David Gregory

As Chris pointed out, there was no Infanterie-Regiment numbered 234.

RIR 234 was one of 48 regiments raised in September and October 1914 and 75% of its initial contingent of soldiers were volunteers, especially students and older pupils from G?ttingen.

The regiment was raised in Kassel (regimental staff and I. Batl. drawn from men of Ers.-Batl./I.R.Nr. 83, II. Batl. drawn from men of Ers.-Btl./I.R.Nr. 167) and G?ttingen (III. Batl. drawn from men of Ers.-Btl./I.R.Nr. 82)

and assigned to 51. Reserve-Division.

A fourth battalion was raised in September 1916, which became I./L.I.R.Nr. 435 a month later.

The regimental history will reveal more (my copy is out on loan).

To put those awards into context, RJB3 was involved in the capture of Helsingfors (aka Helsinki). I have a battered copy of the battalion history at home and will see what details there are for the MGK. I also have a Milit?rpass and a Finnish award document to a member of Bavarian Gebirgsartillerie-Abteilung 2 who was there, too.

Gebirgsartillerie-Abteilung 2 in Finland

The capture of Helsingfors - 3 to 13 April 1918 by former commander Oberstleutnant a. D. Hans Butz

The text below is a translation of an extract from "Das Bayernbuch".

The detachment disembarked in Hang? on 3 April. On 5 April, 95. Preussische Reserve-Brigade (under General Wolf) started to advance towards Eken?s; with it went the 8. Batterie, which was followed by 7. Batterie after it disembarked on 6 April.

The enemy had occupied the railway station and the adjacent heights around the valley near Karis. From behind a dominating defensive line, his armoured and transport trains came forward to test the ground close to the station. This was the way the Reds generally fought.

The battle for Karis fought by J?ger-Bataillon 3 and J?ger-Bataillon 4 was supported by 8. Batterie and Auto-Kanonenzug Keller (motorised gun platoon). 8. Batterie engaged the enemy armoured train coming from the north towards Helsingors with some direct hits in the railway embankment and close to the engine, which caused the train to withdraw towards the north, thus freeing the route of our advance which ran parallel to the railway line. On 8 April, the enemy was repulsed from G?rkn?s station by 95. Brigade, which was pursuing them north together with 7. and 8. Batterie and the motorised gun platoon, with an enemy armoured train being driven further north. 2. Kavallerie-Brigade with 12. Batterie reached Ingo. The advance over the following two days resulted in no serious fighting. On 10 April, the troops occupied accommodation: 12. Batterie in K?klax, 8. Batterie in Massaby, 7. Batterie to the west, detachment staff in Bob?k.

So far, the enemy had almost only withdrawn. It seemed as though he was assembling in the north; on the other hand, strong resistance was expected in the modern line of defences in front of Helsingfors. The advance of the Ostseedivision slightly inland of the south coast of Finland was supported by the fleet in the immediate vicinity. If the resistance in front of Helsingfors did not become too strong, this meant that the only real task of the Division was initially to liberate the capital, and then to advance towards the Red Centre between Tavastehus and Lahti along the Mittelland line to break the backbone of the entire insurgent movement.

The Division continued its advance against Helsingfors on 11 April. As the vanguard (s?chsisches Karabiner-Regiment with 12. Batterie) approached, they attracted enemy artillery fire from the direction of the heights north of Allberga. All of the caves in the rocks were fully occupied. However, a detailed reconnaissance indicated that the defences could not be described as modern.

The marching column was able to deploy almost undisturbed as follows: the vanguard occupied the small height north of Gut Kilo (Kilo Farm), 1. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment deployed for the attack near Gut Kilo, and was followed by 3. Garde-Ulanen- Regiment. The detachment commander ordered the mountain batteries to take up firing positions on the heights either side of the approach road at the exit from the wood west of Gut Kilo: 12. and 7. Batterien in open (concealed) position to the north, 8. Batterie in a covered position south of the road. Targets: 8. Batterie - the Grans settlement and the stronger built part of the position nearby, 12. and 7. Batterien - the enemy positions east of Grans that were to be suppressed until the attack was launched. Since heavy artillery could not have been brought up in time, the preparatory fire to take the heights near Allberga had to be extended. Negotiations attempted by the enemy at around 2 p.m. failed; at 4 p.m., firing resumed and was so effective that after approx. 30 minutes, the attack was launched and the heights were taken. At this time, Reserve-J?ger-Bataillon 3 and Reserve-J?ger-Bataillon 4 moved forward as complete formations in the north and south respectively, however were only able to secure the positions. Led by 1. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment, the Division then continued its advance into the night to the north entrance to Bergh?ll, a wooded hill.

The next morning, the Division issued orders for 2. Kavallerie-Brigade to take Bergh?ll, while 95. Brigade was to advance against Fredriksberg station. The heavy artillery that had now been brought up, which fired very effectively from Allberga to prepare for the capture of the railway line and to block it against enemy transports, enabled the somewhat difficult task of 95. Brigade to succeed, with 7. Batterie contributing as a support battery.

