Chris Boonzaier

Hi, indeed you are right, I was intending to just show the ones bases on the issue bayonet that officers purchased when they replaces swords but it meandered into the issue ones as well, but that is ok, the more the merrier :-)

The "Vegan Mutiny" just does not seem right... :-)

Hi, here you go....

So far so good....

Hi, I see a Josef Schuster as a Major in the 18th as well? Man, these guys are really elusive! :-(

That is not a page of awards.... it is a huge page of errors... I guess the rest of the book may be ok, but this is terrible... :-(

Charles Schütz from Kaiserslautern, Joined the Legion in Feb 1914 and was sent to Algeria. At the outbreak of the war he was one of the german Legionnaires who stayed in North Africa.... Transfered to Morocco in Jan 1916 he commited suicide in April 1916 and was buried at Fez.... About as "Cafard" as one could imagine. he was from my regiment, different Epoch of course.... Inspite of the state of war it seems his possesions (Pocket knife, Military Pass, Dog tag, shaving mirror and a grand total of 1 Franc 50 centimes), were returned to his family in Germany...... A rather sad grouping....

Hi Guys, Thanks for the efforts. I think there must be more of him on ancestry, my guess is they screwed up with his first name and we will never find the rest of his stuff :-( All the best Chris

Fantastic, You have a really nice gem there!! I would buy it in a second if I saw it at a show. best Chris

Hi Daron, I think you have a winner. Can you show the stamps on it, in the side of the blade and on the back, between the saw and the hilt. Best Chris

Hi Andy, I cannot find that entry at all :-( do you have a date of birth? Thanks Chris

Hi, in 1914 he was in the ersatz battalion of the 18. bIR,

Hi, cananyone give a first name toa bavarian Major Schuster, 18th IR and later Bavarian 4th or 4th Reserve Regt? Thanks Chris

I have it on good authority that these BAMers are all fake? http://www.ebay.de/itm/1-Weltkrieg-Koppelschuh-WW1-original-Deutsch-/262741683965?hash=item3d2c9feefd:g:HugAAOSwB09YPoLy

You should write depression era porn! :-)

