Chris Boonzaier

I have a group to one of the wifes relatives that has the Austrian and Sudeten medal. He served WW1 as an infantry officer, was a school headmaster in the 1930s who was called up to moniter allied radio broadcasts (BBC etc) during the austrian/Sudeten thingies and got the medals. Was never anywhere near the places in question. If I undetstand correctly, it is cases like his that made the F?hrer say "For the Memel medal you actually had to BA THERE to get it...."

I think the truth lies somewhere between the two. Strictly speaking, unless the other states said "Lets have a medal that has the same rules as the EK" then there cannot really be a 100% equivelent. My rule of thumb would be... "if non Prussian Gefreiter Joe and Hauptmann Whatsisname had spent long enough to get a n EK2 and or EK1........ what would their own state have hung on them in the same timeframe for the same deeds." Living on the Hessen border but just inside Bavaria I always consider the Hessen silver bravery medal anf the Bavarian 3rd class with swords to be almost automatic EK2 extensions that are very often found together. However, neither of these has a 1st class version. I doubt any collectors would see 100% eye to eye on this because it all depends on the interpretation of "Equivelent"... optically similar? Same classes? same rules? awarded in the same numbers? for the same bravery? service? For me it boils down to... what would am old sweat have had at the end of the war..i.e. a Hessen soldier got Prussian and hessen awards, ... what did the two states give him in the same time period.... It must have sucked to be a Prussian... just getting awards from one state......

that is very nice indeed. Just a couple of weeks ago a collector was telling me that the Germans only had privately bought compases in WW1. I have a really nice WW1 British compass where the name of the British officer is scratched out and replaced with the name of the German one.

one and two Austrian, 3rd a westwall, 4th a eastern front, lask a HK. ?

Could it be a bunch Austrian awards for WW1 ?

Tarnishing everyone who served in 11th Brigade before, during and after My Lai with the same brush as those involved in the massacre and cover-up seems unfair, and tarnishing the entire division as well. My understanding is that the 196th Infantry Brigade, for example, was pretty well regarded.

Where ?

What are we looking at here?

Would it have to symbolise a target? it seems similar to the cockade system used by the Germans. And tell a british pilot that the RAF roundels are targets ;-)) Maybe something other than shooting?

Hi, I am going to be doing a bit of research on the Americal Division in Vietnam in the near future... does anyone know if there is a divisional history of them to be had? Especially the 11th Inf Brigade? A second question, in the introduction to Shelby Stanton's book "Rise and fall of an American army" it is said that he goes out of his way to show the great qualities and sacrifices of the American soldier... which he does. But for the Americal Divison he says many units (11th Brigade especially) were little more than badly trained, roving gangs of thugs. That kinda left me scratching my head... for every other unit he seems to put a positive spin on them, except the Americal? Thirdly, Does anyone know where I can get a theater made Americal patch? Thanky Chris

Wait a second... what about the "C" ?

I should figured that out. many document groups shoe that the men gong through an E.B. in one of a divisions regts could also very well land up in another regt of the division, have seen this in the 26. R.D., 10. R.D. I would go for 51st RIR then, best Chrus

Oh, you poor, poor man...... let me help to take the pain away.... I will PM you my mailing address ;-) Nice selection there!

Nope, I mean Indian Army corps of guides, I have an MC to an officer in the unit. In the history of the corps of guides there was a photo of the officers, but the library would not let me copy it :-( The citation mentions them using Kukris, but I thoughtthe Guides came from the western areas, nowdays pakistan?

Hi, I am looking for a couple of photos of men from the corps of Guides to use for an article, must be about 1915-17. Any help greatly appretiated. Thanks Chris

I was just given a cup with the following unit stamps.... 51.R.5.C.54. and E.B.R.I.R.38 the second one I get no problemo... any guess on the first?

Hi, the roll of the wounded is in 4 sections for 4 different time periods, it just mentions where and when the man was kille/wounded. If there are more records somewhere else I have no idea.

Well... it COULD be original then...

Greencross was THE deadly gas of the war, but the masks offered good protection against it. Bluecross was more of an irritant, causing coughing and sneezing, vomiting etc. etc. all things that would force a soldier to remove his mask. German orders for 17-18 required barrages to mix the two. bluecross would cause the enemy to have to remove the mask, green cross would then kill them...

Thats nice lee, that thing clipped on the bottom of the filter on the lower one is an extra "pre filter" for a certain gas, if I remember correctly for Bluecross gas.

I saw a superb WW1 machine gunner many months ago... that was a real sexy piece.... Wish I could make something like that ...

Isn't Brazil an Ultra rare one? Worth Mega bucks? A blonde is at the newsstand and sees a headline "12 Brazilian soldiers killed" she looks at the vendor and asks..."Ummm... how many is a Brazilian?" (sorry)

Hi, Yup, the 2 is the regt.

Any chance you are in that area?