Chris Boonzaier

7 hours ago, Ravenft said:

Which regiment is it? I'm looking to move into shoulder board collecting too but it's a WHOLE other world to my humble medal collecting. Also congrats Chris!

Hi,

it is a Bavarian 3rd Infantry bord... but from 1916 on... most of the plates and examples show the boards as they were in 1914 and not the changes... If you are looking that way the first money you should spend is the Kelso book in shoulder boards/starps "Under arms for the Kaiser"

Very nice indeed! With the EK the award documents were originally planned for after the war as well... although many units issued preliminary documents on their own inititive, the official order only came in early 1916 to issue prelim dicuments... I guess Braunschweig had planned the same thing.

It may be greyer... but at least there seems to be a model number?

I have just seen a drawing in "Uniformkunde das Deutsche Heer" by Spemann... a Litewka like yours, with a top pocket (not a deal breaker) for the marine Infantry and called "Litewka vom schnitt 95"

Reminds me of the one on the left here.... without the chest pocket....

If it had been badgeless I would say that is almost a twin of the Blue bavarian Officers Litewka....

I meant 300 because 3 companies in the bavarian army had it... was issued in 1913 and could be worn for a year... so i assume by the end of 1914 that was the end of the road and they had to be taken off...

2 hours ago, GdC26 said:

Ah, German bureaucracy.....

At least know for sure he was awarded the EK II ....

I had a group to a railway clerk... he had 3 very crappy typewritten preliminary documents for the EK2... one from each unit he was posted to... I think every time he claimed not to have one in the hope of getting  a sexy printed one... and always got an ugly one... he seems to have given up... either that or the previous owner had split the nice one from the group...

53 minutes ago, GdC26 said:

I'm inclined to follow Chris on this - a Legitimation is not an award certificate, and he may be that Oppelt sought to justify/document entitlement by reference, first to his time in KUK IR 94, and then to his time with the KUK Fliegerersatztruppe. Whether time before December 1916 counts for eligibility for the Karl Truppenkreuz will depend on the rules/statutes governing that award - but if it did, that may explain the IR 94 Legitimation.

Kind regards,

 Sandro

I have an Iron Cross group where the guy has 2 iron Cross 2nd class documents, issued by 2 different units to document the same award, which was made by a previous 3rd unit.

There are plenty of examples of dates on certificates not matching when it comes to German... and in this case the 1915 may have nothing to do with the award date... "1915/" may refer to the line below "1915/K.u.K. Infanterieregiment..." for instance.... It may be his Stamm Abteilung before he was by the flieger.... Paper trails are sometimes confusing....

I would guess the 1915 is not related to the award date?

I just looked... he was a Zahlmeister Anwärter in August 1914, then to a combat company as Offizier Stellvertreter in Marche 1915.. then a simple Company Führer up until March 1917, not even Compaqny Commander... but he gor the MVO4th class with swords and crown in Feb 1917... he had no position or task that merited the higher level?

14 minutes ago, Eric Stahlhut said:

Chris, you did not do a deep enough search on gmic, there have been plenty of these posted in the past...

...I'll take as many of these as I can get in any kind of fastener configuration!

I retract then... I did not know the name was also stamped in... ?

I think these are usually the highest level of desirability... but the lettering bothers me.... did they also stamp the name in? All the KMST I had (grand total of 2 ) had raised lettering, not stamped in?

Like this one.....

It may be a variation I do not know, but I would be weary....

Hi,

I cant look it up at the moment, but it was Hans reichenhart of the 17BRIR... he was a Komp. Führer if I remember right... Not Crown material generally speaking

4 minutes ago, laurentius said:

How do you know this? I only see one decoration in the picture. Do you have a militärpaß or perhaps some other info? That might help with answering your question.

Kind regards, Laurentius

Hi, the auszug from the arhcives has EK2, EK1, MVK 2kl Swords and crown, MVO4 with swords then MVO 4 Swords and crown... KIA as a Lt d. Res... in May 1918.

MVO4th with swords and crown mid 1917... no indication of why.

... maybe not a rarity... but the 1913 Shooting Prize on Fieldgrey is a treat you really see.... a man from the 1st Bavarian Inf Regiment.... I would guess maybe 300 men wore this badge, and for less than half a year?

HI, this Leutnant der Reserve first got a MVK 2nd class... then a MVO4th with swords... then MVO 4th with swords and crown... which is pretty unusual?

I thought it was a Stuffen thing related to Rank? Why would a Lt d. Res get one with a crown? Was the rank thing put aside for exceptional bravery or something?

Thanks

Chris

I had a couple, if my memory serves me... could have been that one.... I will enquire.....

Fantastic! 12 BIR is a side collection of mine... the regiment I collect outside of the Alpenkorps.

Veeeery nice... I would say super rare because this would have been made for very short time, before the M15 boards were actually made!

There is a single board to the 3rd Still on Weitzes site... I am tempted... but....

Funny thing, I have an open offer for any set of Bavarian fieldgrey boards. from 250 up... cant find any... (it is not only Bavarian... any good set of Fieldgrey is extremely difficult to find)

Ha! yup, they were up there... I held off for ages as they are missing prongs on one device... but I got it in a good deal so There was less burn than paying cash... ?

I read that the DOV had 50 sales points/branches, many in occupied countires, where officers could buy anything from awards to uniforms to map cases... just some info of interest.....

How big is it?

I had a look... on the photo it is not clear if they are shoes with Gamaschen, or a shoe like boot with built in Gamaschen. I have seen similar things before in studio photo. There are many combinations of civilian shoes and Gamaschen that seem to have been tolerated, at least unofficially. There is a pair very similar looking on german ebay at the moment.