Claudio

Dear forumites,

Since I am currently in vacation in my own country, I decided to visit some interesting historically places.

I was quite impressed of the array of rare Militaria pieces being exhibit at the Castle of Morges (website only in French sorry... http://www.chateau-morges.ch/intro.htm ).

My surprise was to find a couple of very rare German & foreign orders being awarded to Swiss officers and soldiers, who served under many different kings and countries. Especially the original uniforms of the 1er Empire (French Empire, Napeleon) were exceptional, if you think about the rarity and how old they are (over 200 years). There were also many other uniforms of Swiss serving under the British Empire, the Netherlands, the Italian States (Regno di Napoli, di Piemonte, Granducato di Toscana, Stato Papale), only to mention a few.

I guess that a couple of items would attire your attention on this very forum, since these were Prussian decorations.

The first are very rare and old type of Red Eagle Orders... of course being awarded to a local fellow countryman (Swiss from the Canton Vaud) who served under the Prussian king.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures, but I had to be very careful in taking them... the way there were exposed, although very traditional, was very nice and clean, with soft lights in a beautiful castle built by the Savoy's Dinasty in the late 13th century (!!!!!).

To finish my contribution, I am posting a picture of the monument of the fallen w?rttembergische Soldiers fallen in many conflicts, for God, King and Country (f?r Gott, K?nig und Vaterland). This is to show the legacy of the small earlier garrison town in W?rttemberg.

Ciao,

Claudio

Here another picture of Sp?sser, this one also shown on the Blue Max book. On this book you can see this photo and admire the medal bar in all its splendor and detail. However I am wondering if on that post-war medal bar he added some more orders and medals.

Here a picture of Sp?sser after war, wearing his General aD uniform with his magnificent medal bar. I was told that this medal bar was in the family of Sp?sser until the 80ies and then sold to a collector. It would be great if this collector could post some pictures of it on this thread, but I am afraid that we won't see it for a long time...

Some more interesting images and copies of pencil portraits (right of Sp?sser).

Some more items... All these items had a story to tell. Very interesting... You could really get a better more intimate pictures of what these W?rttembergers went through during WWI. Most them started in a Schneeschuh company which rose eventually in a batallion, in order to face the French troops on the "Vogesen/Vosges" montains. When snow melted, they were trained to become the first mountain specialised troops of the Reich. The beginning was quite hard to put together enough troops who could ski (Telemark-Style). It was not uncommon, in the early phases, to see from very young recruts to 40-50 years old soldiers being put into the first Schneeschuh Kompanie, because of the lack of ski trained troops.

Other Gebirgsj?ger stuff... there were a couple of visor cap shown in the exhibition, too. A couple of them, like the one on the top of this glass cabinet, has a light blue stripe around it, that means it was of the Train-troops (transport troops with mules and horses). Many of the early Gebirgsj?ger came from the Train-troops, also Spr?sser, I was told. That is interesting, too... I never immagined. I thought they came mostly from the J?ger or light infantry (Rifle) troops.

This PLM is an original one in GOLD, but not of Rommel... they told me it was the PLM of the Officer who took Fort Douamont in Verdun... I forgot his last name... arrggghhh...

Sorry for the bad quality of the picture, but I didn't want to take them with the flash out of respect, although I could have if I pushed for it.

Everything you see on this picture, with the expetion of the leather gear and the PLM repro, was owned and worn by Rommel.

It was really an impressive, small but really interesting exposition...

Here a picture of Rommel with his brother, who fell in the Western Front (or at least I think to have remembered correctly).

I almost give up to continue this thread... I am having an hard time with this forum's software: pictures disappearing, long waiting for the pictures to upload... it doesn't really make a lot of fun...

Here some more of Rommel's personal items...

Windjacke... I hate to post picture on these forums... sometimes I post them and after I reply on my latest posting it disappears!!!!

double posting, please delete...

Now we arrive to the interesting part: all these items came from a collection of a Veteran Gebirgsj?ger who fought with Rommel. This veteran collected pretty much everything that had to do with Rommel, his commanding officer. There are some rumours that Rommel gave in the 20ies all his WWI stuff to this ex-comrade, because it was said that in one occasion he saved Rommel's life, but there're no solid evidence of that.

Here the wool coat of Rommel...

Rommel with his Superior commander, Major Spr?sser.

other Gebirgsj?ger-related items...

Spr?sser's (Rommel's batallion commander) personal knife with also photo evidence of him wearing it.

some more Gebirgsj?ger's related items...

Brothers...

Heavy Winter coat, for guard duty...

picture of the Gebirgsj?gerin...

A unique story about a Gebirgsj?gerin...

The exposition's guide told me that she joined the army during the confusion of early WWI, because of her hatred of the Italians who attacked the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after being allied with them. Only after an inspection for the personal hygiene of the solders, a NCO ordered all the soldiers to take off their shoes... he noticed that this very odd female looking soldier didn't have any hair on her feet toes... he became a bit suspicious and ordered her to go to the unit's doctor to undergo a more detailed inspection. He finally saw and confirmed that she was a women. She was immediately withdrawn from the combatant unit but could stay with the Gebirgsj?ger as medical assistant. I don't know if the story it's true... but it's quite a nice anecdote...

Overcoat, uniform and gas mask of a Gebirgsj?ger...

Some Gebirgsj?ger's items like Tschakos and a Windjacke...

A picture about a document concerning a W?rttemberg'sche Military Merit Medal in Gold and the medal itself.