Chris Boonzaier

Just to complete this... this is what he got for the schaumburg cross...

Hi Glenn, thanks :-) I wondered what he did other than fight. Best Chris

Hi Pete, I put a couple of things up on that thread... must still dig out the rest

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Here are a couple of pics dedicated to Schmitt from commanding generals

Indeed... I got a bit of it on Ebay, the seller brought it out bit by bit, but the rest was unaffordable... the stuff above was already expensive... but the rest doubly so...

HI, I have so much paper piled up I will never get around to all of it :-(

The Problem is.... very little of it is earth shattering... And most of it is based on the same sources.... so even if there are a cerrtain about of books, or sections in books... it is usually the same, just presented differently... at least, what the facts are concerned. Individual details are very few and far between Best Chris

Thanks a Million Johan! I really must get those books!!

Fantastic!! If I did not get mine for the "182" I would be insanely jealous!!!

Here are the canadians... http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/13786-my-collection-of-canadian-guards-uniforms/ http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/40991-canadian-guards-regiments/

Here is an interesting article.... http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/by-jingo-goves-right--those-leftie-academics-have-hijacked-the-great-war-remembrance-sunday-has-nothing-on-blackadder-9049826.html

I was happy to get this 1912 dated one from the 182 R, one of the regts of the wifes great grandfather....

Hi Richard, Welcome! Harry wrote the article on the site, I will point him here, if anyone can help it will be him. All the best Chris

I think there must have been huge amounts of these some years ago. I bought a wonderful Grenadier Guards one from the 1930s.... also with General Service buttons. I assume the proper buttons were removed at some stage.

It is really interesting, period film with added color and sound

There are many, some good, some bad.... Here is one, French bit in German....

I am not sure if I saw the Gefreiter. Indeed... when one has overspent at the end of last year, postcards are the Ramen Noodles that allow one to keep eating ;-)

Must be a real rush on those just before Easter!!!

Rabbit Proof Box ???? where do you buy those???

Is it Eis. Kr. ?

Hi Pete, It is just by coincidence I remembered these, a week ago I was digging in my "to do" binders and found this bunch, it is a selection of letters from higher officers, sone signed dedicated stuff to him. I got it years ago, hunting auction after auction. On the weekend i will probably be home and can look into it.

Try here ;-) http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/15268-bombastic-papers-from-a-major/?hl=%2Bpaul+%2Bschmitt#entry149784

I honestly think Western Europe has. A certain Portion of PEOPLE in Western Europe have not, but as a whole they have. I think WW1 was a warning, but then they dropped the Ball... then WW2 was the kicking to punish them for ignoring the warning... Unfortunately I dont think a nation can learn until an enemy has steamrollered through their country smahing everything. Lets Take Great Britain... Prior to WW1, in Victoria's reign they were at constant war... and they were OK with that... Professional army, paid to fight, so no complaining if someone gets hurt!! and its all outside of the borders anyway... no Youtube to show thousands of people dying in India, or burning villages in Jickystan... out of site, out of mind... Then comes WW1... heavy losses, a few bombs by Zeppelins.... a hard lesson. I for one do NOT condemn Chamberlin. He did what he could to try and prevent a war... it failed, but noone had anything else/better to offer. Then comes WW2... and the Luftwaffe pounds London ... a big difference between having the neighbours son serving on the Somme and having the Germans bombing your house... would certainly make me think a bit more??? Then comes the cold war... and you just KNOW people are wondering what the escalation would be..... Lets take Germany All nice and dandy to kill Herero and other barely armed tribes... Then comes WW1.... heavy losses indeed... but the COUNTRY has not been destroyed. I remember reading here on the forum, a members father was horrified when French occupation troops arriving in Baden-Baden dug latrines on a Hotel lawn... I found that hysterical... maybe i am just mena, but if i had arrived in 1918 after a few years of war... i would have forced the local to bury my doodah... with a spoon! Obviously if that was the biggest complaint, the country had not suffered enough Then comes WW2 ... huge losses... and the Country is flattened. Terrible destruction.... and up until today the country is not keen on war... So... I see some escalation stages... 1- A country does not know war when it sends a professional army to go screw up other countries. No matter what happens, they are behind it and do not suffer themselves. This is a very dangerous situation... being able to fight wars with more or less impunity makes them crazy... Like Great Britain and Germany, and Belgium in their colonial empires pre WW1 2- When a country looses conscripts... a very harsh lesson... the more losses, the harsher it is... 3- When a country has war right there in the front garden, .... thats when a Country REALLY learns... Kill my neighbours son, but dont drop a bomb on my garage! Kill my sisters son, but please dont ###### with my prosperity!! I bet you Belgium had already learned in 1914... in 1939 they were going "Hmmm... Just say no!" I wonder if WW1 had destroyed large parts of Germany, if there would have been a WW2 ? or if the germans would also have said "Just say no!" In retrospect, maybe the cold war with "Mutually assured destruction" was the best thing that could have happened... there everyone "Just said no"... Of course... my example only works when folks have something to loose. In some places the people really dont have anything to loose "Suffer another 50 years... or get killed now? Who cares!" or "You want to destroy my abode, destroy my village! Go ahead... I will get new tents at discount prices!!" ... even Western European countries are falling back into the old pattern of getting back into form by fighting where only a few soldiers may die... but it wont take place in their front garden... so maybe we have moved back to escalation stage 1- again ;-) From what I read in some newspapers... there are quite a few saber rattlers who would welcome escalation stage 2 -.... maybe things always come in a full circle.... OK... now I duck and run....

Mine does not stoop to Reason and Logic... those are my feeble weapons....