Chris Boonzaier

Shouldnt you guys be vetting the rumour that Jim Morrison is alive and living in Paris? Elvis at Burger King?

Rick will jump in to correct me, but I read Marinelazarettw?rter?

You mean on the EK? Same dates are very much the exception. 2 years between award and signing of the doc is not unusual. Initially they planned to do an official document like for 1870, so units started awarding preliminary docs, some from day one of the war, some started much later and issued them months or years after the event.... Of course... the Official document never happened....

Nice find! Imperial EK docs are the bee's knees..... :-)))))

Check out the "Whats new" http://www.kaiserscross.com/44901/home.html Some additions to the Assault Division pages...

I would suggest checking with fellow collectors BEFORE going to print. There are often Wehrpass anamolies that can be very misleading. Once printed it is hard to correct. Best Chris

Hi, Hinze was from Sturmbataillon Nr1. My 2nd Rohr one is at the end of this thread... http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=13054 David Gregory has a Pass to a man who was FW trained, but was never a Garde Pionier. I cannot remember the unit details.

Hi, According to him the FW Zug for Rohr came from the Flammenwerfer Regiment Pionier Bataillon 36... which is obviously wrong, but potentially has an understandable error... I think the Pionier Bataillon 36 is the answer. I have to check a reference, but Pionier=Bataillon Nr. 36 was one of the cylinder gas release units set up by Haber and his co-workers. There first was Pionier=Regimenten Nr. 35 u. 36 of two battalions each, but these were later broken up into four battalions without regimental structures. What this has to do with FW, I don't know. I think he was just incorrect. Reddemann had a very large training infrastructure; training was first done in Berlin (my father had this duty when disabled by a wound), and finished at his training company at the flame regiment HQ in France. I vaguely remember reading that before becoming Stinkpioniers the Pionier Batln 36 was actually Ersatz Pionier Batln. 36 with no attachment to any combat unit. Once it became a fully fledged Gastruppe, maybe it was Aus der maus, but I am thinking more in Terms of the later Ersatz unit for the Pionier Batln 36. The kind of technical skills the gas cylinder and Flame thrower men needed must have been similar, not from a combat perspective, but from a equipment perspective. It could well be that the Ersatz Batln, having more recruits on their hands than they could forward to their unit ( as gas soldiers are not killed that often), supplied men to other units? i.e. "Say, anyone have any men in the "Locksmith, plummer" kinda vein? Men who know their way arounds tanks and hoses?" It seems that the Ersatz from Pionier Batln 36 would have been tailor made for FW units... Maybe Schwerin MEANT to write "Gas Regiment Pionier batln 36" ?

Hi, In the Rohr book Schwerin skips over all units, not only the FW. The MW and MG also get barely a mention. According to him the FW Zug for Rohr came from the Flammenwerfer Regiment Pionier Bataillon 36... which is obviously wrong, but potentially has an understandable error... I think the Pionier Bataillon 36 is the answer. According to a reference I have, ALL Sturm Bataillons had intergral FW units that were not part of GRPR. Most had just 3 Werfer, but 5. and 11. both had 9 werfer. Nr. 16.,17., 9., and 18. had to make do with only 2 werfer each. (Pop had a very poor opinion of most German, French, and British troops, a position that I feel was unfair.) He also seems to had a poor opinion about his Officers and NCOs :-) ... how many soldiers actually got a thumbs up? :-)

Very nice indeed. Is it a single doc? Thanks Chris

Funnily enough... the Freikorps Aschaffenburg had very close ties to the Real Army. In November 1918 the 2nd Bavarian J?ger bataillon was released from Service. In 1919 a Newspaper ad called for combat veterans to volunteer (paid, food and lodging) They were put into Volkswehr companies, 2nd Bavarian J?ger Bataillon, otherwise known as "Freikorps Aschaffenburg" The stamps in the Milit?rpass are for the "4. Volkswehr Komp. 2 J?ger Batln." The members were not all ex J?gers... basically anyone who had experiance could volunteer.

Hi, A rare book!!! I have an EK2 doc to Sch?tzen Fritz Hinze of the MG company, awarded in June 1918... Dont suppose there is a mention.....? Also, could you see who the commander was at that time? Looks like Jen.... but that is a rough guess... Thanks Chris

Thanks, I would be interested in seeing how detailed it is... it is potentially a great resource! Thanks Chris P.S. Does anyone else know of any books with info on the SB Rohr? descriptions of actions etc? The official SB Nr.5 history is very, very dry. Best Chris

Has anyone had this one in their hands? "Die deutsche Sturmbataillone im Weltkrieg " Published in 1939.. I have no other info on it. Thanks Chris

But it does not need to be so, An Abteilung can also be a unit way smaller than a Battalion. Fernsprechabt. Sanit?ts Abt. etc were all much smaller than Bataillons. Ditto when Sturmabteilung Rohr increased its number to Bataillon strength it then became Sturm-Bataillon Rohr.

That is correct, It is like the Infantry assault and Panzer assault of the next war, if you had the points, the award was automatic and the regt commander could award it. Ditto for wounds, it was, for want of a better expression, a clear cut thing... If you bledd, you get one. It is sooooooo sad that they do not have the date of the wound... From the docs we see that he was there from at least May 1917 till the end. From the Sanit?ts Kreuz that he was in the 5. Sturm Kompagnie. Assuming that units seldom give awards to the newly arrived, I am guessing that he was there quite a bit longer, especially as (have to hit the books here, I am running on memmory) the 5. Komp was formed in early 1916 from the Park-Kompagnie. So I am guessing that old Schott took part in quite a bit of fighting at Verdun. Best Chris

I agree, somewhat "Saharan" but nothing Legion.

Very impressive... I tip my hat twice!

Hi, It was basically THE Sturm-Bataillon of the war. The Nr. 5 is because it was attached to the 5. Armee not because it is simply Nr.5 in a long list of others. Rohr took over the Abt in 1915, turned it into a Bataillon, developed assault tactics with combined arms (Minenwerfer, Infantry canon, pioniers, flame throwers etc) and perfected these at verdun. Then a series of Sturm Bataillon for the other armies were created based on what Rohr had done in his own unit. The men of Rohr rotated to the front for fighting, then to the rear to train other troops throughout 1916, beginning of 17, training many other units as assault troops and at the same time involved in really desperate fighting at verdun. Towards the end of 1917, through 18 there were in heavy action (from Feb 18 as part of the 18. Armee for the German offensive. Then when thinngs began to collapse and the war came to an end they were whisked away to guard the Kaisers HQ. Not only a nice print, but I would say maybe the elitest unit of the war? Being only Bataillon size (although Bataillon Rohr was a bit bigger than the other Sturm-bataillons) they are as rare as tits on a bull.

And this is a nice one as well as it puts him in the 5th comapny.... It all just arrived an hour ago... :-))))

Also an original Rohr signature on the special print Wound badge doc...

Here is the EK2, has been repaired, but in this case it is supportable...

This group was sold by Detlev, who kindly forwarded my begging letter to the buyer, who in turn sold it on to me. A bit of a round about way and the end price was somewhat hefty, but it was a have to have...

Want to double your money then ?? Paypal OK? :-)

Have added a new sub section that will have notes, letters, diaries etc. First one is a stort Bio sent to me by Tony. http://www.kaiserscross.com/68601/home.html