David Gregory

Gerd and Chuck, Thanks for the tips. I had seen the ribbons offered on eBay and for the price, I think there is little risk when looking for something to be used for display purposes. As far as I know, the Imperial kolodka mounting plates are wider at the top than their Soviet counterparts, so my question concerning 28 mm or 37 mm wide ribbons still stands. Perhaps Alexei can help. Is he a member here? I have a couple of St. George bravery medals that are not mounted and I would like to have the numbers researched and find original (very unlikely) or good replica mounting plates and ribbons to display them. David

Any help on the above would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, David

Gordon, A wonderful display and thanks for the tips. Now I have to work out which tallies I need to match the documents I have and then find the tallies themselves. Are there any known fakes of Kaiserliche Marine tallies and can you recommend any good sources? TIA David

Gordon, How do you display cap tallies or are they stored in the dark? David

Ralph, I would be scared to open it. Just like any cunningly packed gift from Japan, once it has been opened it seems to be impossible to return it to the condition it arrived in. Will you ever be able to make the bow of the ribbon look like that again? Have you already taken a peek or do have your own X-ray machine? David

Chip, The perfect solution - just send it to me and it can live in a solvent-free folder togther with the bronze and gold documents I already have. Joking aside, if you ever consider parting with this or any other documents, please let me know. David

armybrat43 Welcome to the forum. I cannot help you with the marking, but if it does refer to Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 116, then the pistol probably spent much of 1917 and 1918 in the Upper Elsace with 26. Landwehr-Division. The correct abbreviation for a leichte Munitionskolonne would be l.M. (lower-case "L" followed by an upper-case "M"). If the marking contains 1.M., I would guess that it might refer to the 1st machine-gun company of Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 116, which was part of 25. Infanterie-Division, serving on the Western Front throughout the war and seeing a lot of action at Verdun in 1916. Perhaps you can post an image of the marking here and someone better informed than I can determine exactly what you have. I suspect that the interpretation of the marking will depend on correct identification of the first character, i.e. 1 (one) or l (lower-case "L"). David

Tom, Very nice. Any interesting entries in the Milit?rpass? David

hunyadi, You are, I believe, correct about the medal on the left. The one on the right is the Medal for Military Marksmanship, which I have seen on a red ribbon. The one shown with shorter rifles is probably the 1883 version, another type with longer rifles was issued in 1927. David

Dave, That qualifies as a good thousand yard stare. Where did you find all these great Spetsnaz images? David

Feldwebel Karl Ziegenhardt of Linienkommandantur Luxemburg was awarded the Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen in Gold mit Schwertern on 31 May 1918. The trimmed document is numbered 0.1488 on the left of the bottom edge: [attachmentid=59976]

Very nice little group and an interesting officer's Soldbuch. They never seem to contain much information beyond pay, but at least the units he drew pay from show where he must have been. He might have been wounded and then assigned to an infantry regiment after recovering from his wounds/injuries at Hanau hospital. Maybe he knew Leutnant der Reserve Otto Schneider of 2. Bayerisches J?ger-Bataillon, who was awarded the MVO4X on 20 April 1915: [attachmentid=59974]

Burgerhaus, That part of M?nster is a pedestrian zone, where only delivery vehicles and emergency services are allowed to drive. I don't think M?nster is any cleaner or more or less littered than other parts of Germany, except for the poorer parts of some large towns. The city hall is a listed historical monument. It was largely destroyed during WW2, but rebuilt with much original material to the old plans. Just before the facade collapsed, it looked like this in October 1944: Today, it is a major tourist attraction and is also used for cultural and representative events. David

Stijn, I assumed from the abbreviations above that you referred to Feldartillerie-Regimenter 14 and 16. Morath may have served with the field artillery and then transferred to a foot artillery unit, hence the Fu?artillerie-Batterie Nr. 361 unit designation. During some periods of the war, foot artillery units were attached to division-level formations, but it is more likely that his unit was attached to a corps or army and did not rotate in and out of sectors of the front as much as divisional units. It might be possible to pinpoint the activities of Fu?artillerie-Batterie Nr. 361, but finding that information will not be easy as most reference works of that period are not indexed. Any context information that you have will help to narrow the search down. David

Stijn, FAR 14 was part of 28. Infanterie-Division for the duration of the war. The link shows the battle entries in detail. FAR 16 was part of 1. Infanterie-Division on the Eastern Front from the beginning of the war until the beginning of March 1916, and then at Verdun until the beginning of June 1916. By mid August it was back on the Eastern Front, where it remained until the end of 1917. It would seem that Leutnant der Reserve Morath received his awards for actions with 28. Infanterie-Division shown in the link above and with 1. Infanterie-Division on the Eastern Front. Do you know which batteries or other parts of the regiments he served with? I'll see if I can dig out any more information when I can get to my books. David

Stijn, As far as I know, reserve officers are not included in the the rank list volumes. It might take some time to find them, but the regimental histories of FAR 14 and FAR 16 may mention him. David

Stijn, Without any context, the chances of finding out anything about a Leutnant der Reserve are very small. Do you have any known unit, location or award information? David

Igor, Many thanks for that comparison. Is that the only criterion or are there other aspects of the cross that are definitely bad? What should the dimensions and weight of the cross be? Thanks again, David

Chris is right, the Ersatz-Bataillon of IR 75 supplied men to the recruit depot of 17. Infanterie-Division, so they may also have been assigned to IR 76 (before it was assigned to 111. Infanterie-Division), Grenadier-Regiment 89 or F?silier-Regiment 90. The regimental history of IR 75 would be the first place to look for a mention of his exploits during before 1918. There is probably also a reference to him and his previous service as a KC holder in one of the KC books.

Ouch! Thank you Igor. Compared to some of the very crudely cast crosses that I have seen, I was optimistic that this one was good. Never mind, it can only get better after this. Can you show or tell me what clearly makes it a fake, e.g. finish, size, characterics? Is it a well-known fake or replica? What are the correct dimenions, weight, etc. for a good example? Treloarth: could you post your example, too, please? Many thanks in advance, David

Barry, You ought to check with someone who knows the status of these items in your particular state, but I think that the part you show is legal. A dummy receiver (essentially the other half) ought to be enough to create a harmless and legal display piece. It would be nice to see the complete "non-gun" if you do decide to find the rest. David

I bought this example of the St. George cross at the militaria show in Kassel yesterday. It looks good to my untrained eye and I would appreciate any opinions on authenticity from more experience collectors. The mounting plate is obviously much younger, but this is how I received it. Is it possible to determine approximately when the cross was issued? It it possible to find out who it was awarded to and for which action or event? Since there doesn't seem to be much happening in this section, many thanks in advance for any replies whatsoever, David

Robert, Nice photos! Could you post a close-up of Erwin's crosses? The photo suggests he was an officer, which means he may be mentioned in the regimental history. What is his full name and what were his wartime listed ranks, if known? TIA David

Barry, You have a nice front half of an MG 34 with a post-war Czech bipod. With a dummy receiver and the right bipod, you will have a nice legal display item. Documents are what I like best, but hardware like this is nice eye candy for a collecting room. David

Jaques, This is not my field of collecting, but I do appreciate a rare photo of identified recipients of such badges with the badges in wear. David