David Gregory

Les, Just above the stamp you mentioned there is an entry for the MVK3 in 1915. David

Take a look at http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/dixie/921/PoWs/pows.htm and http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/List_...amps_in_Britain The webmaster at http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/index.html might also be worth contacting.

Soldiers, riot police and law enforcement officers have a long tradition of getting "tooled up" for the job, and things are much the same today. That mindset and the self-confidence it engenders often makes the job easier to do. Despite the fact that there is a certain element of "pose" involved in the uniform, personal weapons and accoutrements etc. shown above, it takes a lot of courage to leave the relative safety of a trench to seek out and engage the enemy face to face. Trench clubs, sharpened entrenching tools, knives and bayonets might seem to be interesting and somewhat distant exhibits in many museums and private militaria collections, but they did serve a deadly purpose, as related by Chris in a thread on trench fighting with ghurkas elsewhere.

Don, There may be something on the regiment at that period in "Die W?rttemberger im Weltkrieg", which is a compendium of articles and essays on various W?rttemberg units. I'll see what I can find. The division was fighting in Flanders at the time of his award in August 1917. David

Very nice. Is there something to go inside it?

Gefreiter Otto Mebus of 7. Kompagnie Infanterie-Regiment 180, 26. Reserve-Division, was a few clicks south at Ovillers in the area attacked by 8th and 34th Division at the time, but survived to receive his EK2 at the end of the month. This document is also part of the research project. I have a 40 page pamphlet published in 1917 on the exploits of IR180 on the Somme until November, which will provide much detail not available elsewhere. [attachmentid=19701] He received the wound badge in black in November 1918: [attachmentid=19700]

If I recall correctly, the Verband deutscher Bergleute was a trades union of miners. I am not aware of any uniforms that they might have worn. The uniform you show would have been worn and is still worn by local mineworkers associations. The uniforms are only used for ceremonial occasions today, typically by musicians and for parades. Uniforms and membership in various organisations have always been a very strong German tradition. The mineworkers were no exception and used items like the one you show above. As far as I know, they were/are organised on a local level, probably for each pit the men worked in. With the strong decline in the mining industry in recent years, the organisations seem to be disappearing, but some are still upheld by local tradition.

Looks like the uniform of a mine workers association.

The blue backing might also indicate service with the navy.

(Endlich) von der dunklen Seite wegkommen und ins Kaiserreich abgleiten. Guten Rutsch!

Chuck, The problem with your album presentation is the fact that it only contains a handful of images. So many photograph albums like this are split and sold as anonymous single images these days that it is a real pleasure to see them all togther. I agree with most of your conclusions. The images were certainly posed, but they still show a typical small combat support unit of that era. Please show us more of what you have. Many thanks in advance, David

Jaques, It looks exactly like the "lady's bow" style used for non-combattant awards of the Imperial era and I have seen it used for the next-of-kin version of the Hindenburg cross. David

There seems to be only one Lehr unit that was in Normandy at the time of Beers's death in late June 1944. The following information was taken from "Die gepanzerten und motorisierten deutschen Grossverb?nde 1935-1945" by Rolf Stoves, who also wrote the divisional history of 1. Panzer-Division. Panzer-Lehr-Division was raised on 27 December 1943 from instructional troops and staff of Panzerschule I and II as well as personnel taken from formations in OB West. The division was assembled in the Verdun-Toul-Nancy area. In March 1944 Panzer-Lehr-Division was transferred by rail to Vienna and was completed in Western Hungary after entering the country as part of Unternehmen "Margarete". In May 1944 the division was transported back to France to form part of OKW-Reserve with Heeres-Gruppe B in the Orl?ans area. From June 1944 the division was deployed on the invasion front in the Tilly-sur-Seulles area in defensive fighting against the British bridgehead as part of I. SS-Panzer-Korps. The division was then withdrawn at the beginning of July before being pitched against US forces in the St. L? area. The Pionier element of Panzer-Lehr-Division was Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon (gp) 130 and consisted of three Panzer-Pionier-Kompanien (gp), each equipped with 27 Sch?tzenpanzerwagen (SPW). This unit assignment is also confirmed by Tessin (volume 1, page 230). Since the other men also named Fritz Beer on the Volksbund site were of completely different ranks, I would say that your man is definitely Leutnant Fritz Beer of Panzer-Pionier-Bataillon (gp) 130, Panzer-Lehr-Division, who was killed in Normandy. That is not only a very desirable uniform ensemble, but it is also attributed to a Normandy KIA. They don't come much better than this.

Wonderful stuff, especially the Reuss crosses! Considering the size of the Principality and the very low number of potential recipients, I feel it would be reasonable to assume that only small quantities of this cross were made as required. The court jeweller probably wasn't geared up to manufacturing large quantities of awards to meet the relatively low demand and when crosses were made, this was probably done in small batches or even to individual fill orders, which would explain the variety of production styles.

