PKeating

I presume that this document is for sale on eBay, if the blocked-out swastika is any indication. I must say that I am struck by the uniformity of the colours: the printed text, the signature (although barely visible) and the divisional stamp all seem to be the same colour.

The signature is clearly the manuscript type as opposed to the stamp Richard Heidrich or, rather, his aides tended to use on award documents but Heidrich certainly signed documents by hand, as the attached example shows. Signatures can vary over quite a short period of time, of course. A Monday signature can look very different to a Friday signature.

However, the divisional stamp is another matter. Unit stamps were carefully guarded for obvious reasons and Heidrich's personal office would normally have had just one stamp. Note the differences between the stamp on the EK2 document to Viktor Wollner and that on the document to Franz Richter.

I've never seen such a document, although that means very little in itself, given the very wide variety of award documents. However, Heidrich's office would have requested a blank document or two from the OKH or OKW through official channels and would have received one of the more common types with which we are all familiar, without the illustration of the badge. I would also expect such a document to be in A5 rather than A4 format.

That said, I have not heard of any Fallschirmj?ger receiving a numbered Sturmabzeichen. That said, the SA was certainly awarded to Fallschirmj?ger before the institution of the LW-EKA in 1942, mainly to members of specialists like artillerymen, medics and so on. The Luftwaffe had no equivalent of the numbered GAB, despite the attempts by various con artists to convince collectors otherwise. The numbered LW Ground Assault Badges instituted by G?ring late in 1944 did not appear before the end of the war. Perhaps holders of the GAB serving in the Luftwaffe were entitled to upgrades upon completion of the required tally of combat days.

Richter wears a GAB although the cloth Parachutist Badge might indicate that he became a paratrooper after receiving the GAB elsewhere, in one of the LW Field Divisions or even the Heer. Who knows? The cloth badges began as unofficial accessories but were 'officialised' in 1942, along with special award documents, by the OKL so that newly qualified parachutists had something to show for their seven training jumps because their award badges and accompanying documents sometimes took months to catch up with them and more than a few men were killed in action in the interim. On the other hand, he could just be wearing it on his fliegerbluse as a matter of personal preference.

I would want to examine this GAB 50 document personally and carefully before coming to any definitive conclusions but it does not inspire much confidence on the basis of what I see here. Even the name "Franz Richter" strikes me just a bit too "Hollywood German".

If it is a wartime print, the photo is certainly interesting as photographs of Fallschirmj?ger wearing the GAB are quite rare. Whether his name is or was Franz Richter is another matter.

In summary, exercise extreme caution.

PK

This photograph was miscaptioned and I contributed to the erratum in the early stages of my research into the unit. However, it shows Seigfried Milius congratulating tank-killers of 3./SS-FJ-Btl 600, accompanied by 3. Kompanie commander Joachim Marcus, in the early jump smock with the special W-SS rank patch for camouflage smocks. If such a garment were found in a house in the Schwedt area today, it would be assumed by many to be a postwar 'marriage'. Note also the reversible winter suits. Visible in the line up is Walter Hummel, who features extensively in the photo-reportage from Drvar. Karl F u c k e r looked quite different.

PK

Thanks for the heads up. Good work. Someone seems to have reacted quite quickly as Vigan12 doesn't appear to have anything for sale now. Hopefully, the grouping ended up remaining together.

PK

Wonderful portraits! Thank you both very much for posting these.

The man sitting on the left - as we look at the photo - appears to be using a Wehrmacht field medic's qualification badge to denote his evident status as a field medic.

PK

The images aren't clear enough for a detailed comparison but the overall shape and the '1813' remind me very much of Rudolf Souval. So does the riband clip. If it is a 1957 pattern Souval, that would at least make it 'more real' than Souval's 1939 pattern fantasy pieces, an early cased example of which I recently sold for around ?200.00. Mind you, the frame seems to be very new. It could just be an out and out fake.

I would agree that the price was high but, then again, as it was quickly placed on hold, some fool and his money were ready to be parted. Maybe we should all put very high prices on the good stuff offered through the classifieds here instead of trying to price our stuff fairly for our fellow collectors. LOL!

I wonder when we shall see 'rounder' '57s...

PK

Close-up of the Bar.

