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Everything posted by landsknechte
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I've been in the process of trying to research the owner of a ribbon bar that I've had in my possession for quite some time, a Bavarian aviator who served in both world wars. I'm hindered a bit by my horrible command of the German language, and also by being on the wrong continent. I wrote to the Bavarian state archive back in 2005, and received a letter back indicating that they have a file on him including some personnel records, some photo albums, along with some other materials, but they closed by essentially saying "sorry, but we're too busy to help". (They did at least send me a copy of a single photograph.) There's been enough time passed that I'd like to give it another go. Perhaps some more stuff has been scanned or cataloged. Anyhow, is there anyone out there that's dealt with them that could guide me through the process?
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I'm in the process of re-examining an old annoyingly minimalist ribbon bar of mine that very obviously doesn't include everything the recipient was entitled to. I posted it in another thread, and an officer named Mencke (no first name known) was mentioned as a candidate. He apparently received the HEK3aX and then later the HOH3X. Anything showing up on the rolls?
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Wondering if anyone has come across any regulations regarding receipt and wear of the combatants or non-combatants version along with the version that was awarded to next-of-kin (the black medal / white ribbon). Would it have been possible and/or permissible for an older soldier with a son who was KIA to have ended up with both?
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I found this bazooka round at a flea market a number of years ago. (Don't worry, it's deactivated.) I can't see any remnants of the original paint, other than the black stripe which may or may not be original. I had assumed that it had been monkeyed with over the years, with the weird screws in the shaft. This morning I found a couple of photos online of other similar rounds. Anyhow, is anyone able to glean anything about this round? Was it a training round? HE? Something else? Any indication of the model / age? What did those screws do anyhow?
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Just found this web belt at a thrift store this afternoon. It bears a certain familial resemblance to some British webbing, but I am so far out of my area of expertise, that I can't identify it. Anyone know what this might be? There are no markings that I can find anywhere on the cloth or the brass fittings.
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I received this shoulderboard recently: Looking for second opinions on the Waffenfarbe. The color appears to be uniform, and doesn't appear any darker / different when you look in the various nooks and crannies that wouldn't have seen as much sunlight. In the photo below, this board is in the middle. The one above it is a Heer Infanterie board, and the one below it is a standard Luftwaffe Fliegertruppe/Fallschirmjäger board. It looks decidedly more yellowish than the Heer board, but downright white when compared to the Luft board below. Is this a HG board piped in a warm toned / dingy looking white, or is it a Fliegertruppe/Fallschirmjäger board made with piping that happens to be less colorfast than normal?
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Just got the bar in hand today. It's hard to tell with absolute certainty if the background color of the mystery ribbon was indeed a cool toned white to begin with, or if it was indeed a blue. I'm not seeing any evidence of fading on the front, when comparing that to the back. Comparing the spacing and size of the stripes, it really does lineup much better with the Manchukuo than the Hessian decoration. Also, if that were the Hessian decoration, wouldn't the proper order of precedence be Hindenburg Cross --> Hessian --> Olympic?
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Trying to track down the identity of the last ribbon on this ribbon bar, and one suggestion that I've heard is that it might be the Lithuanian Knight's Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great, or the Bronze Medal of the Order of Vytautas the Great. Could those of you more familiar with that decoration let me know if that is indeed plausible, and if so, possibly clue me in as to who typically received this award and under what circumstances they received it? Thanks, Chris
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The first one is silver, and the second one is gold. The odd thing is that the silver one appears to have the silver color literally painted on - you can see the brush marks where it was painted apparently after installation. I rather suspect that it was monkeyed with post war. If both of the long service devices are actually gold, I would suspect that this guy remained on in some capacity in the Weimar era (police maybe?) and then returned to the Luftwaffe. The BMVK1XmKr could probably be ruled in or out pretty easily. There were, I believe, only like 117 or so of that grade awarded. Alternately, I'm wondering if this might be an example of someone who may have even been a low ranking officer in WWI, who then rose up the ladder in WWII - "adjusting" the grade of his MVO to reflect his current rank, versus the rank he had when he was awarded it.