Chris Boonzaier

I used to buy and trade and sell a lot of stuff way back when.... Almost nothing of any WW2 stuff is still here (next to nothing at all).... but a piece or two which won places in my heart are still kicking around. This one was for me always the Ultimate combat helmet. It belonged to Hauptman or Major (cannot remember) Stein of the 96th Artillery Regiment of the Hoch und Deutchmeiseter division. Inside you can see it was a light green from the factory, has had a couple of coats of paints the last one being a rough fiels applied green. The strap was period changed to a more comfortable Italian one (When the division was in Italy in 44 I assume). Named on the leather and Skirt when he was still an Olt. This came from a friend who got it from the family so no collector has gone decal diving and tried to scratch the paint off "just to see if the eagle is still there...." A really hard and horny combat helmet with an original front ruff-paint... no phoy browns or sand quickly applied in the basement to triple the value. I cam pretty close to trying to sell this this weekend but the thing I was after fell through... I am not sad though ;-) Enjoy.....

Hi, A different theory... does it have entries that he attended the machine gun school? Thanks Chris P.S. totally. totally killer group !!!!

A nice buy. You learn something everyday. Usually I would have thought the eagle sewn through the liner was a no-no.... but in this case it looks right as rain.

2nd guy looks a bit like Jack Nicholson...

Hi, What do you guys consider to be the earliest Destroyer badge maker? i.e. those that were awarded on the day they were first given out? Thanks Chris

2nd one is a Bavarian J?ger, very possibly a man from my "home" town here

On their way. Thanks Chris

If someone would be willing to look up 2 citations for me I would be very thankful. :-) Thanks Chris

Then why make EK2s? They are not really worn. Seems to me body mutilation etc was used quite often and more effectively.

Aha... BUT! According to the milit?rpass our man was an Austrian. Also in the case next to these items were 2 EK2s, sold seperatley, thinking back there was one with a trifold. I think it was split out as EKs sell well on their own nowdays. Damn it to hell, if I had noticed it in time!!!

Hi, I recieved a death card today to a "Wachtmeister der Scutzpolizei in einer Pnzerj?ger-Kompagnie" He was killed in Feb 1943. What kind of unit would he have been in? Thanks Chris

Anyone seen the Braunschweig on a trifold before ? (in this case there is an explanation)

I heard old Greg is a favorite amongst the sailors....

neat link. They have the casualty stats as well. best Chris

Hi, there is a precedent with propaganda crosses....ie. the WW1 ones. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=22759 These are crude (Gordons book mentions one piece crosses which would fir better to the purpose than a three piece fantasy cross pictured here) The WW1 ones were NOT, NOT, NOT made to give to German soldiers... imagine risking a plane and pilot to drop an expensive box of crosses over a trench in Flanders. Most would sink in the mud and the few that would have been found would have been prized souvenirs by the Germans. Assuming there were one piece, crude crosses (as mentioned in Gordons book) then they may have been made as propaganda crosses in the war to sell and raise funds for the war effort (as were the WW1 crosses). That is assuming the Russians did things like that. A last thought.... the Germans believed they were the goodies.... a simple cross showing the Russians think the Germans were the baddies would not really have convinced any german that its time private Schmitt declared the war over. Note as well.... crude earlier examples have "FUR" and this one has evolved to "F?R"... also very unlikely that they corrected this within the batch?

The article by the Russian is guesswork and supposition as to where, why and how they were made. The BDOS magazine did not control articles... if you sent one they were published... the author was responsible for the content. The Soviet Union was not an isolated nation. These could be from anywhere. Made in the DDR in the 1950? in Prague in the 60s? Leningrad in 42? I would guess in Germany (east or west) post war. Lets be realistic.... 1) the quality is something that takes practice, materials and workers who know how to assemble an Iron Cross... guys were trained to do the work, it was not a case of "Oh... you were a tool and die maker? Well guess what, you are going to make Iron crosses during airraids" and not a one off batch of 500 in a bombed out factory. 2) Propaganda is cheap... leaflets and posters... not a very expensive box of crosses where each has a 1 in 1000 chance of making a single enemy soldier think. The Germans already knew what the Russians thought of them 3) Seriously? Would these have had any effect at all? I am sure the Germans would have loved to have these as souvenirs. It would not have changed anything. I knew many guys in the army who went out of their way to be as brutal as possible to folks we met "on the road"... anything to add to the hard ass reputation... boys will be boys. 4) Does anyone know who the Russian is who wrote the article? His credentials? His sources? It is not because something is in print that it is gospel. Gordon gives him the benefit of the doubt which is fair as nothing is proved one way or another but personally I would want to see more than a page of supposition from Lenningrad. They could just have well been brought back from Berlin by Russian soldiers stationed there in 1973. 5) You have as little idea as to how it came into the box as the rest of us, could have been bought by the vet at a gun show in Shtsville in 1998 as he was taking his grandson from table to table. As everyone says... buy the piece not the story... i assume it is up for sale or will be? (I think for some reason that they look like postwar S+L pieces)

In the lounge Bear provided this link to a...uhem... "Seacock" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPWDglTboI

Please check out the whats new page for the Bavarians on the Styr confronted by ghosts... pretty eerie battlefield.. http://www.kaiserscross.com/40020.html

Its simple groups like this where I can follow the actions that really make me a happy boy :-))

The "nice" part of this group is he was wounded by handgrenade, so pretty much close cbt. on the first day od the Kaiserschlacht at the jump off point of the offensive for his division,

Als Fernsprecher z?r Nachrichtenmittelabtlg IR74 kommandiert?

Can anyone help wit reading this? He was kommandiert to the Regimental what ??

The 1913 74th Inf regt 100 year medal is of the highest quality, the Braunschweig medal on a trifold.

Just got this today... its a split group. In the Pass the EK2 and Braunschweig crosses are entered but the EK2 is missing as is the Braunschweig doc. EK and Wound badge doc are there.

Bastid...... (Just kidding) Being INSIDE the fort would have beena holy grail,your guy was somewhere on the slopes in front of it.... which is about as good as any mortal collector may hope to get. Best Chris