Davidia

The photo was taken in Königsberg June 9, 1916.

I hope I'm not boring you folks... But maybe this photo is of interest, too. It depicts my granddad Herrmann Schulze (left) and Hauptmann Wolff, Kommandant of LZ 86. The writing on the back of the photo reads: Herrmann Schulze und Hauptmann Wolff "who killed himself laughing about every little thing". Wolff was killed 3 months later when LZ 86 crashed near the airfield at Sanktandres (near Timisoara).

Sorry, jaba1914, I'm still trying to get the hang of this forum... Yes you've got it completely right. However, my granddad was seconded to the Luftschiffertruppe as an engineer. He received basic military and more profound engineering training as an "Einjähriger" or "Einjährig-Freiwilliger" with theTruppenteil II (Maschinisten-Kompanie) der Werftdivision Wilhelmshaven in 1908. A year later he left Wilhelmshafen as Marine-Ingenieur-Applikant d. Reserve. He then served on merchant ships for a while before - we believe - working for the DELAG (we have no proof of this). We know that he started as an engineer for Luftschiffbattalion II in Reinickendorf (Berlin) on October 1, 2013.

I have photographed the reverse of the Luftschiffer Erinnerungsabzeichen, VtwinVince - is this what you wanted to see?

Thank you all for your interest and for your kind advice re the Ehrenbecher - I will not attempt to clean it and will leave the patina as it is. I will - by the way - sell it together with the documentation. I appreciate its rarity and the strange circumstances of the award. But I have other memories and mementoes of my grandfather to cherish. We gave a lot of material from his time on the zeppelins to the museum in Friedrichshafen and wanted to donate the Ehrenbecher as well. But they didn't want it! I have no information that Hauptmann Masius was on Z VI when this airship attacked Liege - I think the commanding officer was Hauptmann Kleinschmidt. But obviously Masius was in some way connected to Z VI having been present on the jaunt with the Duke of Brunswick. There is a fairly good account of the fate of Z VI here: http://www.luftfahrtarchiv-koeln.de/Angriff_Luettich.htm In the document cited above there is a photo allegedly of Peter Bürvenich - but I believe it to be my grandfather. Hm... What it doesn't tell is family history: The rescued crew stayed in an inn in the nearest village (Merten). During this short stay my grandfather fell head over heels in love with the eldest daughter of the innkeeper - my grandmother. Her parents didn't approve (he was protestand, she was catholic) and eventually - in 1917 - they eloped... This is probably not very rare but I thought you might appreciate it: a zeppelin steering wheel my grandfather kept. When we were children he told us it was form an airship that crashed. But we never thought to ask him which airship it was.

How good that you have both the goblet and the certificate. Isn't it amazing they went to this trouble so shortly before the end of the war? If your uncle saw more than 4 years of action he was very lucky to survive. You are taking far better care of your goblet than me... I must try to clean it up!

Oh wow. I can imagine. It is good to know you honour the memory and history of your forebears. You asked about a close-up of the medals - difficult as the photo (1917) is quite small. But I've tried to enlarge it... As to the Braunschweig Verdienstkreuz - that I believe may be connected to e pre-war outing of the Duke of Braunschweig and his wife Victoria (just married) from an airfield in Braunschweig in the autumn of 1913. My granddad wrote on the back so we know who we can see here: from the left: Fahringenieur Hermann Schulze, Unbekannt (half visible), Oberleutnant Stapelfeld, Duchess Viktoria Luise zu Braunschweig Lüneburg, Ernst August von Hannover (III) Duke von Braunschweig, Kommandant Hauptmann Masius, Seitensteuermann Schwarz

So many of the "Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse" were given out - it isn't really terribly special. However, the letter of congratulations might be of interest as there are a lot of names on there who served on LZ 107. Back to the "Tor Ehrenbecher". The zeppelins were the first to bomb cities from the air (starting with Liege). Poperinge was attacked because it was an important railway junction and served the British army as a distribution center of materials, personnel and also as a medical centre to look after injured soldiers. My granddad never talked about it but what I gather from other sources is this: The British air defence peppered LZ 35 which was hit by more than 700 bullets. The crew tried to get rid of every heavy object on board in order to reach the base in Gontrode. But the airship crashed near Maria-Aalter between Brügge and Gent and was subsequently completely destroyed by a storm. Four members of the crew died, but Kommandant Masius (and obviously my graddad) survived. Übergabe Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse.pdf Glückwünsche z. Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse.pdf Yes, VtwinVince, my graddad was born in Meerane in Saxony.

The "Ehrenbecher" is solid silver (800), handmade by Bruckmann & Söhne in Heilbronn. The shield bears the writing: Poperinghe 13.4.1915 Sorry about the photo Übergabe Ehrenbecher Poperinghe LZ 35 Einschreiben.pdf Ah yes, VtwinVince, that is one of the Ehrenbecher given to pilots of fighter planes, I believe. You asked about my granddads decorations. Here are a few... Unfortunately we do not have the medals any more (it wouldn't surprise me if my grandmother didn't throw them away...). Albrechtskreiz mit Schwertern LZ35.pdf Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse LZ 35.pdf Ritterkreuz 2. Klasse d. Albrechtsordens LZ 87.pdf Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse Herzog Ernst August.pdf

Most of the paperwork and memorabilia about my graddad's time with zeppelins during WW I were given to the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. But we kept a few things, Amongst them is one of the "Tor Ehrenbecher". I couldn't figure it out, so this post was rather enlightening. Übergabe Ehrenbecher Poperinghe LZ 35.pdf

I noticed this post when researching for a biography of my granddad who was a flight engineer on various zeppelins during WW I. His name was Herrmann Schulze and he served on (army) zeppelins right from the start of the war: Z VI (with which he crashed near Cologne after attacking Liege in Belgium on August 5 1914); LZ 35 (which was involved in attacks on Paris and crashed after an attack on Poperinge), LZ 72, LZ 87 (which attacked Ramsgate and Margate and later - while stationed in Königsberg - destroyed a Russian U-Boat) and lastly on LZ 107. By then Zeppelins were no longer of importance and he ended his military career as "Hafenkommandant" in Königsberg. Here is a photo of my granddad: