Gordon Craig

Linasl, It is the royal crown. Regards, Gordon

Just to add some English to this thread "Order of Shutskor 1st Class with the image of the corps emblem". Regards, Gordon

Edward, I'm not sure that Jens Z is talking about the same person as you are. Karl-Heinz Moehle does not appear in Franz Kurowski's book "Verleugnete Vaterschat - Wehrmachtoffiziere schufen die Bundeswehr". This book contains a list of all Knights Cross holders that joined the Bundeswehr. Regards, Gordon

Kasle, Good looking cross. Probably an early one. For a better opinion I would suggest that you visit the Wehrmacht Awards Forum where you will find a sub forum dedicated to 57 type awards. Regards, Gordon

Looking forward to this issue. Always looking for good reference material on Ethiopian medals, awards. Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen, I have an early Montenegro Silver Bravery Medal with the original ribbon. It appears to be an early type. It has two punch marks on the rim. I have looked at silver and tax stamps from Austria and France but I unable to identify either either of the two stamps on my medal. Perhaps someone here can identify them for me. Regards, Gordon

Owain, Interesting medal groups. Especially the second set. Good luck in hunting up the ribbons you need to mount your medals correctly. Be interesting to see them again once they are mounted. Regards, Gordon

Always nice to get a cased set. Thanks for posting the pictures. Regards, Gordon

ralstona, Here are a couple of pictures of the navy section of the HGM in Viena. There are some frock coats in the pictures. You might want to send pictures of your frock coat to the HGM and see what they have to say about it. Unlike most museums the HGM has always responded to my questions. Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen, I learn something new everyday. Regards, Gordon

nickstrenk, Nice looking cased badges. Thanks for posting them. Regards, Gordon

ralstona, While these buttons were made in A H they don't look like buttons of the uniforms worn by A H troops. The Hungarian crown has a bent cross on the top. The Austrian buttons, in this shape, usually had the Austrian emblem on the front. I've put a picture of Hungarian buttons below and a link to a thread I started on the GMIC some years ago. That being said, uniforms worn by the A H navy are not something that I have studied so putting this coat on the correct forum might get you the answer that you are seeking. Regards, Gordon

TPinFL, Welcome to the forum. Hopefully, you will gather the uniform information that you need here. Another place you might be interested in looking for information of the=is kind is the DDR subforum on the Wehrmacht Awards Forum (WAF). Don't let the title WAF scare you off. There are some very knowledgeable DDR uniform members on this DDR sub forum. Good luck in building your uniform collection. You might wish to research books in this area as well. There are some good ones in English and German. Regards, Gordon

Spasm, Thanks for your work on this picture. It does look more normal with the medal on the left. It will make an interesting research project looking at it this way. Regards, Gordon

Nice looking medals. I don't know much about these awards. I'll have to do some research while I wait for you to post them in the for sale section. Regards, Gordon

Ladies and Gentlemen, A question about the silver cross in the Order of Military Merit. Not much info on these on the web. So far, I have found one reference that says the silver cross was added during the First Republic in 1873/74 time period for award to enlisted men. Almost all of the silver crosses that I have seen are all silver without any enamel. I have a silver cross, dated "1 JUL 98" for the battle of El Caney in Cuba during the Spanish American war. It is the only silver cross that I have ever seen with the enamel crest in the centre. Usually the crest is just silver. Is this a high grade cross? Say possibly for an NCO rather than a private? Or is it a private purchase piece? I've posted picture of my cross with the enamel centre and a cross that is all silver for comparison purposes. I'd appreciate any reference information about these silver crosses that you can supply, Regards, Gordon

Richard S. Nice award, document and thread. There is an interesting posting on WIKI on the town of Diósgyőr and the factory your medal was issued for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diósgyőr I'll have to post some of my awards and documents. They have lain dormant since the Hungarian sub forum was closed. Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen, Learned something new again today! Didn't know that Zippo lighters were date marked. Here is a link to a list of date codes etc that might prove useful. https://www.zippo.com/pages/date-codes Regards, Gordon

