Chris Boonzaier

12 April 1916 12:00 – 08:00 Afternoon, observation officer Very bad weather today. In our sector very quiet and both sides recover from the attacks in the last few days. In the are of the Toten Mannes there is lively Artillery fire and infantry attacks. 13. April 16 Same as usual 14. April 16 In the night 12:30 relieved by 6/16 and we become Brigade Reserve. As we pass Samogneux it is heavily shelled, as is the road. Take up the same quarters as we had last time. Lots of mail today. Wifey, Father, Aunt Line, 2 parcels. Of course I wrote a letter to my beloved and so the day passed quite well. 15. April 16 Nothing special to report. I gave orders to assemble captured material. In the old French positions (Height 344) a lot of leather equipment, backpacks, rifles and ammunition. Also had the Empty tins collected. 16.4.16 17.4.16 18. April 16 Today, apparently 40 batteries each fired 600 shells on the positions Douaumont – pfeffer Rücken, which in the afternoon was attacked by the 13th Div and a Div of the 10. Res. Korps. 1.5km was gained and 3 000 prisoners and a number of machine Guns were captured. At 04:00 the protestant men marched to Flabas for a religious service. (Division Chaplain Klingenburg had a nice sermon). Afterwards he asked me to take some Leaves and rushes with for Easter. Some lively enemy artillery fire in our ravine today, one dead man and 2 dead horses. 20.4.16 Today at 05:30 we leave for delousing at Crepion. Leutnant Schmitz (Commandant of the village) looks after us rather well. Unterartzt Bührmann is there and in the afternoon he reports back to the battalion, recovered from his leg wound. Had lunch with Lt. Schmitz, better than the field kitchen food. The bath does me very well. When we march back we are able to examine the old battlefield. We observe how very well the Haumont Wald had been prepared by the French, but then totally churned up by German grenades. The Catholic Soldiers then have a service. In Crepion there are different field hospitals, mainly head wounds, stomach wounds, chest wounds, kept here until they can be transported. A young volunteer has a bad head wound, the poor lad is crying bitterly. He is being comforted by a doctor who strokes his cheek and tells him all will be well. Later he says that he cannot be saved and will be dead within 24 hours. Here in the hospital they let wounds heal openly. The wounds were not bandaged, instead covered with a net (and plaster of Paris and Gauze). Many of the wounded were smoking cigarettes. It is worth mentioning, on the march back, after seeing the terrible sights, including another hospital on the Southern edge of haumont, there was no singing. Under the pouring rain the French Artillery were pounding the Toten Mann. Terrible for men to be wounded in such bad weather. A doctor tells me that 40% of such head wounds could be avoided if helmets were worn instead of caps. I also saw 2 horses that had been hilled in front of their wagon while I was at Crepion. I found the events of the day very depressing. 21.4.16 Today the sector of the 2. and 3. company were fired on and they suffered numerous losses. At 11:00pm we marched into the line at Bras. Taking detours along the canal we only arrive at 01:30am. It was, thank God, a quiet night. I enjoyed the fact that I was responsible for securing the line right under the nose of the enemy. I personally made connection with the I./159 to our left in our old positions on the Pfefferrücken. I was very tired as I had had to carry my own pack. Once the position was secure, another officer (Lt. Zilles) took over and I followed the communication trench back to the officers bunker in a cellar in the flattened village of Vacherauville. During the relief the company suffered no losses, the 3. Kompany suffered a number in the Kain Ravine Komp Cote Talu, 2. Komp. 4. Komp 1 Zug 2./16 (2./16 2 Officers/16 men) between vacherauville and Bras I.R.F.A 14, a Marine-Kanonengeschütz 3,7 Kaliber, can fire 80 grenades a minute, so better than a machine gun. The commander (Lt. Klein) is quartered with us. 22.4.16 Today heavy artillery fire on Vacherauville. In the evening by the kitchen one of the new Ersatz is killed by a shell. As the cauldron was caught in the blast we had to wait until 02.00am for our bean soup. An officer from the 10./16 tells us that an Unteroffizier Patrol was captured by the French. They simply called in German “Halt, Hände Hoch”. One man who was a bit behind the others could escape. 23.4.16 Today securing the Meuse/Maas, 1 Uffz. (Reimers) and 3 men badly wounded by a grenade on their way back. There are no guards on the Meuse during the day. At the kitchen5 men are wounded, one killed. As we could not move all day, stuck in the cellar with no warm food and cold coffee, the mood was not too good, even when thinking of home. I wrote a letter to my dearest, and my mother, but could barely find the words. The big Easter meal will take place tomorrow at 1:00am Unteroffizier Reimers bleeds to death without regaining consciousness. He had lost a foot and had a bad knee injury. The Driver of the provisions wagon arrives and informs that the field kitchen (30Ltr) is stuck in a shellhole a half an hour away in the Cotletter Mühle. And there we leave our Brave Leutnant.... ration wagon stuck in a shellhole... on the edge of maybe the worst battlefield of the year.... I have no idea if he survived, or even what his name was.... Maybe oneday i can find the regt history and find thatz info..... Thanks again to Speedy for all his help on this.

