Chris Boonzaier

The top two are superb!! Any chance of seeing the naming on the back of them?

Thanks

Chris

The field they charged over, this was the forrest the 3rd Dragoons under Vincent charged...

These were Vincents medals

The 6th Cavalry Brigade mounted detachment, which consisted of

fifty men apiece from the 3rd Dragoon Guards, l0th Royal Hussars, and Royals,

and was commanded by Major Watkin Williams of the l0th, was ordered at about

2 p.m. on the 24th March to make a mounted attack on some enemy infantry and

machine-guns, who were in action in front of two copses on the rising ground just

west of Villeselve. The detachment, which was formed into three regimental troops,

of which that of the 3rd Dragoon Guards was led by Lieutenant A. B. P. L. Vincent,

moved off immediately along the road to Villeselve with the 3rd Dragoon Guards

troop leading. Orders were given to the troop leaders on the march, after which the

squadron rode on at a steady trot, turning left off the main road and taking a sunken

track leading north into Collezy. It then came under heavy machine-gun fire from

the direction of Golancourt, but took cover behind a number of large farm buildings.

Here it was between elements of British infantry who were in action east of the farm,

and elements of French infantry lining the sunken track in rear.

Wasting no time, as the orders had already been given, the squadron passed through

the British infantry and began to gallop towards the two copses with troops in line;

the 3rd Dragoon Guards against the right-hand copse and the l0th Hussars against

the left-hand copse, with the Royals 150 yards behind. They started knee-to-knee,

across about 600 yards of ground, of which the last two hundred were ploughed. They

came under heavy machine-gun fire immediately and this, as well as the fast pace,

caused them to open out, so that when the charge was sounded they were fairly

well extended. The moral effect on the enemy was very surprising. The moment

the men cheered, and the swords came down to the "sword in line", they either put

their hands up or else bolted into the copses. This did not save them, for once cavalry

had been launched to the charge it was always far too late for the enemy either to

run or to make placatory gestures. They were ridden down and 100 sabred, while

the 3rd Dragoon Guards troop, on reaching the right-hand copse, dismounted

and chased them through the trees, bringing twelve back alive. In this attack, besides

the 100 sabred, 107 Germans were captured as well as 4 machine-guns. The infantry,

which had followed up closely, having completely recovered their spirits, captured

many more; for the Germans continued to surrender freely, although before the

attack they had held the initiative.

Casualties to the squadron amounted to seventy-five all ranks. This was half its

strength, but out of the total only one officer and a few men were killed, and the

wounds of the majority were slight, so that in most cases they were able to continue

at duty. Had the infantry attempted to cross the 600 yards of ground they would

have been decimated to no purpose. It was enfiladed by at least five machine-guns-

only one of which escaped capture- while some 500 riflemen were covering it from

in front, with mortars and artillery at call. The exploit was in fact only practicable

to cavalry at the gallop.

Although only a very small affair on this vast battle front, the charge at Villeselve

had most important immediate results. It enabled the exhausted and disheartened

infantry to advance and retake an area of great tactical importance, and it secured

the left flank of the 14th Division, thus preventing a major breakthrough at a most

awkward and shaky part of the line.

These may have been for one of the last charges on the European continant.

The nice one is of course the top one.

They are much finer than the later/WW1 ones...

This one with a real gold centre I picked up in Cairo last year...

I am very partial to the domed backed ones...

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I got these ages ago over Ebay, I assume they are posed. The men just have too much time on their hands .....

August 1916

Etappen Inspektion 11. Armee August 1915

These are all difficult as they are staff and not regt officers...

Febuary 1916..

The above was from the Baudirektion of the 4. armee, i have no great hopes in identifying it.

This one from January 1917 may be easier

Part of an ongoing project in identifying signatures on WW1 documents, these may be of intrest to some....

I know Rick loves em......

That is a nice bar, Colonial stuff is always interesting.

I think most people believe that, it is a legend that does the rounds.... however... I always thought the one swipe decapitation was a myth or legend... then found I had a medal to a guy who was "there" when it happened.

I think the "must draw blood" thing must have started when everyone started bothering Gurkas to show them theirfunny knives... and one gurka came up with the idea... to scare off the curious !

Here you go... this is what you want. The loschgruppe Liblar is part of this

http://www.erftfeuer.de/feuerwehren/erftstadt/

Check this out....

It still exists today and they are planning to set up a web page. From the size of the town it must be a volunteer group

http://www.feuerwehr-liblar.de/

I think it looks OK.

The Loschzug would have had a record of the numbers.

An unusual kinda tag, but I have never looked at Feuerwehr stuff. Seems a logical thing for them to have (think of the firestorms). And as Sal says... who would fake something like this?