Shame to see it split up. The father's medal bar certainly seems to be the one in the photograph, which would make it the only documented example of the 1914 Bar to the 1870 EK2 I recall seeing. Assuming the Bar itself is original. It probably is. But if not, it wouldn't be the first time valuable accessories had been removed from groupings and replaced by fakes. If the medal bar has been assembled more recently, it has been very well done by someone who took the time to reproduce the angles at which accessories were fixed and their positions relative to the ribands. It strikes me that the vendor doesn't know what he is selling or, at least, didn't know when he put this family grouping up for sale. Look at the careless manner in which the father's medals have been shoved in the case. I would say that it is OK and might go for it myself if I hadn't sunk this quarter's 'recreational' budget into my latest old motorbike.

PK

The vast majority of Waffen-SS members were not party members. Coming back to the strange IAB, it wasn't denazified. It was an integral striking. The eagle really was like the old Weimar eagle or a rounder version of the BDR eagle, which is based on it. It wasn't the angular Third Reich eagle. I still kick myself for that one, more than thirty years later.

PK

Regarding the Bandenkampfabzeichen, Dan, some Wehrmacht recipients were proud of it, as this photo of a KM sailor wearing the BKA shows. Slightly deviating from the topic, I know, but I thought you'd be interested. Thanks for the clearer pics of your 1957 example. Never seen that before. I once saw an Infantry Assault Badge with a Weimar-cum-BDR-style eagle instead of the Nazi era bird. I was fifteen so it was in the mid-1970s. The badge was in the kind of kriegsmetall used for many wartime badges. I wish I had bought it. Never seen one like it since.

PK

Link?

Reference number?

Tried several searches and came up with nothing.

PK

The state gave my wife her Ordre des Arts et Lettres. The quality is better than I expected.

PK

The KM Diamonds badges were in the gift of D?nitz and, as such, not official state awards whereas the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross were state awards, hence their inclusion in the post-1957 catalogues. Interesting to see the Anti-Partisan Warfare Badge. I always thought this was on the list of proscribed badges when the BRD started producing de-nazified Third Reich awards. It was seen as a "Nazi" award because of its association with the Waffen-SS but, of course, Wehrmacht and Police personnel received it as well.

PK

http://www.navy.lk/index.php?id=32

Commodore P.M.B Chavasse, DSC - Royal Navy

15.06.1953 to 07.11.1955

The last of the Royal Navy loan officer to serve as Captain of the Navy held the substantive rank of Captain and was promoted to Commodore on the eve of his departure from Ceylon. He was Captain of the Navy on the occasion of the Queen's visit in 1953.

Spotted Chavasse's uniforms hanging in a very posh antiques shop in my father's street in Dublin. The DSC and Bar ribbon drew my attention. 39-45 Star, Africa with Rosette (Presumably the 'date' Bar), Atlantic Star, Burma Star, War Medal + MID and, on the jacket with Queen's Crown buttons, the 1953 Coronation Medal. Mess Dress, two jackets, a great coat, belt and the accompanying trousers, stated by the shop owner to have been bought in Cork. All by Gieves of Saville Row. No medals - Oh yes...I asked! - but still, quite a find in a relatively militaria-free zone like Dublin!

If anyone is interested, or has his medals, drop me a line and I'll give you the shop's details. Not cheap but I think they're trying it on a bit with the price and, anyway, cash is king at the moment.

PK

Not a l?gionnaire. Not French. Even if the name sounds a bit French. RK for Tobruk. Who was he? :D

I recall this group from around five years ago, when Chris showed it on another forum. This group was recently offered for sale again by Niemann but with all sorts of accessories that do not seem to have been part of it when Chris had it. including the cap, dagger, NKS and at least a dozen other items. It also looks as if the genuine photo of the man has been removed to allow a load of other photos to be added.

What a shame! The group has not been enhanced but irretrievably damaged, unless the photo of the recipient can be found and restored to its rightful place. But who is going to admit to being the venal swine who did this in the mistaken belief that it would make it more interesting or valuable? There really are some abject cretins in and around Third Reich collecting. A group like this needed no 'improvement'!

PK

It's outside my collecting parameters but came in a shoebox with a load of other stuff: an unofficial wartime commemorative medallion for Gebirgsj?ger who served on the Eismeer Front during the winter of 1942/43, defending the area against Soviet incursions. These medallions or decorative fobs came with the length of leather bootlace.

