Chris Boonzaier

I read somewhere that the French govt had exended the right to the croix de combattant to volunteers who fought in the Spanish civil war.... does anyone know of any cases of this?

Hmm.. possible... any idea where that was taken?

Does anyone have a photo where one of these is being used? http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2426 Thanks Chris

Hi, if you get caught, it can be nasty, but they usually just bust the balls of folks taking live munition. Stick grenades have a toxic explosive, but, as I learned recently, they are not watertight, so the fuse and explosives are usually totally water logged. I made sure not to touch it as I scraped it out. There was a lot of live heavy shells... me no touchee sht like that. To get caught lugging a shield through the forest would probably get you some kind of fine as the foresters look out for such obvious souvenier hunting. I was however given this one by a forester as I stopped off to say goodbye on my way home... call it French hospitality

details of the knob to close the firing slit and a hook, I am not sure what it is for...

The back...

side curves out towards the enemy

enemy slide with the slit closed...

Well, after a bit of a clean up... a dirty, dirty, dirty job.... there is a clearer view of what these look like... from the side the enemy sees with open firing slit...

Some of you may have seen this in the lounge, the shield as it looked when i brought it back....

and cause of death.... eerie ..isn't it !! 158. Q.S.A. 1 Bar Cape Colony. Pte. G. Shitlegg. 22nd Coy. 2nd Imp. Yeo. Died of enteric fever on 12-12-1900 at Maitland. Copy papers. (NEF) ?205

Hi Folks, what canone pay for a good marineglass, withthe following stamps.... I bought one on vacation and dont know if I paid through the nose or not... it is a 7+50

I cant remember the name, but what is the German one that has the device on the ribbon of a round wreath with a sword through it ? I found one of those to a Hungarian officer, but that is not an official one.

I am on the way to the Bretagne, managed to persuade the wife that the forests in verdun are really worth seeing ;-) Ahhhh, la Belle France :-)))

Maybe tonight, I am packing the car... leaving on vacation in the morning... stopping 3 days in Verdun on the way... hope to get more posted tonight...

There is a whole bunch of other stuff, but this is amongst the most interesting. One of the letters is from the bavarian state ministry in 1931 saying they could not replace his lost medal, he must buy one from Deschler in Munich.

Interesting to note above, the doc was for the 11. Bay.I.R. but altered to the 12 brigade. Brigades had little own personnel so an own award doc was not really justified. Of about 375 EK docs i have, this is the only one I have awarded at Brigade level. He was wounded in march 1915, and served in alsace, on the somme, some really heavy stuff at verdun etc. etc. at this time scribe at the brigade staff. The last couple of years he was on the staff of the 16th bavarian division, in charge of the office staff. he has a number of excellent letters of recommendation as a very good, calm, worker under high pressure, initiative etc. etc...

He was awarded a really early EK2 as well, I guess the task of carrying the messages on the front and the initiative it required was rewarded with the cross.

The Brigade proposed 2 men for the milit?rverdienst orden really early, Weiss was approved, the other not. on the other side of the paper there is the stamp from the Division when it was sent there and one from the brigade when it was returned. The approval was signed by von Kirschbaum... Weiss managed to pocket the paper... advantage of being a clerk....

What can you expect from a Beampte, he pocketed it all.... One of the nice things about private sellers, they keep things together, whereas a dealer would probably have tossed some of it. he served in the bavarian 11. I.R. but at the outbreak of the war he was transfered to the staff of the 12th Brigade as a bicycle despatch rider and scribe. They fought in the Alsace and at St mihiel, the brigade taken the camp de romaine. Here is his prewar order to serve at the Brigade staff....

I once saw a KVK2, LDO and all that with the ring on the bottom side !

Give you a hint... "somethng like that would NEVER have passed German quality control !!!"

What are these called? I have seen a number of different ones of them and this one was thrown in with some docs I bought, about 30cms long. What are they called? Were they bought? handed out? to soldiers? what be the story?

about this ?

what a joke... as if there were not enough crap commemeratives around in the 20's and 30's.. they have to import some more junk !