12 April, however, was not to see the complete capture of Helsingfors. Bergh?ll could not be captured until 8. Batterie provided well placed fire in support of 2. Kavallerie-Brigade, while 12. Batterie dispersed enemy riflemen on the flank of the cavalry brigade at the Observatory. The divisional commanders plan to launch the decisive thrust on the right wing from Bergh?ll towards the Old Town was now put into action, After the very strong Red defenders had been completely dispersed, the following units advanced to the Esplanade without any resistance: 1. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment with 8. Batterie to the west following the capture of Gut Meilans (Meilans Farm), followed by 3. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment supported by 3. Reserve-J?ger-Bataillon with half of 7. Batterie. The 95. Brigade with Karabiner-Regiment, 4. Reserve-J?ger-Bataillon and half of 7. Batterie were soon able to occupy Fredriksberg railway station and ran into tough defenders in the workers suburbs of T?l? and Hermanstad. 12. Batterie, as the reserve battery, was to support 95. Brigade on 13 April.

The troops advanced into the Old Town, supported by fire from the fleet on the Reede, and were involved in street fighting at the Swedish Theatre, in Brunspark, at the railway crossings in T?l? and into the Old Town, with 8. Batterie and 7. Batterie contributing with great success. By the evening, the Old Town was in German hands. Finnish White Guards who had been locked in cellars helped to restore peace.

On 13 April, General Wolf surrounded the suburbs of T?l? and Hermanstad. The available artillery - 4. Batterie of 2. Garde-Fussartillerie-Regiment, 12. Gebirgs-Kanonenbatterie, half of 7. Batterie - joined in the capture of T?l?s. Between 2 and 4 p.m. the batteries were silent, since the enemy offered to negotiate once more, which resulted in the announcement that white flags would be raised from the roofs of the houses. When this actually happened at 4.15 p.m., it was no longer necessary to continue fighting and the workers suburbs of Helsingfors were occupied by the waiting troops.

At midday on the same day, the divisional commander took part in celebrations on the capture of the Old Town; in the evening, the Old Town and the suburbs were occupied by strong formations. Among them was also the 8. Batterie. From 14 to 16 April, the necessary orders were issued, delegations were received, white Finnish occupation battalions were raised, a Finnish J?ger brigade was created and trained and a Finnish volunteer field artillery detachment was established at the request of the detachment and artillery commander. On 16 April, the men who had been killed in the fighting to liberate Helsingfors, including members of the mountain artillery detachment, were buried. The funeral ceremony was attended by all of the inhabitants at the Honour Square, between the Andre and Boulevardsgatan.

Bob,

That is a very attractive bar. I wonder why there are no swords for the SEHO medal to be seen on the bar, which otherwise seems to be for front-line service.

Could the medal also be awarded to comabattants without swords?

David

From the pictures you show, I'd say you have a very bad paint job on an otherwise interesting shell.

If you manage to remove the green and black splurge without completely eliminating what finish there might be beneath it, you should have a nice item to gather dust on the top of a bookshelf (which is what my helmets do).

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

Don,

26. Reserve-Division was one of four W?rttemberg divisions that saw very heavy action in Flanders from late August to mid September 1917. "Die W?rttemberger im Weltkrieg" really only mentions it in passing and refers to the various regimental histories for further details. I'll sort out some more divisional overviews with OOBs and a list of battles and engagements and post them over the Christmas break.

The map below shows the advances made during the German counter-attacks in the area where your man was at the time he received his EK1. Keep looking for that regimental history as it will almost certainly discuss the events there in some detail. The history was published in Stuttgart in 1931 and was written by Vischer, who also wrote the pamphlet I mention above.

David

[attachmentid=19720]

Chris,

Interesting grouping! At first glance, I thought the guy was in a Prussian unit, and the "RIR 8" designation lead me to think that until I saw the Bavarian stamp at the bottom of one of the docs. No Bavarian decorations to the guy?

Les

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.

I'm always tickled when I see the "Sturmtruppen" poses... lots of gear, trench clubs, lots of hand grenades piled up, tucked in belts etc... I think these guys considered themselves to be elite and nasty and darn good at what they did...

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]

Thanks for the info.Would you mind explaining what you mean by association,something like Verband deutscher Bergleute?I don?t seem to get it

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.

Sorry gentlemen for a off topic question but I am always reading your "slippery slope" and I think I know what you mean but please can someone explain it exactly to me...?!

Thank you

Heiko

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

Kurt,

Your group does very good work. Most (preserved) bunkers that I have visited in Europe tend to be in much worse condition and many of them are damp with few, if any, fittings left intact.

Like most old structures, they need to be used and ventilated in order to stay in reasonable condition.

I look forward to seeing more of your virtual tour and perhaps a visit to the site next year.

David

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

Does somebody knows this kind of ribbon montage ? the pic is too blurred to tell if the cross is OK.

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!

Question - does anyone have any information or theories regarding the many variations of this decoration? Thank you in advance.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

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

Hi Rick

Thanks for the digg up!!

Well I guess keeping the horse-bag wasn't a very honourable thing to do. Subsequently, these types would not have been holding awards like the HHOX? I expect same goes for ammunition colonne and field-bakery?I can imagine it to be far more efficient to bake your own bread and so on, so why bother

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