Chris Boonzaier

Adjudant-Chef Gaston Zbigniew Ziemski 1 BEP ,2 BEP/REP,3 BEP

Very hard to read, in pencil it seems to say 5 days Mittle arrest.... and a doctor comes into play.... was he pretending to be sick....?

a good shot....

Hi, I am not sure of the date but some time midwar the Bavarians changed buttons to the regular Prussian ones? Best Chris

Hi Pete, Muchos Grazias! Looks like thats the guy. All the best Chris

Ahh... well spottted, I thought it may be some Hoff uniform

Hi, does anyone know what pistol this guy has? You think he is Bavarian ? Thanks Chris

Hi, This gentleman was awarded ithe EK in 1915... does anyone know what uniform he is wearing ? :-)

Hi, Germany was fanatical about its support for the Boers. There were Boer support associations, books, postcards, fund raising.... tons of stuff made to support the Boers. Nice piece! all the best Chris

Here is a variation I would not fall over myself to buy!!! http://www.ebay.de/itm/Oldenburg-Fr-Aug-Kreuz-1-Klasse-im-Etui-Sonderausfuhrung-4-teilig-gepunzt-/182138596318?hash=item2a684e6bde:g:NOQAAOSw71BXPf8H

This is a pretty cool one...

Indeed, but what I find kind of neat about this cross ist the thick lines, it is a complete different art style... Usually the artwork is much finer. This looks like a better version of what my kids would bo with a black marker! ;.)

The last one from the same artist.

Another example

Another example

Here is one with an unusual cross at the top....

Hi Anything possible of course, but I doubt the time was ripe for requesting leave! ;-) "Ummmm... Stalingrad? Well... i still have some leave saved up... any chance of getting out of here?..." Without the Militärpass we will never know :-( I think however that statistically the biggest amount of wounded, and therefore the most likely, would have been a wound and evacuation in late august-September-October, escaping the enclosure. As always, very hard to guess with a single document :-(

Hi, It is a single along with 2 to his Brother (Schutzwall and KVK2). It is of course possible that some of the days would have been earned earlier. I wonder if he was wounded and evacuated? Most of the regiment seems to have been destroyed in Stalingrad... http://stalingrad.net/german-hq/sketch-danglemaier/sketch.htm

I no longer really collect WW2, but how cool is this? Remember the film Stalingrad? Or black and white clips of the fighting in the tractor factory in Stalingrad? A Robert Geib from Duchroth was killed at Kowel in 1944 (if the same guy), but was on his was to Stalingrad when he was awarded his infantry assault badge in August 1942. In September the 389th Division was on the tip of the spear in Stalingrad.... This is IMHO a document that is really "the" eastern Front Infantry Assault doc, slowly destroyed in a "cross of Iron" like battle in Stalingrad... The unit is also pretty well documented in Photos in Stalingrad....

And the swords are pointing down indication he fought somewhere in the soutern hemisphere... maybe we can narrow it down! ;-)

I am guessing he was wounded on his way back to the fort.... My memories of Verdun On the morning of the 3rd of June we debarked at Longuyon and set of on a march to the Kronprinzenlager. I was lucky enough to meet my brother whom I had not seen for a year. On the afternoon of the 5th we left for Ornes. The Artillery did not bother us on our way to Ornes but this changed when we reached the level of the Brules Schlucht (Ravine). We had to pass our own artillery, who were engaged in a furious artillery duel with the enemy. We did not come through unscathed. We had a short rest in the Brules Schlucht before taking the route known to every Verdun Combatant, the route to Fort Douaumont. If the journey itself was eerie, the fort upon arrival was even more so. The Tunnels and casements were overflowing. The air is clammy and smells of blood and bandages while all around is the drone or artillery landing on the fort and the surrounding area. We exited the fort and the order was given to hold on to the bayonet sheath of the man in front. The moment we started moving showed that it would not be possible to carry out this order. Heavy artillery fire scattered us and after a short while I found myself alone in the cratered landscape, darkest night, with no connection to those ahead of me or behind me. As I found out later, the company had already suffered heavy losses at this stage. I stumbled around in the dark trying to orient myself by the glare of the flares. After a while I hear German being spoken. I find men from a different section of my company. It is pointless to look further so I stay with the group. I was exhausted after my adventure in the craters so when dawn arrived I made myself comfortable in a shellhole. Heavy artillery fell on our positions all day. It was impossible to see anything ahead of us and I could only communicate with my comrades to the left and right by shouting although only a couple of meters separated our shell holes. I try to get some sleep when the artillery fire is less intense. Food was on my mind. A shell hits the edge of my shellhole but as I was under my blanket, Zeltban and Dachs (Non Bavarian Jäger units had a badger skin on their backpack, hence “Dachs”) nothing happened to me. When the fire slackened I shoof off the earth that had landed on me while I slept. So the day passes. When night fell we could communicat better and send listening posts forward. Just before it was my turn the company Führer ordered each group to send one man back to the fort to fetch food. I was chose. I hung all the canteens on a bread bag strap and left all my equipment back in the shellhole, including my “Dachs” which contained 5 pairs of socks, two new shirts, underpants and all kinds of gifts from home which had arrived a few days earlier by mail. I never saw any of it again. I never saw the comrades from the group ever again either.

I remember reading somewhere that for a period (I think in the Tirol) that the 3rd were supposed to remove the collar tabs? Does anyone have any reference to that? Thanks Chris

"Wirklicher Geheimer Rat" ... is that astep up from "Möglicher Geheimer Rat" ? :-)

I like the 20 crosses a lot, there is something "different" about them, probably the pin/hinge thing.

First off, sorry about the spoils but these are so nice I dont want them lifted before I decide how to use them... Some original postcard size artwork from a well known German Postcard designer and graphis designer.... Hope you find them as cool as I do!!!!!