Could it be another one of the "buy your own foreign medal" awards? Bulgarian?

Nice indeed!! Please dont say you got it all for USD25 at a flea market!!!;-) Can you add photos of the shoulder boards to the Shoulder board thread? Best Chrus

Hi, I think there is a mix there of bavarian and "Other" ? 1st and 12th must be bavarian? Thanks Chris

See for yourselves... http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/51820-american-riff-war-pilot-uniform/page__fromsearch__1 Sigh...... :-(

That is one bombastically, fantastically super group. In fact, I am so jealous, i am going to click it away and pretend I never saw it :-(

I think "Leave as is" or "Restore" has to be decided on a case to case basis.... this one was IMHO the right choice.... but I think it depends on the collector Best Chris

Hi, what was it all about? Chris

He must have been a Goer eh squire... nudge nudge... wink wink.... Well its a lesson to be learned... he who marries 2 women a year wont live long....

This guy has too much time on his hands... ;-)

This guy has too much time on his hands... ;-)

This guy has too much time on his hands... ;-)

Hi, many of these older units (Vogesen, St Mihiel etc) has specially picked and trained Sturm units (From the younger guys, or any who did not have back problems or haemerhoids). It was figured that unlike Active or Reserve Divisions, you cant grab just any 30 Landsturm guys for a raid. So I suppose it is these units being photographed. Also, being quieter zones, there would have been more time. Best Chris

Hi, I assume this is scandanavian? Another one of these went over ebay, maybe this helps a bit ...

At long last I have picked one up.... Newspaper announcing the action....

Huge thanks to Uwe for all his efforts!! I will get the english up ASAP. Best Chris

Oooooohhh... I would like to "narrow focus" this autograph collectors butt with my boot! but I get waht you are saying... however, even if splitting is bad... cutting up a doc is worse!! :-(

Hi, I think it is the secratry of a veterans association... there were many different ones after WW1

2

For wishing the death was painful? On German ebay a seller is selling 110s of Autographs collected by a now departed Autograph collector.... All neatly cut out from the original document.....

Hi, so far I just have a terrible pic.... will post it as soon as it arrives. Ithink it must be the latter.

Hi, But these units were operational in the war zone... I am assuming his contract was counter signed by a guardian as there are two named at the bottom. Best Chris

I thought the star looked very americanish Best Chris

Hi, As most of you know, if its not an EK, I am lost... so no surprise... I know nothing about this award.... Can anyone tell me how many were awarded... and (blush) what they look like? I have eneded up paying through my nose, on a whim, and buying an award document for one... Thanks Chris

The 1897 LG has Princess Victorias (Royal irish Fusiliers), captain William Elliot Cairnes is seconded for service as an adjutant of Volunteers. dated 31st march 1897 best Chris