Robin Lumsden

And here are his unit flags.

Here he is with a couple of comrades in Latvia in 1919.

The commander of the Iron Division, Major Josef Bischoff, wore his German uniform throughout the Baltic campaign.

And here is Leutnant Raben, of the Iron Division's air squadron, wearing the black breast cross above his German awards. He is in the garb of the Russian-German Army of the West, which Awaloff commanded, and which adopted the Iron Division when the latter was disowned by the German government in 1919.

The cross at the top of this thread sold today on eBay for 380 Euros, or ?260. Apparently, it is definitely a fake, and one of a series of good quality copy Freikorps awards coming out of Hanover. The seller admitted that the skull had been broken off and reattached.

Out of interest, here's Awaloff himself, wearing a white version of the cross.......

I have a question..... were there not different grades of this cross, or was it strictly a Neck Order? I'm not saying the one Robin shows is legit.. but my initial impression is this would have been (1) a medal bar piece, not neck order..

(2) A spangen-stuch strictly for the medal bar??

The number struck in the back looks remarkably correct for other Friekorps pieces I have seen, but I'm pretty thin on experience in some of this stuff "between the wars".

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My initial reaction about the one at the top was that it's fake. But now I wonder if it could be something from the 30s or even later as Awaloff and his self-instituted little 'Order' seems to have gone on for decades after the end of the Freikorps. Presumably, he could have had later ones made.

There were apparently various grades of the 'Order', some for Germans and some for Russians. What differentiated the two, I don't know. It may have been the ribbon, perhaps.

What about the ribbon on the cross at the top of this thread? The one with the Russian and German colours?

Has anyone ever seen that ribbon before??

This link tells the story of Awaloff's Order.........

http://www2.prestel.co.uk/church/selfstyle/ddm.htm

As far as I know, there were at least 2 variants of this thing, with and without swords, both neck badges. Going purely from memory, Awaloff fled to Denmark around 1920, which is when he founded his 'Order' and dished it out to those who had fought with him against the Reds in the Baltic. The entire German Iron Division had come under his command the year before, so many Germans would have qualified for the award. I've only ever seen one for sale (the eBay one above) which was part of a large Freikorps group, including miniatures, which sold individually for mega-bucks. Awaloff Crosses are shown in Huesken's and Niemann's references, the latter having a third 'variant' of the cross with swords shown at the top of this thread. It's interesting that when Awaloff created his 'Order', he used stock ribbon as already described above. However, the cross at the top has a different style ribbon, with the Imperial Russian colours on one side and the Imperial German colours on the other, which would make sense.

I do not like the cross at the top of the thread.......but could it possibly be original???

With its ribbon.

Here's a known original which sold recently on eBay.

At least, it looks like a fake to me.

It seems even the obscure Awaloff Cross is being faked.

I don't think "Community Relations" had been invented yet in 1950!

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Spot on, but it's the only 'official' use of these particular initials I could find. I don't think they relate to the medal either.

When that medal was awarded, community relations probably consisted of....

"Do you want one lump on your head, or two, Sir?" :speechless-smiley-004:

Cripes ! Sounds like a Malayan P.C.S.O. !

  Is this a 'Homebeat' office or a Internal Investigations thing?

  John

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John.

I haven't got a clue.

Whenever I see the word 'Community' these days, I just switch off.

Thank God I've less than 3 years to do.

In the Philippines (and Malay) Police, DPCR stands for Directorate of Police Community Relations.

Robin,

        fantastic collection by the way

Your post 24 the steel helmet is this for a specific Friekorps unit? Im sure I've seen a photo of Goering wearing a similar helmet was it from his unit?

Foo

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I have never been able to associate this helmet with a particular unit. In fact, it may not be Freikorps at all, but a helmet of the Brunswick Inf. Rgt. 92, with the company number on the back. All three battalions of this regiment wore the skull throughout WW1. Initially, it had been only the third battalion. It was common for unit emblems to be painted on these steel helmets. What it probably is not, is a helmet of the Hacketau Freikorps, which is usually associated with this TK due to Baer's book.

Or the Danish contingent in Kosovo........how did they get away with this??

And not forgetting the Yanks.........

Well, that's the 50-post hurdle crossed.

And it still is.....as shown by this picture of a Bundeswehr tanker from Brunswick.

Most people don't appreciate that, to the Germans, it was an elite badge.....

And with the camps.....

But in the public's mind today, the totenkopf is always associated with the SS.

To Luftwaffe.....