Gilles

I still must think at the way I shook my head the first time this patch was offered on eBay, skillfully described as a WWI patch for the "Nebelwerfer Truppe", quite a good mix of information & deception to put a potential buyer on the way to the Holy Graal. It seemed to me that some kind of Mary Shelley had crossed a red-eyed dwarf rabbit with the patches Detlev Niemann had shown some weeks before.

Sorry for the somewhat polemic if not sarcastic tone. I just wanted to say that I at the time didn't believe in the patch and still am very sceptical.

However I thank all authors (pros and contras) who expressed their opinions as well as the forum that welcomes us....I am just a human being - if not a gentleman- and might of course be wrong.

Regards

Gilles

Eric,

I was joking, an Epp badge made by the French would be indeed surprising!

A beret badge made by some French manufacturer for an African army? Could be possible as well.

Regards

Gilles

they could be wearing white & blue armbands of one of the many Bavarian Freikorps units.

Regards

G.

a French-made Freikorps Epp badge, that's a real scoop, Eric!

Many a badge of French colonial (but not only!) shows a lion. There seems to be written "France" on the back, I can't read the rest, unfortunately

Regards

Gilles

Does it only have to be German? Is it a military or civilian item? Very hard to say...

G.

" 1./Flamga 918 "

Flak-MG-Abteilung?

Several of the men are wearing the silver Totenkopf pin

Thomas, you mean the thing they wear on the breast? Do you show it in your book?

Gilles

Robin,

Sorry for the bad pun, Mr Fox is Heiko Fuchs.

Maybe it is some kind of over-cautious reaction from me. It always gives collectors a headache when the same extremly rare & non regulation item appears suddenly several times - in a rather short time, after Detlev Niemann opened Pandorra's box when he showed both sides of his patches- and in a close geographic range. The text to the first sell on Ebay (as a patch of WWI "Nebeltruppe") sounded pretty much like deception and made me very suspicious from the beginning.

But as any human being, I may be wrong.

Regards

Gilles

Maybe the drawing was by Albert Reich himself, who illustrated many books and postcards about the Alpenkorps during WWI. Could you please check this, Chris?

Best regards

Gilles

If I remember properly, this badge was first offered on Ebay as a patch of the "Nebeltruppe". Another one (or the very same?) was then sold by Mr Fox. And a Berlin dealer was proposing one at the Preussische Militariab?rse on June 6th. This new patch doesn't seem to have been a one of a kind production.

I am very sorry, but I have to tell you about my deep doubts regarding the authenticity of the patch.

regards

Gilles

"Correct me if I am wrong, but I have never seen an Edelwei? being worn on a Tschako"

Maybe not on the Tschako itself, but you may find it on period pictures or drawings on the Tschako's ?berzug

Gilles

Chip,

the patches were round with completly ununderstandable Chinese signs. Some?period?pictures?were?sold?on?eBay,?I?'ll?have?a?look?if?I?happened?to?save?some?or,?as?usual,?these?are?just?memor

es?from?the?late?motherboard?of?my former?computer?

Gilles

I don't know if any more enlarging of the insignia would make any difference, but being that the patch is round, it might be pioneer's patch (crossed pick and shovel). The Seebataillon pioneers wore such a patch in China. Other than that, I can think of nothing official.

Chip

Intersting idea, but the two cockades?as?well?as?the?usual?spike?helmets should exclude any navy unit.

A few round cloth police patches with Chinese signs can be seen on period pictures. Could it be one of them?

Gilles

"Unfortunately these have imo been reproduced"

There seems to be an awful lot of them being offered at the time...?

Gilles

Bob,

no real clear author, but Hermann Cron and Georg H. Distler took part to it.

Verlag f?r Milit?rgeschichte und Deutsches Schriftum, F?rstenwalde an der Spree... no date

I think it's more or less the informations that you find in the "Ruhmesallee..."

Bob,

I just have the following informations:

5RD at the beginning of the war=

9th Res Inf Brigade (RIR?8?&?48)

10th Res Inf Brigade (RIR 12 & 52 +?Res?J?ger?Btl?3 + Res Dragoner Rgt 2 + Res Feld Art?Rgt 5 + 4th Company of Pio Btl 3)

5RD on 9th april 1918=

9th?Res?Inf?Brigade?(RIR?8,?12?&?48?+?5th?Squadron?of?Dragoner?Rgt?4,?Art?Kdr?90?with?Res?Feld?Art?Rgt?5?&?4th?Btl?of?Res?Fuss?Art?Rgt?17,?Stab?Pio?Btl?305,?2nd?Res?Cpy?of?Pio?Btl?3,?MW?Cpy?205,?Div?Nachr?Kdr?405)

1916 is down in the middle, so add both and just halve the result...

Source "Mein Regiment"

Nice?badges.?You'll?find?at?least?another?version?of?the?Leibertag?badge.?The?meeting?took?place?just?after?the?war?(was?it?1921?or?1922?).?I?saw?it?at?an?arms?fair?today.?I'd?say?it has an 8-sided?shape.

Gilles

They can't be seen too well though in the packet.

They look like... magic cigarettes! Was it the secret behind German warfare?

And bottom view with makers name and city.

made in Hamburg, nowadays they write it "Jungfernstieg"

Bad timing, Chris, otherwise you would have earned the frontpage of the Bild Zeitung...

I'd vote vor Chris' theory of high-key private purchase items as long as the Kaiser had many other special jewels and gifts like his Geschenkbroschen, but would of course agree to any other period evidence...

Gilles

Who was Roland? The Knight pictured on the award?

Yes Chris, many a German town had it's Roland, from Charles the Great's paladin. You still can see some statues (made of stone) when travelling around. It gave the idea to create the "iron Rolands" during WWI, who were made of wood. Anyone willing to spend would put a nail in it. They did it with several motives like Hindenburg or helmets...( )

The "V" in a circle is a well known Freikorps badge is it not?

Yes Chris, Rick already answered your question,the small round badge is that of Grenzschutz Ost's "V. Armeekorps" distinctive, created on 15 March 1919.

Chris,

within the modern boarders of Germany, the Altmark is supposed to be the north of the Bundesland Sachsen-Anhalt. Two main cities: Stendal (that inspired the French author who chose his nom de plume from it, just slightly changed) and Salzwedel. So a unit of the IV. Armeekorps?

Have a look as well at the altm?rkisches Feldartillerie Rgt Nr. 40.

Gilles

Garde Nachrichten Ersatz Abteilung?

Great, Chip! (just as usual)