Chris Boonzaier

Would be good to see his "real" entitlement i.e. what he had in November 1918.

Saw this interesting file in the online list of Stuttgart Archives... from the XIII A.K. in WW1.. "Überwachung und Einsatz von Elsaß-Lothringern, Dänen (aus Dänemark und Schleswig-Holstein) sowie deutscher Juden " Interesting sounding file indeed!

Hi, I dont think chip is suggesting it is FW, maybe a SB using a skull?

Hi, I may be wrong (and my bavarian Jäger cap shows how out of the ordinary things can in fact be explained) but I think the XIII AK was in Flanders from the end of 1915. The St. B XIV however the whole war in the Vosges? I am at work at the moment so I cannot check this, but it was my initial thought. Best Chris

Nice functional blade... you could put your eye out with that!

Nice stuff indeed!

I just picked up a shoulder strap for a G98, on the metal clip its stamped "O.5674" and has traces of dark grey paint. I seem to remember that the "N" and "O" were Ost and Nord <See in WW1? Can anyone confirm this? Was it the same in WW2? Thanks Chris

Indeed... but surely you are not implying that if it is odd, it may be real? ;-) Thomas, I read on the French forum that the French FW men were also firemen, that was new to me!

The problem with many/most hunters in Germany... they buy and resell with no way of knowing who sold to them. I used to run ads in Germany but gave up when I saw what % of sellers were crooked collectors/part time dealers pretending to be non collectors and trying to sell "Grandpops" medals. I assume this seller buys from whoever brings him stuff and they all say "found by a Dachdecker".. Some good, some bad, ... Anyway, its not my beer. Robin likes skulls, this is a skull. I am happy he is happy with it. Personally I would not put it with my WW1 stuff. best Chris

Late answer, but I agree with JTW.

Hi, here it is being worm by a SAMR guy... http://www.trenchfighter.com/40403/41694.html

A really nice update today... Harry gets all exotic on us.... The battle at Mafia Island! What a great name! And some great Machine Gunner pics on the ever expanding machine gunner album.... http://www.kaiserscross.com/152301.html

Hi, This is the guy who was a LT in IR258. We had agreed that it would be early war Prussian boards on Blue background. Some IR69 on a Blue Background would do it OK as well as a second choice. Best Chris

That there are stashes, I agree. But we shall have to agree to disagree. For this letter to convince me that some new on the scene badges are originals I would have to inspect the original. Healthy skepticism makes me say this smells fishy. Would anyone have accepted these badges WITHOUT the covering letter?

Yeah, but even in the unlikely event that they want some cheap aluminium badges back... would that not be done between factory and "The Air Force" i.e., the supply department? Would the factory contact individual Staffels? I have a hard time believing that. The armed forces have channels to go through. Being the sceptic I would say this is an ingenious way of validating 160 (eventually more) variations of this badge that noone has seen before. The reason I found this was the link to this thread from elsewhere on the forum. Best Chris

Yes! Thats it! I will print out a speach bubble and glue it on the wall next to him! If he says "P.Off" to all and sundry... they are bound to find him offensive! ;-)

OK, Shell splinter, Eye damage? Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks Chris

Indeed... but from what I see, there is no mention of a physical wound in 1917. he was just sent to hospital, then genesungs company, then to the factory. he does not seem to have been a skilled worker. I get the feeling that he was sent to the factory because they figured he would not be fit for combat anytime soon. I am wondering how many of these factory worker soldiers were sent to factories as they were no longer able to serve at the front? Often it seems they were pretty experienced soldiers. Why take your experianced guys and send them to the factory, when you could send a recruit? I am wondering if guys had obvious "combat fatigue" that they were then quietly sent off to a factory.

Here is a totally cynical and skeptical thought.... "When the facotory was sold, this letter and the badges were found"... Forget the fact that a box arrives somewhere and lays around with a letter for decades and noone thinks to open/distribute/use the stuff... Think more along the lines of... here we have a factory that under contract makes and SELLS badges to the Luftwaffe/RLM. They are ordered, paid for with state money and delivered. They are distributed to the different Units. They are phased out. Then the factory writes to the units ! Says "You dont need them, can we have them back?" And the commander says "Well, you charged us good money for them, they ARE govt property, most of the guys would like one as a souvenier, there is no reason off the top of my head that I can think of why you should get something back for free that you charged us for.... but OK, I will happily return stuff that you have no use for and will leave sitting around in a box for 50 years until it becomes a "Stash"" And off they go... with the Deutsche post... on Immelmann Geschwader expense... Over the last 5 years many dealers at German Shows have Aluminium ones on the table. Most collectors I know are very skeptical, I know none who has bought one. I dont "Know"... but it seems like it COULD be a well planned hoax....

Hi, will get it done soon. Watch for a thread with my US Uniform soon ;-)

Nothing, he is just happy to see me ;-)

This guys name is Erdmann

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3 NCOs with different sweaters.... This guys name is "Stephan"

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