It is true that the French do not have much going for them as far as entertainment, luxury or methods of relieving stress and tension overseas. So if you are overseas for 4-6 months, in a really horrible place, the only distractions are duty, alcohol and cigarettes. Because of the "anonymous" thing the legion does nothing to facilitate any private life connections you may have, so possibly you may have no contact with family etc, unless a friend who is no longer "anonymous" relays the mail. After a while tensions come to the surface. It does not take very much, and usually has more to do with boredom than with stress. i.e. when things are hgappening around you and life is exciting you are less likely to get Cafard, but when nothing is happening, things start to go wrong. Elsewhere on the interweb there is a description by Erwin Rosen.... The Foreign Legion has manufactured a special expression of its own for this mental state “Cafard.” The “cafard” reigned. The cafard of the Foreign Legion, a near relative to tropical madness, is a collective name for all the inconceivable stupidities, excesses and crimes which tormented nerves can commit. The English language has no word for this condition. In “cafard” murder hides, and suicide and mutiny; it means self mutilation and plan-less flight out into the desert; it is the height of madness and the depth of despair. All idiocy in the Legion is called “cafard”. A legionnaire is gloomy, sitting sullenly on his bed for hours, speaking to no one. If you ask him what is the matter, he will answer with a gross insult. He sits thinking all the time and does the queerest things. He has the “cafard.” His madness may turn into a senseless explosion or fit of fury; men suffering from “cafard” will run a bayonet through their comrade’s body, without any reason, without any outward cause. Sometimes they rush out into the desert, sometimes they tear every piece of their outfit into rags, just to vex themselves and others thoroughly. The “cafard” is at its worst in the hot season when the sun burns down relentlessly from the cloudless, deep blue sky, with the strange greenish coloring of the horizon peculiar to Algeria. Then the barrack-yard of the Foreign Legion lies deserted. It is so hot that the stones on the yellow clayey ground seem to move in the glimmering overheated air. The legionnaire sentries wear the flowing white neck-protector, and have stuffed wet cloths into their kepis Here is an article in the Australian press from 1940... As Prince Aage says, the amazing thing is that, in this incomparable unity, all differences of education, of nature, of character, persist. The miracle is that they converge towards the same goal. It is by living for the Legion that each Legionnaire lives for himself and gains self-expression. The Cafard. The Legionnaire marches, makes high- ways of adventure, throws bridges across torrential "Oueds," cuts away mountains, (Ights lawless sons of the desert, resumes his long marches, and still manages to laugh in between times, for "La Legion" is cheerful. "I have never arrived at a camp," says a French officer, "when 1 have not boen greeted by the 'wit' of the squadron with one of those sallies of which they hold the secret. Good humour sparkles like a gun powder fire, along the columns, and it is expressed in many languages." But there are times when this cheery courage smokes, burns, and goes out. It is as though a wind of melancholy swept along the lines. The old chiefs of the Legion feel the change In the atmosphcin long before any tangible proof of the "cafard" hos shown Itself Tiifling incidents are soon aggravated by a sullen gioueh an ineitia takes hold ol even the most valiant, symptoms of boredom oi neurotic tendencies appear, a general iriitability or an cxcessivn politeness becomes obvious It mav lie by neglect of the most elemental y discip- line (and then the wise officci clos"s his eyes) or it may be an almost caiica tunl displav of marks of respect (and then the wise chief keeps a warv look- out! Then to one s astonishment tlw taciluin begin to talk the chatteibo.es aie silent voices aie hcaid to sing which were nevei known to hum The more gentle natuies become brusque and lough -using the stlnup on theil mules till they dtaw blood The violcnt-tempeied fall into an apathetic sort of stupoi At these signs, and many olheis, an exnerienccd chief recognises that the black mood of the cafaid is about to descend upon h i i men What is the re- medy'' Some ofnceis distnbute an e\tia. i ation of w hie othel s advance the tioops money on theil pay That may succeed in getting them ovei the mood of oepies sion but it may not The cine is often vvoise than the 111 It is the match which sets fiie to the povv dei Some offlceis tighten up the dis- cipline Some exact at those times an txtra efToit by put- ting tilth men to a. difficult task - the mote difficult the bettei Othcis favour test and a complete iola xa (ion of autboi IIj I suppose the sin endest await events bending later to tlie storm It is pel haps the only thing to do That mood of de piession which stiikes Legionnaiics singly or in gioups (how easily gloomi- ness, like chcenness can be communi- cated when a community of people are affected bv baioinetnc conditions or by lack of »specific ¡nteiest or aim). Is never apparent when the Legion is on the march or goin* into battle Then the recklessness the disdain of dangei that has caused so many of the-e men to bleak away from the beaten hack, fiom the laws of their eounltv at some time or other makes daring, feailess soldieis of them Although nianv seek lo escape when stationed at Algci or Sidi-bcl-Abcs all love the Legion and stand fast to its tiadition when theie is leal soldiers' work to be done http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17682249

That is a very nice group !

Hi, can you post better pics of the front and back of the disk and the bigger letter?

Not my sale, but for anyone doing research on the EK maker WILM, this would be the book to get.... http://www.ebay.de/itm/Josef-Wilm-Der-Gold-und-Silberschmied-Oscar-Gehrig-1925-/282221089101?hash=item41b5b0114d:g:SfsAAOSwzaJYAjtQ

Looking good guys, we are getting there :-) I hope to be able to post something very interesting at tghe end of the week :-)

Hi Pieter, I dont have all scanned at the moment but there are others... the one above being the more comman, but there are other variations of that one as well... hwere is the postwar one.... most others have an option of filling in what kind of ribbon....

An Interesting Tidbit.... Kendrick served in the Field Intel Security during WW1 and was posted to Cologne at the end of the war as part of MI1(c) ... just by a huge coincidence, that is where Juulman landed up after the war as well.... I wonder if he was actively working for British Intel after the war as well?

Hi, can anyone translate this? Thanks Chris

He was born in 1885... https://www.geni.com/people/Karl-Ferdinand-Juulmann/6000000033114384898 HGis wife was from Cologne, he must have met and married her just after the war, he was in Cologne at the time... https://www.geni.com/people/Christina-Sibilla-Juulmann/6000000033114475843 Hi Estonian Registry card, I assume from 1920....