PK

Hallo James,

There's not much source material but a couple of references, including a Nigerian booklet, for want of a better description, from the 1970s gave Maigumeri's rank in 1928 as RSM. It is interesting that London Gazette refers to him as a BSM. The assumption is that this stands for Battalion Sergeant-Major but infantry units have not, as far as I know, used Battalion Sergeant-Major. BSM generally stands for Battery Sergeant-Major and is, obviously, an artillery appointment.

If you consider that he was a decorated sergeant in the German Armed Forces when the British got their hands on him and his comrades in 1917, and you factor in his father's lengthy service to the British Crown, it is not at all inconceivable that Maigumeri was a Regimental Sergeant-Major by 1928. But it certainly bears more research and I shall be looking into it for an article and, also, because I find the man himself absolutely fascinating!

The question of warrant officer ranks is interesting. The ranks of Warrant Officer Class 1 and Class 2 were introduced in 1915 but originated in the new practice in 1881 of confirming the most senior calavry NCOs by royal warrant. Up to just before The Great War, the most senior NCO in an infantry battalion was the Sergeant-Major. Once each infantry company was given its own Company Sergeant-Major, these being WO2s, the Army adopted the cavalry's Regimental Sergeant-Major rank for the senior NCO in the battalion. From 1915, CSM was the usual job title of an infantry WO2 and RSM that of the infantry WO1. The British Army also had WO3s as Troop and Platoon Sergeant-Majors but the appointment seems not to have been used after 1939. It was a special appointment aimed at introducing Senior NCOs to the command and administrative responsibilities of WO2s and WO1s.

There is a lack of logic in that Battalion Sergeant-Major would be the more appropriate designation. As a side note, I used to wonder why I and the two or three other Regimental Signals Instructors in our battalion were not Battalion Signals Instructors. Some pundits suggest that the infantry eschewed BSM in favour of RSM because infantry SNCOs might have felt slighted as Battalion Sergeant-Majors next to the the more important-sounding Regimental Sergeant-Majors of cavalry units. Others contend that the abbreviated form might have been confused with the artillery's Battery Sergeant-Major. There was also a Band Sergeant-Major appointment but I don't think Chari Maigumeri ran the regimental band somehow.

I wonder if the LG's use of "Battalion Sergeant-Major" was just an error on the editor's or journalist's part or some sort of affectation by an editor who might have been a cavalryman at some point. Perhaps the journalist or editor had a problem with a black man as an RSM. I certainly can see no reason why Maigumeri would have been cited by the LG as BSM rather than RSM. The units in which he served were organised along normal British infantry lines. But I will happily stand corrected if anyone knows better.

PK

Wonderful!

Just as a point of interest, here's the same type of document. There are so many variations that it is actually quite rare to see two documents from the same printing plates together!

PK

Link won't load.

Period caption: 21st May 1953: Royal Sergeant Major Chari Maigumeri, a member of the Nigerian Regiment, with Lieutenant Colonel M M Davie, at Woolwich Barracks, London. The regiment is part of the colonial contingent which will take part in a parade during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Chari "Charley" Maigumeri enlisted in a colonial unit of the Imperial German Army at the age of sixteen during The Great War and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for bravery in the field against the British in Northern Cameroon. The Germans promoted him to the rank of sergeant. When the British occupied part of that territory, Maigumeri was inducted into the West African Frontier Force in 1917. He served in 5th Bn The Nigerian Regiment, in which his father had served for twenty-six years, and has been described as distinguishing himself, which would have pleased his father, presuming the latter were still alive. One wonders what Chari Maigumeri's father would have thought of his son's enlistment in the German army.

In the photo (posted below because of dynamic page link problems), RSM Maigumeri is wearing the ribands of the MM, BEM, BWM, VM, 1939-1945 Star, Africa Star, Burma Star, Defence Medal, War Medal with MID Oakleaf, 1937 Coronation Medal and, I think, the Army LSGC Medal. He clearly qualified for The Defence Medal during his time in India and in Abyssinia. I wonder if he still had his German documents and his 1914 EKII or if these were confiscated from him in 1917. I suppose he would have had every right to wear the 1914 EK2 in civvies after he retired. He would also have been eligible for the 1934 "Hindenburg Cross". I wonder if any former Askari applied to the Nazi government for their 1914-1918 Ehrenkreuze.