Shots Dave, Thanks for the response and the email. Flat interiors seems to be the norm in post war cases. Don't know about prewar or war time ones. Red seems to have been issued to military personnel and blue to civilians but I haven't done enough research yet to be 100% sure on that. Regards, Gordon

GeroICCCP, Thanks for the post and the comments. I did a presentation on the Battle of Khalki Gol to the Ottawa chapter of the OMRS a couple of years ago. I was surprised, because of its impact on future Japanese decisions about WWII, that no one had ever heard of it. Glad to hear that someone else finds it worth studying. Regards, Gordon

Shots Dave, The eagle on the case appears to be that used post war. I say "appears" because it looks the same as the eagle on a post war case in my collection. I don't have a war time, or prewar, case to compare it to. These crosses were conferred up until 1992 so this may be a post war cross in its case of issue. Is the interior of the case fitted for one of these crosses? I would like to see a picture of the interior of the case. I am not aware of any discussion on the GMIC comparing war time and post war time crosses so I do not know if there is any difference in the two or not. It would be an interesting comparison. Regards, Gordon

Enzo, Thanks for adding your interesting comments to the thread. I was somewhat confused by the existence of these Austrian type organizations in Italy and your comments helped very much here. I wasn't aware that Granero had gone out of business. There are a considerable number of the badges they made for sale on ebay. Regards, Gordon

Brian, My father lived through the First World War, and thus the Spanish Flu, but I never gave the flu much thought in relation to him until I read your thread. The effects on the Spanish Flu on my family was never talked about. My Dad left Canada in 1916 and returned in 1919. Too bad I can't ask him for his recollection of the period. Regards, Gordon

SCHÜTZENKOMPANIE SEPP INNERKOFLER-SEXTEN Sepp Innerkofler was a WWI Austrian soldier from the Tyrol area of Austria/Italy. He was a well know mountain guide (Berführer) before WWI. He was born in Sesto/Sexten (Italian/German name) 2 December 1861 and died April 18, 1915. The town is located in Italy. According to the2011 census, 95.37% of the population spoke German, 4.36% spoke Italian and 0.27% spoke Ladin. (Ladin Italian: ladino; German: Ladinisch) is a Romance language consisting of a group of dialects that some consider part of a unitary Rhaeto-Romance language, mainly spoken in the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy in the provinces of South Tyrol, Trentino, and Belluno, by the Ladin people. It exhibits similarities to Swiss Romansh and Friulian.) After Italy declared war on Austria’Hangary in May of 1915 the Standschtützen became part of the army on both sides. Standschützen were rifle guilds and rifle companies that had existed since the 15th and 16th centuries and repeatedly intervened in the acts of war initially only within and later also outside the borders of Tyrol. A standing gunner was a member of a shooting range where he was enrolled and which he committed himself to the voluntary military protection of the state of Tyrol (or Vorarlberg ). Sepp Innerkofler was a member of one of these Standschützen. He was successful in forming, and leading, a group of mountain guides within the Standschützen that successfully carried out a war of movement within the Alps delaying occupation of the area by Italian troops until Austrian troops arrived. These standschützen prevented an Italian army breakthrough. At this time, Austrian troops were fully occupied fighting the war on the Serbian-Russian front and there were relatively few Austrian soldiers available to oppose the Italians in the Tyrol in May of 1915. Sepp Innerkofler was killed while trying to reconquer the summit of Paternkofel that had been captures by the Italian Alpini. The badge I have in my collection is marked, on the obverse, “STANSCHÜTZENKOMPANIE SEPP INNERFOFLER-SEXTEN-1979". I can not find anything on the net referring to this gathering but it was probably a rifle competition between local Standschützen. The makers mark on the back is to GRANERO a firm that is still producing badges for many organizations. It is a good quality badge in high relief.

ÖSTA, Very interesting photo. Learn something new every day! Thanks very much for posting the picture. Regards, Gordon