Chris Boonzaier

For me a group like this where you can find the exact deed, and/or put the group in its historical perspective makes the items priceless. If someone were to say to me that a mint medal is better I would laugh in their face. Thie? got EUR850 for an uncased one this week... with the history behind this one... I would probably not sell it for double that.... :-)

"The French attacked at 17:00 on the 11th of October 1915 to the West of Vimy. After an extremely heavy artillery bombardment twenty French soldiers occupied a crater from a heavy shell that had torn a hole in the German front line to the South of the Artillery trench. Acting independently of his own section Unteroffizier Herrling rushed forward with hand grenades to within 5m of the occupied shellhole while the neighbouring sections which had suffered heavy losses during the artillery preperation began to waver in the face of the attack. Heavy infantry fire caused Herrling to break of a flanking attempt and he instead attacked directly from the trench exchanging hand Grenades with the Frenchmen until his supply of bombs ran out. He then began to use his rifle until he saw the French in the crater signalling to their front line for reinforcements. Hastily collecting some more grenades he attacked the shell hole with such fury that the shattered occupants surrendered soon after." The action as described in the citation is dramatic but the reality was probably even more so. After the terrible bombardment an adrenaline charged Herrling must have been a fear evoking sight indeed. The suffering of the Poilus must have been immense as the grenades detonated within the confines of the shell hole, the blast and splinters having a more or less captive audience. Had they not stayed put and had they done a leap forward they would probably have suceeded in overpowering and probably killing Herrling. As it is, luck was on Herrlings side that day.

Unteroffizier Sebastian Herrling of the 6. Komp. 12. b.I.R. was awarded the Bavarian silver bravery medal for killing/capturing the occupants of a shellhole.

"Time passed slowly for the Regimental staff on front of Vimy. The telephone lines had been destroyed early in the afternoon and from 3 pm onwards there was no communication. Oberst Policza wathched with a heavy heart as the enemy turned our frontline into a crater landscape of mud fountains. Would a single man live through the drumfire? He knew he could rely on the men of the 12th. By 7 pm the telephone connection was functioning. The message came back that not a meter of ground had been lost and that astonishingly the II. batln had suffered only 28 dead and 49 wounded. The III. Batln in the second line at la Folie had only 4 dead and 29 wounded." The French offensive had been stopped but the men of the 12. bay. I.R. were to spend a terrible winter in the rain filled trenches of the Artois. When they were relieved after seven months of bitter positional warfare they expected a well deserved rest, but less than 24 hours later they were on their way to participate in the slaughter at Verdun.

On the 10th of September the II. Batln was in the front line when the French attacked: "At 3 pm a group of French soldiers appear in front of the Elsterweg behind a smokescreen. They advance but the attack is broken up under our fire. At 6 pm the enemy has concentrated his fire on our position at la Folie and fires a salvo into his own trenches to get his infantry moving. On the II. Batln. positions gas grenades explode and opposite the 7. Komp the enemy starts to climb out of his trench. Our men are already in positions and shoot them down as the clamber out. Opposite the 8. Komp. the bayonets and helmets can be seen in the front line but Z?gf?hrer Mayerlen calls in artillery fire and the planned attack is not launched. At 6.30 pm the fire dies down although the heavy calibers continue. The positions have suffered badly, the carefully dug positions have collapsed. Every man realised what awaited us the next day and they worked tirelessly to prepare the positions. On the morning of the 11th of October the enemy artillery fire gets heavier and heavier. The large shells come howling over, including 28cm mines. The French have cleared away their defensive barriers, they are going to attack. Our sentries lay tensely behind their steel shields while fountains or earth, mud and smoke go up around them. In the trenches the soldiers are constantly digging out their comrades as the trenches collapse. They try and redig the trenches during the barrage but it is useless. In front of the 6. Komp a 28 cm mine blows a large hole in the trench and this makes movement impossible. The enemy is just 20 meters away and shoot down anyone trying to move along the trench.. Still the attack does not come. At 1 pm the 5. Komp. sees bayonet points in the opposing trenches but the Frenchmen are just removing a sandbag barrier. At 5 pm the French fire moved backwards to the La Folie farm. The moment of relief has come and the men man the firestep. In front of the 5. Komp about 80 Frenchmen are advancing. The few Poilu that are not killed or wounded scramble back to their trench." All along the II. Batln. line the attackers were mown down with accurate rifle and machine gun fire and the French attack crumbles. In a number of places the French occupied shellcraters, a few brave German soldiers were decorated for clearing out these pockets on the 11th of October. (Part of the II. Batln trench....)

The 6. Komp would have been in position in the front line on the level of the Artilleriegraben. The attack was from West to East on this map.

