Africa. He believed that the only honourable thing to do at the outbreak of WW1 was to join Great Britain in the fight against the germans. A number of his comrades from the boer war went into open rebellion, Including manie maritz, commander along the border with German South West Africa. Botha rushed in some of his most trusted and loyal comrades from the Boer war time to stabalise the area, including HS pretorius who took command of part of one of Maritz's commandoes (half of whom had gone into rebellion). Pretorius fought at Upington when Maritz and his rebels attacked the town, and later served on the Staff of Southern force in the campaign in German South West Africa. For a great German group to a German officer who was working closely with maritz and the rebels see here.... http://www.kaiserscross.com/40029/150601.html

Here to compare, from the same year but later is a reichswehr one. Reichswehr Ministerium U7 (Abw.) Stamp says "Support of returning POWs" All the best Chri

Hi Sandro, Do you by any chance have any pictures of Prinz Adalbert of Bayern (The WW1 Prince? Thanks Chris

It is veeeery nicely made though.... Imagint this guy turned his efforts to faking EK1s.....

Fake... very fake :-)

At a show I would drop it like a potato and move on really fast.... faster than fast..... like a ROCKET..... Someone will pay big bucks for it on ebay though and will not believe anyone who told him its bad.....

A really cool wound badge with an account of the mans wound (Prinz of Bayern) http://www.kaiserscross.com/40312/153601.html Also see the "Whats new section"

Most of the time when we have a group it stops with the medals and award documents. With this group it is possible to see a bit into a war heroes final years.... Tiffay left the Army in 1921, maybe pensioned off (I am not sure exactly WHEN he joined. He settled in Commency and was employed at the postoffice. he seems to have married a war widow named Toussaint who had a daughter named Edith. Somewhere along the line there were two further children Achille (daughter) and Charles. At the beginning of 1930 Tiffay and his wife were killed/died. The three went to an orphanage near Bar le Duc, that same year the daughter seems to have been sent to a boarding school... She was considered a "Pupilles de la Nation" a special class of orphan whose father was killed in the war. I am not sure if the two boys were classified as such The daughter Edith seems to have gone to a boarding school in 1930. In 1940 Achille wrote to the notary at Bar le Duc asking if her brother Charles could begin a apprenticeship at a gardener near Robert Espagne. Must have been a pretty shitty time for the kids. Thats where the group ends.

A note confirming the award of the legion de Hon. in 1920

While serving there he was awarded the victory medal for WW1

In 1920 he was serving in Moroco and got the Medaille Coloniale

The real one that went to a collector in japan (I emailed him, but no reply... maybe he does not speak English)

Here is the French authorization for the Romaina one...

He was further awarded Romaina and Italian bravery awards

Fighting to the last day.... last citation is for fighting from the 9th-11th of november 1918... when most folks were already packing up their goodies and going home....

About the highest level you can go below... cited at the Corps d'Armee level.... "Bravest of the brave, always giving more, showed courage in the fighting in 1918 carrying out the most dangerous missions through barrage and MG fire with intelligence and good humour....

2 more citations... Top one (I have no idea where the award document is, was not on auction) is a divisional one... he was wounded attacking the German front line during the nivelle offensive. 2nd one I am after still... it is on auction... carried out his missions as a liason runner for 22 days under heavy fire, constant artillery etc. etc. always a volunteer for dangerous missions... 2 docs for those are 1) never seen and for 2) hopefully soon mine.

the citations

2nd one says a lot about him being the ultimate super combattant. He and a comrade evacuated the body of their regimental commander killed in the attack on the 25th of September and saved the life of the Lt. carrying thwe colors who was badly wounded. They carried him back through 5kms of heavy infantry and artillery fire...

Here are 2 Croix de Guerre citations for the fighting in the bloody Champagne attacks in September 1915 first one basically says he was wounded while bravely doing his duty...

Above: citaion reads he is an elite soldier, went through all the campaign distinguishing himself with bravery and energy.

This gets a bit confusing... Already in August 1915 he supposedly has the Croix de Guerre with a Palm, He is awarded a very early Medaille Militaire indeed. On his list of citations the MM is the first one, there is no mention of the CdG document being issued.

His promotion to PFC in 1911

close up... The interesting stuff comes later...