Ulsterman

Bravo!

mr. Otto deserves recognition and applause for all his efforts! he has located a tonne of information on Canadian old veterans and is in hot pursuit of the flag! he also located Brophys' odd medal, which I thought was a temperance medal. it is in fact a members' medal of the imperial veterans association, which I suspect was a precursor of the British legion. It's in the collections at Greenwich. huzzah Canada!

Tirpitz resisted making Deck Officers the social equivalent of Sea Officers ferociously. As Dave noted they were an 'in-between' status between officers and men. think Warrant Officers basically. they often had their own mess and did not have the social rights of other officers. They were promised officer status in 1914 by Tirpitz, but he and the Kaiser just couldn't bring themselves to 'promote' these 'sons of fishermen' and peasants'. Think Kirk versus Scotty where Scotty was always subordinate to Wesley Crusher...Always! this led to a lot of tension and a Deck officer shortage, even during the war. Deck officers are in the rank lists and were men of considerable capability, skill, education and technical ability. After the war most did far better economically than their Sea officer counterparts. One of the things that had great political import in 1919, was the 'social promotion' of Deck Officers by the Weimar Republican government. they were granted the right to officers' long service crosses upon demobilization, basically a way of saying, "screw you and your social snobbery Tirpitz and you effete Von's who lost us the war". Deck officers were also given command responsibilities and included in officers' Messes/social events during Weimar.

Ah! good stuff. Thanks.

Very cool. what was a human bomb? an early form of kamikaze?

Navy Deckofficer in home waters. I'd wager $100.

Very cool!

My next door neighbor when I was a lad was a Colonel of Skinners' Horse. he told me once about visiting Gandamack in the 1930s. one could still see small bones and equipment amidst the rocks on the hillside. he told me his companion rolled over a bolder and found a partially buried skull.

Photo album/postcards. it's buried though.

by the way, any chance his subordinate, Lt. Doering, was a relative of Don?

I'm always reminded of Flashmans' account of the retreat, perhaps one of the authors' finest bits of writing....." "The Sergeants calmly ordering, as only they do in the British army, "Close up, Close up, Bayonets". as the Afghanis came at them in the final, terror flying rush.'

Maybe not, I think I have IR 72 in the attic somewhere.......to do a Rick...in 1931 he was also characterized as a Major a. D. And lived Stausen Str. 37 in Muenster W..

also, Lt. Hedler left a rather harrowing account of the battle against the English at Polderhoef where Gutsche was mentioned as meeting with the few survivors of the MGK after it was overrun and captured. He was also a member of the Stahlhelm and good friends with major Ferdinand Sinhuber, who died in 1929. he apparently was a pall bearer at his funeral.

Dave nailed it totally. I am awed. I can only add he was transferred to Krftfhr Abt. 1 in Koenigsburg in late 1920 and granted the right to wear his old regimental uniform at the same time.

well, that armband and helmet are to kill for.

Very cool. Anything interesting contained therein....? "The Iron Crescent Moon medal was manufactured by........215,000 medals were delivered to GHQ in Basra on........?

Yup. I still wear mine and have every day since 1980. I figure I earned it. Also, I can't get it off.

Disagree. Without American financial, naval and military support the Allies would have collapsed in late Spring, 1918. Simply put, Germany misused its Michael offensive, but without US support the British and French armies in the field would simply have run out of supplies, cracked and been driven beyond Paris. Germanys' navy had the strength to break the blockade temporarily and in conjunction with an offensive in France could have easily disrupted British communications with northern France. Austria and Italy were stalemated, but there's no doubt A-H could have outlasted Italy and even sent a corps to northern Turkey/ Greece had it wished. Thereafter, a depleted, impoverished Europe centered upon Berlin. Probably left wing Socialist governments in Italy, France, Belgium, the UK and Spain by 1930. America retains world economic, cultural and political dominance, albeit indirectly. American wealth grows greater than it did. No League of Nations. No Second World War. No Israel. "Four Worlds" by 1984(Orwellian) : Capitalist US & British Empire/ Continental-based , socialist-statist Europe/ Soviet Empire/ East Asia Empires begin to fracture in 1960s. France and UK and Spain/Italy retain "liberal" Commonwealths/empires . India independent in 1975. Vietnam still a Department of France in 2014. Same with Algeria. Japanese retain northern China and take Manchuria and West Russia as client states. Japan becomes major manufacturing power in the 1970s as free trade allows lower Asian labor costs to promote boom. Economic world stagnation in 1930s-1940s hastened by tariffs. Political crisis in Germany in 1940s as old Kaiserdom/Junkerdom clashes with KPD/SPD. KPD/SPD to power under new Kaiser in mid 1940s. Hard Socialist Germany by 1950. Monarchies in Balkans all constitutional by 1950. Yugoslavia retains integrity as multi-ethnic state. By 1960 American living standards approximately 100% higher than those of Europe's and 150% higher than Russia. Soviet Union collapses in mid 1950s. Thereafter in orbit of Europe culturally/economically. First man on the moon @ 1970. Arab and Asian rim predominantly Franco-German (Continental) European, not American, in culture. English, French, Chinese and German are dominant world languages in 2010. Beatles still rated best band ever, after ABBA. World a more peaceful, but much poorer place overall. Most countries in Europe retain aristocracy in some form. World population hits 8 billion in 2000.

wow! very cool.

well, the War time governments had very definete war aims. By the end of 1917 Germany planned to Balkanize France and Russia with German Princes ruling Junkerish estates in Independent Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Ukraine etc.. Poland was to be partially absorbed into the Reich and the Kaiser demanded as many colonies as he could persuade the British to surrender. Had France collapsed in 1918 and the US not had many troops in Europe yet, the UK might still have done a Dunkirk and withdrawn behind the wall of the channel and her and the Allied navies. It would've been a different world. German internal politics was sharply divided between the worlds largest and second most militant Labour/Socialist movement and an aristocratic elite that believed they were a new master race, at least culturally and socially. These were violently different political world views and after the war, the Kaisers' party would have ruled for a generation easily, just like in 1871, buoyed by reparations, nationalism and Weltmacht pride. But odds are around 1940-50 democratic political concessions would have been bitterly demanded and fought over.

There are some silver ones, but almost all of mine are cupro- nickel. There are at least two different kinds ( size) with different reverses. I think I read somewhere that there are 3 different types.

There's an excellent article in History Today" this month on this subject.

Not true. There is a list of police NSDAP members. This bar (if real) would date from 1940-1942 and the guy would be one of fewer than a 100 NSDAP members who were in the Police and had party numbers below 180,000 AND were Party officials! My guess is that this guy was not a Berlin cop, since so many of those senior officers got an Olympic medal...but it's not an absolute rule, merely a place to look....but note also the lack of Other state medals. Glenn may be able to help you.

What are they? They are completely new to me?

Yeah. I spoke at length with a number of vets. My Grandfather was in the AEF and my Grandmother was in the ARC and had lots of stories, especially about the flu. She also had a Marine Corps friend who was wounded at Belleau Wood. The old man across the road was in the Suffolks at the age of 14 and took part in the Christmas Truce of 1914.