By 1928, Maigumeri was RSM of 3rd Bn The Nigerian Regiment. During WW2, RSM Maigumeri won the MM in the 1940-1941 Abyssinian Campaign. The regiment was later transferred to India with 81st West African Division, fighting in the Naga Hills and in Burma with 14th Army, where RSM Maigumeri MM picked up an MID. He also received the BEM in 1944 for his long and excellent service. Returning to Nigeria after the war, RSM Maigumeri MM BEM MiD was involved in training duties and was promoted to Captain on retirement from the service in 1953. His name remains revered in Nigeria amongst those Nigerians with a sense of pride in their nation and its history but there are no military establishments named after him, perhaps because his achievements pre-dated independence, his part in the shaping of a new generation of Nigerian soldiers aside.

What an impressive-looking soldier Maigumeri was!

PK

Thank you for the information . It is good they didn't put low numbers on these and leave the L58 off LOL I guess the detail is slightly off too unless they call it wear as I saw on one website LOL Cheers Take care.

The serifs on the M of M?nchen are an immediate giveaway in the case of Souval BO. Side by side with genuine examples, the strike details are more than "slightly off". However, these Souval copies caught a lot of people out, like a lot of other postwar Souval stuff. I have one from a box of largely genuine medals and badges I bought about twenty years ago with a number in the 7000's. Quite a few people have tried to buy it from me for what it is, indicating that they are indeed collectables in their own right.

PK

When we eventually send a task force to restore order and obedience to HM Queen in Australia, will any member of the rebel Armed Forces of the Republic of Australia awarded a VC for heroism during the conflict be allowed to wear it after the surrender?

Tricky question...

PK

Fakes. Hope you didn't bid on them.

PK

Il y a ceux qui diraient ?blanchissage!?, mon cher... Perhaps Fran?ois Mitterrand was advised to accept the award in order to maintain his cover, if one accepts that he was already working against Vichy by then. Like many of his generation, Mitterrand spent time as a prisoner of war after the Franco-German armistice in June 1940. When he returned to France in 1941, he joined the Vichy administration and became a junior minister in charge of POW affairs.

Until very late in life, Mitterrand used to lay a wreath on P?tain's grave every year on the anniversary of the Mar?chal's death. He also maintained his friendship with various very dodgy Vichy figures, including Ren? Bousquet, and others, like Maurice Papon, enjoyed his protection. Of course, many Vichy-related collaborators were protected by the French establishment after the war, including Mitterrand. It is true that he switched allegiance and began working for or, at least, with the Resistance in 1943. However, when his Vichy past was first publicised in the 1950s, Mitterrand denied having received the Francisque. As a sidenote, the French lawyer Jacques Verg?s and others have sometimes suggested that the trial of Klaus Barbie was a show trial aimed in part at diverting criticial attention away from the questionable past of France's socialist Pharaoh.

Mitterrand was extremely right wing as a young man and belonged for about a year to les Volontaires nationaux, a sub-unit of the ultra-nationalist, even fascist Croix de Feu movement. The CdF began in 1927 as a militant veterans' association whose cadre comprised holders of the Croix de Guerre. It was also anti-semitic but given the extent of anti-semitism in France, this was probably irrelevant. However, Mitterrand himself certainly ascribed to classical fascist views, as his comments in December 1942 in the the official Vichy paper France, Revue de l'?tat Nouveau indicate: "Si la France ne veut pas mourir dans cette boue l?, il faut que les derniers fran?ais dignes de ce nom d?clarent une guerre sans merci ? tous ceux qui, ? l'int?rieur comme ? l'ext?rieur, se pr?parent ? lui ouvrir les ?cluses : juifs, ma?ons, communistes...toujours les m?mes et tous gaullistes". This translates as: "If France wishes to avoid dying in this mud, the last Frenchmen worthy of the name must declare war without quarter upon all of those who, internally and externally, are preparing to open the floodgates against us: Jews, Freemasons, Communists...always the same people and all Gaullists".