The Western Front in 1915: The French army had taken over most offensive operations as the British needed time to restructure and train their new Army. In late September the Allies launched three offensives, known as the Battles of Champagne, Second Artois and Loos, the latter being a British "affair". For the Germans the Artois battle was known as the "Autumn Battle at la Bassee and Arras" The 2. bayerische Division had moved from their positions to the west of Peronne to take up position to the west of Vimy on the 7th of October. The 12. bay. Infanterie Regiment was to the Northeast of Neuville in the Prinz Reuss Stellung. They had missed the main part of the battle, the slaughter of late September, but were in position to face the next French attack. From the 7th to the 10th of october they were under heavy artillery and Minenwerfer fire. In some sectors the French infantry were only 30m's away and as a result the men in the front line were also under rifle grenade fire. Life in the front line consisted of waiting for the enemy attack, praying that no shell would land on you... and when it got dark, trying to rebuild some of the defensive positions.

The 2nd Artois is a battle about which little has been written. Douglas Porch says "The Battle of the Marne in 1914 and Verdun in 1916, both of which produced a profusion of accounts, seem to fit the stereotypes of glorious victory or heroic sacrifice better than what amounted to the pointless butchery of the Artois. Those who survived tended to keep silent about their experiances. It was a battle that, in military terms, achieved nothing-and yet produced unintended consequences. If nothing else, it must be counted as the prototypical trench slaughter of the great war." The French were to loose an estimated 150 000 men in the Autumn of 1915.

This may not be strictly the right section for this, but I thought I would post it here. it is all rough stuff that has still to be fine tuned for a web page, but I just wanted to show how a little bit of research can bring a medal to life.

The top one is pretty much the tunic I have been offered. high field grey collar, hidden buttons, added pockets.... only thing is, no shoulder boards and nothing on the collar... Would EUR650 more or less be okay if it had a few moth holes? The water carrier I am looking for is in the form of a backpack, although Ricks are a good start .

It was comman practice to remove the spike from the spiked helmet when going into combat in wooded areas (for example)..... how many were captured like this... a "legit" way of wearing them.... Raiding parties would remove their shoulder boards.... what did they do when they had sewn in ones? Did the Bavarian M15 (16?) jackets have a collar in the same color green as the rest of the jacket... or do all collars have a different color green? anyone have any good photos of the water containers used to bring water to the front lines? All these questions and more.... watch this space...

Hi, David Gregory and I are working on getting more info together to increase what is on the site. I must look but I think there is a mention of collins scouts. From what I can find, motorised vehicules were used for a number of things, but not by the commandoes. I will check my notes and see what i can find. Welcome to the site !!!

http://cgi.ebay.de/Alter-franzoesischer-St...1QQcmdZViewItem

What is that bottom left ?

Here you go.... The really nice thing is, I have a group MVO4th class, EK1 and 2 and a few other things to a Lt. in the same Battalion who took command of the 6th Company where this guy was serving as a Vizefeldwebel section commander. So these two guys must have really known each other well.

You are not thwe only one... from the Uniform, 1970s porno star moustache and the lazy look I thought he was an Iraqi general.....

flipside

I have wanted one of these for ages, but like so many doc collectors I always think medals are uninteresting because there is no story to them. I was lucky enough to pick this up with the doc and the citation..... The slightly flattened edges are because someone had this in a vice many moons ago....

I stopped getting that when they stopped having the centrefold. Anything interesting in the article? Best Chris

Here is one to the absolute ober-elite batln of the German army.....

And no air in those old fashioned tires must have played hell on his haemorrhoids ! To add to his reputation as a pedantic beamte.... In 1919-1920 he was still writing letters to the Govt saying they owed him a bicycle.... there had been none availible when they had gone to war... so he had to borrow/take his fathers.... and now the war was over.... pappy wanted the damned thing back !!!!

Hi, During the mobile warfare of 1914 he was a despatch rider carrying messages from the brigade to the front under enemy fire. The brigade saw some heavy action in this period, no easy job! The 1st class must be related to his work on the staff where he seems to have had a rather important position, all his letters from superiors are glowing reports. From his records he had EK2, wound badge and the bavarian M.V.K. 3rd and 2nd class. (and tried for the 1st).

especially as his superior was turned down ;-) Rare level indeed... brigade staffs were tiny, tiny, tiny units....

Hi, he was a senior NCO, bicycle messenger, but also head NCO of the 12th Brigade staff. He later recieved a Beamte rank and was responsible for the staff administration of the 16th Bavarian Inf Regt where he seems to have kept the office running in times of stress and crisis. He seems to have saved quite a few little papers.....

Then his letter to the ministry in 1931 asking for a replacement award (3rd class lost during the war) and the award of a 1st class which he claims was promised to him just beforethe war ended. The ministry says "no go"