Chris Boonzaier

Hi, Steyn is right, it is a Silber C. it is known as the Silber c in all German glider circles. Interesting that the book has that D , I have no ever heard it called that, even by folks who had it.

Here is one... http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1477

Incredibly sexy things... US wings was on my list for side collections I would like to start but would get me killed by the wife.....

Did she find all that stuff in the States?

Super stuff.... wish I had a mom like that.......

http://cgi.ebay.de/EISERNES-KREUZ-2-KLASSE...1QQcmdZViewItem And the same sh4t.

Here is his Turkish Halbmond.

Hi, nice, that must a a collecting theme in itself, mason badges with a military theme...

I always say a mans price is his own business and if its to much for me I just move on... Goes for basically everything on this site. But when you pay big bucks, dont you expect a degree of security? http://www.derrittmeister.com/09506.htm

Well, I cant make a model, if I do there is so much glue smeared on it its no longer possible to paint. Do you modelling guys ever built for the ham fisted non modellers? I have seen some wonderful pieces and wonder if you guys have space for it all or if at some stage you think "Hmmm, wish someone would buy that off me... them I would have space for more ...."

Why? They had already solved the problem of how to hang an iron cross shaped thingy around your neck with the grandcross, with an extra loop it would look crqp and ... well, there is no proof either way... Sellers will argue it is an early KC, buyers will say it is a large EK2.

Thats the facts Jack! It was part of the Pascha II reinforcements :-)))

I dont buy the prototype RK theory... for the simple reason that Germany had had neck orders for years and years and years before these were made... what are the chances that they make a prototype with such a ring on it? They already had the right ring form on the Grosskreuz, so why make an EK2 ring on a prototype RK?

That is one neat item. When I was 16 I bought a Zippo, loved it to death but couldnt do much with it... so I started smoking..... I am not much of a vodka shots fan... but if I owned this.......

Ahhh... Buuuuuuuuut, was the I.R. 146 still part of the 37. I.D. in May 1918... or had they left the division some time before?

Nice pic Theo !!

I have been to meaning to fill for some time... this was in a group I bought this week.... Any idea why it is so sexy?

Hi, .... and the wire thing in the lid is also ....strange, strange... maybe a really early or really late model?

On the off chance that anyone is interested in the opening stages of the war in German South West Africa in 1914, or if anyone has medals to the South African Mounted Rifles or Transvaal Horse Artillery, a look at the casualty list here may be of interest. If you have any medals to anyone who was present at Sandfontein i am sure this will be of interest. Still to come are some photos, medals and maps, but for the time being, here is the bare bones info. http://www.imperial-research.net/sandfontein.htm

Hi Tony, Nice one, its a Belgian one. All the best Chris

Gotta pic?

When you have these, as opposed to the excess baggage the WW2 soldiers carried around with them, I often wonder what kind of nasty stuff is caught up in the filter? Green cross, blue cross, yellow cross?.. it must all be in there?. Soak it in water and then put it on a hot plate?. Will you kill yourself? There is none of the minty unused masks that you find in Wehrmacht collections, these seem to all have a certain amount of sweat and grime and , for the want of a better word?.fear, ?. Impregnated in the leather.

One thing I have noticed?. When I was in the army we had aluminium cups under our water bottles? they conduct heat wonderfully? so much so that they are usually to hot to drink out of. By the time the aluminium has cooled down, so has your coffee. The Brits had a great system with a detachable plastic rim around the cup?.

Hi, Ages ago we had a thread on the large decorative death certificates sent to the families of those killed in action in WW1. David Gregory and I are doing a small project on these and I wanted to ask if anyone has any to contribute. So far we have the Prussian, Saxon and Bavarian as well as a special one from the city of Frankfurt, but there must be a few more out there?. Can anyone help on these? All pics will be credited of course, also needed are all documents etc related to the death of soldiers. Thanks Chris

Hi, Sure, I agree, there are many factors that come into it. The wire and defensive positions had not been maintained for months. The ?Good? divisions were long gone out of the pocket, when you read the German order of battle and compare the German divisions there to the allied ratings in the 252 divisions and you will see that even before the pullout the troops that were there were lower lineholders. Also of note, by the time of the attack most of the heavy arty was gone and even the field arty was on the road out of the pocket, so I assume that the chances that a 30.5cm battery was still there are kind of slim. (I am not knocking the Austrians as a whole (my own distant relatives were in the Austro Hungarian Army), but for many of the units the fighting qualities were not that highly rated, and this late in the war even less. Paschell (sp?) has good coverage of this sector in his book.) It could of course be that his unit was sent to France for the prep barrage for the Grosse Schlacht, it would be very interesting to find a list of Austrian arty units and where they served. I mean, these things fired almost 400kg shells!