Chris Boonzaier

OK... this is interesting.... we know there are guys units which are NOT MGSSA wearing the badge... but this 1918 Machine Gunners training book seems pretty clear on it being a MGSSA badge....

Was doing some casual surfing while on the road and found this.... Unfortunately there is no first name for the soldier... just a note saying "The cap of George B. s Father 1914-1918" From the other bits of paper it seems George B was born in 1917 and committed suicide at the age of 66 after telling his wife that he was suffering unbearable pain from an incurable ailment. He drowned himself in a river, the body was found by a 12 year old boy. I always say we do not collect items, we collect the life stories of other people....

OHHHHH... you dirty minded old man you!!! Nope, no cheerleaders in chains..... ?

Some more playing around... added a rifle/sword shelf....

OK... some more playing around.... I am really the worlds worst person when it comes to doing anything with wood 8other than burning it, then i am the worlds best person).... so these was made with 2 long 2 by 4 s, some old boards screwed onto them. then leaned up against the wall... This morning I added a hat stand and a small bar to put things on (basically some of the important things the guy in the uniform would have had on top of the stuff he is wearing (although not everything, of course) I realise sanding the boards would make the reflection more "uniform"... but decided to go with the "Trenchy" look...

After going through years of hanging a piece of cloth on the wall, or a zeltbahn... I have finally decided to make a solid backdrop to photograph my uniforms... just have to get the lighting right....

This has some interesting uniform details ... I do not know the name, but he was killed on the 17 April 1915, putting him in the first dozen or so casualties of the war for his unit

Just found this one in the basement... a 1893 dated Zeltbahn!

fake IMHO

Hi Claudio that clears up the path... but what happens at the Front? A Sgt and a Vize FW in a company in the field... do they get different tasks? or were they on a par? Best Chris

Hi, from what I can see the main visual difference is the Bayonet knot.... but what difference in Function was there? All the best Chris

Hi, murphy law is that the guy where you have the doc sometimes slips through the cracks.... I have a small group with Gibralter cufftitle where the letter from the private person it came from said he had served with Ernst Junger and was mentioned in Storm of steel. A guy who collects 73rd passed it over while he went through Storm of Steel and did not find a mentions... and in the various lists of officers in the Regt history the guy was not found.... BUT... The lists of officers were every 6 months or so... he served between the dates and was not listed ... but was mentioned in the text... and Junger made various updates to Storm of steel... luckily the guy who passed it up had a verision where the guy was not mentioned ? Same with officers docs... you can have a regiment where lots of officers are mentioned in pretty good detail... when a find an officers doc to the regiment... chances are... your guy is not ? Veltzke seems to have dedicated his like to the operation... I am going to mail him and ask if there was anything he knows The document itself is a very important example... as the order to issue preliminary documents only OFFICIALLY came out in 1916, you see these Chef des Generalstabes docs issued in 1916 for awards made earlier in the war, but awards made directly by the Generalstab (Divisional or AOK awards were issued certificates on that level)... as the Expedition had no other higher authority to make awards, they must have fallen under the Generalstab.

Yup, I ordered that and am holding thumbs.... often it is murphy law, if 50% of the men are mentioned... you have something to the other 50% ?

OK... this cost a kings ransom.... but it is simply superb.... fantastic in every way..... especially the unit..... ? So far I have no info about the man himself....

nice find indeed!

Hi, thanks Jens, I found what I needed on the link ?

I was guided towards the right archive page.... Hammer was still in the regiment when York captured the men, he was not one of those captured, but 3 days later was seriously ill and sent to hospital....

Hi, does anyone know if all the Württemberg stamrollen are online? Specifically the 120 L.I.R. Thanks Chris

Hi, has anyone ever seen a tunic like this before? Best Chris

Hmmm... was actually going through my docs... found this .... it is the large early one...

I usually ignore singles... but could not pass this up..... 2 would have been a dream....

Here is a guy born in 1899, was at the Ersatz Batl. of the 1st Bavarian Jäger Batl. then to a reserve regiment where he was trained as a sniper.... both sides of the tag....

Here are 3 tags to leiber who went through the Leib Regt ersatz Batl. but were posted to other units and not to the Leib Regt in the field....

Indeed.... although some stuff is surer than others.... with a decently priced Helmet or cased EK1 you probably cannot go too far wrong... but with "board made", if ever you want to sell, you need to find another "believer".... 95% of collectors will look, find it interesting, but then question if it was "board made" in 1943 or in 2003.... Such items are super if you know the origin, or are convinced they are real... but not a good investment IMHO... and noone can really say if they are good or not because they are all unique, even if it is the same badge All the best Chris

Yea, it astounds me... i have actually taken quite a break from collecting for some time now... but am still drawn like a magnet... but bit by bit my mojo is working again!