Chuck, This is another excellent thread which shows just how much can be gleaned from a few items and documents. While the anonymous "big picture" can be learned from any number of sources, I really appreciate these personal snapshots of history that are otherwise lost when they discarded or split up and sold piecemeal. Keep up the good work! David

Men in ammunition columns were usually exposed to the same risks in the front line as most other soldiers and were given the same awards as everyone else, including wound badges, etc. A book describing typical experiences of men in such units was published with the title "Wir fahren den Tod" in the inter-war years. Although it is as full of heroism and patriotic fervour as most other similar works of that era, it still shows that life was not necessarily easy in Train units. As far as bakery units are concerned, I have a complete document group to Oberb?cker (later Sergeant) Hermann Hilmer of Feldb?ckerei-Kolonne 145 (formerly 1 X. A.K.), Staffel G. 7 of Garde-Ersatz-Division. According to the extensive list of engagements inserted into his Milit?rpass, he was involved in trench fighting on the Chemin des Dames when he was awarded the EK2. The award document does not indicate whether the EK2 was awarded on the black/white or white/black ribbon. I also have an EK2 award document and other papers to Feldwebel-Leutnant Gustav Franz of Feldb?ckereikolonne 68, Staffel 167, 14. Landwehr-Division. Another example I have is Leutnant der Landwehr Maximilian Germann of S?chsische Armee-Kraftfahr-Kolonne 362, whose award documents include those for the EK2, Lippe-Detmold Kriegsverdienstkreuz and Albrechtsorden mit Schwertern 2nd class. Although I rather suspect he did not see much action near the front, the other examples I quoted were certainly involved in real fighting.

George, I have always found Imperial German shoulder boards attractive, especially those with some of the more elaborate unit ciphers, but have only acquired a handful as collateral items that usually came with the documents I actively collect. If I had the time, connections and financial resources, then Imperial Russian items would come a strong second. The amazing boards you show here are tangible and not insignificant pieces of Russian history. How did your acquaintance ever find such rare items and is this just the tip of the iceberg? If there are more, I for one would love to see them. Many thanks in advance. David

David, The following information is taken from Hermann Cron: Geschichte des deutschen Heeres im Weltkriege 1914-1918. Pferde-Depots (or Pferdedepots) were part of the Train. At the beginning of the war, each Armeekorps had: 2 Munitions-Kolonnen-Abteilungen (4 Infanterie- and 9 Artillerie-Munitions-Kolonnen) 1 Fu?artillerie-Munitions-Kolonnen-Abteilung (8 Kolonnen) 2 Train-Abteilungen (12 Feldlazarette, 6 Proviant-, 7 Fuhrpark-Kolonnen, 2 Pferdedepots, 2 Feldb?ckerei-Kolonnen) Intially, the Reservekorps generally had fewer assets. Some 54 Pferde-Depots existed when the army entered the field on mobilisation. Starting on 1 February 1917, the Pferde-Depots were transferred from Korps level formations and became Armeetruppen. The final figures amounted to 5 Heeres-Pferdedeopts, 10 Kavalleire-Pferdedepots and 48 Pferdedepots. Unfortunately, I cannot find any details on strengths or officer appointments, but I am sure Glenn will be able to fill in some details. David

Chuck, What a beautiful piece of calligraphy. Imperial German documents of the same period are also very similar in their quality of execution. Ocipovski's personnel file must have been quite something to see. David

Chuck, Thanks for posting that. What strikes me is the similarity between the cog wheel used in the background to the cog wheel used to surround the swastika of DAF badges and documents. Totalitarian regimes of the 20th century seem to have had much more in common than just their ideological extremes. I look forward to seeing some of your Imperial documents. David

Detlev Niemann had a bronze one with the case and outer carton for EUR 95 yesterday.

For a quick online look-up try http://dict.leo.org/

haynau, That trifold ribbon is very nice. A prong is a word that usually describes part of a fork (Zinke einer Gabel), but in this case it means the end of the wire hook. Eyelet = ?se. David

Hinrik, As someone who would very much like to acquire a representative collection of deactivated pieces such as yours, I can only wonder what else you have that is not shown above. After all, you did begin with "Some of my aircraft MGs". Unfortunately, legal constraints, and a lack of funds and storage space, will probably mean that I have to stick to simple things like paperwork. As a teenager I used to visit known aircraft crash sites to look for souvenirs. I usually found lots of broken plexiglass panels, mangled sections of airframe and ruptured .50 cal cases. The only piece I still have is an inspection cover with an American manufacturer's plate from a Liberator crash site in the UK. Its engines were still buried deep in the earth at the site 20 years ago. Aviation archaeology seems to be very popular in Holland, which probably became the resting place of many bombers that never made it home. Here in Germany, most sites have been picked clean and there seems to be some unpleasant rivalry between certain groups that are obsessed with recovering as much as possible and then selling off what they don't need. What are the legal aspects of aviation archaeology in Iceland? Can you dig on any land if the owner gives you permission? Who keeps the pieces found and what has to be reported to the police, etc.? As a museum curator, you seem to enjoy certain privileges. I would also be interested in hearing how easy it is for a normal collector to obtain and own deactivated pieces such as those you show above. The law seems to have been relaxed slightly in the last year as far as deactivated hardware is concerned here in Germany and I believe it is now possible to own complete deactivated machine guns. Previously, it was illegal to assemble them. Finally, how do you find out about the crash sites and can you show any images of a typical recovery operation including the "hike" to bring the finds back to civilisation? Thanks in advance, David

If I recall correctly, Nimmergut lists it as a military award, but the only example I have suggests that it was certainly issued to non-combattant. I posted my bar and the pinback version at http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1201&hl=gotha The very nice example above is also the first one I have ever seen on a ribbon bar and indicates that it was also awarded to combattants. From the order the ribbons are mounted, I would guess that the wearer was a Bavarian who served in or with units from Th?ringen. Can anyone else show an example of the Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha award?