Mitterrand was also a Christian or Catholic militant in as a teenager, belonging to the youth wing of the Action Catholique movement. His dalliance with the Croix de Feu movement lasted about a year, from mid-1935 to 1936, when CdF was banned by the newly elected Popular Front government. CdF morphed into the more extreme Parti Social Fran?ais. Some allege that Mitterrand was a PSF member but no proof of this has ever been established. The Vichy regime later took its Travail Famille Patrie slogan from the PSF, which faded away after the outbreak of the war. Mitterrand did however write for the L'Echo de Paris newspaper, which supported the PSF and he was involved in various hard right street demonstrations as well as having family and personal ties with members of the far right Cagoule terrorist group in the late 1930s. Confronted about these aspects of his past in the 1990s, Mitterrand airily dismissed them as youthful mistakes.

That's fair enough. Nobody should be crucified for the rest of their lives for les conneries de la jeunesse. However, individuals like Mitterrand do to some extent epitomise the state of denial in which France, as a nation, has sought refuge since the Liberation. He was a very complicated man but while we should pardon his youthful excesses, we should not allow any whitewashing (blanchissage) of history as revisionism is always unhealthy. Mitterrand didn't ship anyone off to the Nazi gulags, as far as we know, but he was a fairly typical example of the arch-conservative, Catholic French mindset that saw nothing too wrong with forming a partnership with Nazi Germany, whose leader was perceived as a bulwark against Bolchevism and therefore a jolly good chap. That Hitler and his mob also detested Jews was icing on the cake as far as many bourgeois French people were concerned. Like many of these people, Fran?ois Mitterrand's conversion to the Gaullist cause was somewhat tardy and prompted by the realisation in the wake of events like Stalingrad, the collapse of the remnants of the Afrikakorps, the invasion of French North Africa and the invasion of Italy that the whole house of cards would inevitably come tumbling down.

PK

The full citation, as reproduced in various broadsheets:

Private Beharry carried out two individual acts of great heroism by which he saved the lives of his comrades. Both were in direct face of the enemy, under intense fire, at great personal risk to himself (one leading to him sustaining very serious injuries). His valour is worthy of the highest recognition.

In the early hours of May 1 2004 Beharry's company was ordered to replenish an isolated coalition forces outpost located in the centre of the troubled city of Al Amarah. He was the driver of a platoon commander's warrior armoured fighting vehicle. His platoon was the company's reserve force and was placed on immediate notice to move.

As the main elements of his company were moving into the city to carry out the replenishment, they were re-tasked to fight through a series of enemy ambushes in order to extract a foot patrol that had become pinned down under sustained small arms and heavy machine gun fire and improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade attack. Beharry's platoon was tasked over the radio to come to the assistance of the remainder of the company, who were attempting to extract the isolated foot patrol.

As his platoon passed a roundabout, en route to the pinned-down patrol, they became aware that the road to the front was empty of all civilians and traffic - an indicator of a potential ambush ahead. The platoon commander ordered the vehicle to halt, so that he could assess the situation. The vehicle was then immediately hit by multiple rocket-propelled grenades.

Eyewitnesses report that the vehicle was engulfed in a number of violent explosions, which physically rocked the 30-tonne warrior. As a result of this ferocious initial volley of fire, both the platoon commander and the vehicle's gunner were incapacitated by concussion and other wounds, and a number of the soldiers in the rear of the vehicle were also wounded.

Due to damage sustained in the blast to the vehicle's radio systems, Beharry had no means of communication with either his turret crew or any of the other warrior vehicles deployed around him. He did not know if his commander or crewmen were still alive, or how serious their injuries may be.

In this confusing and dangerous situation, on his own initiative, he closed his driver's hatch and moved forward through the ambush position to try to establish some form of communications, halting just short of a barricade placed across the road. The vehicle was hit again by sustained rocket-propelled grenade attack from insurgent fighters in the alleyways and on rooftops around his vehicle.

Further damage to the warrior from these explosions caused it to catch fire and fill rapidly with thick, noxious smoke. Beharry opened up his armoured hatch cover to clear his view and orientate himself to the situation. He still had no radio communications and was now acting on his own initiative, as the lead vehicle of a six warrior convoy in an enemy-controlled area of the city at night.

He assessed that his best course of action to save the lives of his crew was to push through, out of the ambush. He drove his warrior directly through the barricade, not knowing if there were mines or improvised explosive devices placed there to destroy his vehicle. By doing this he was able to lead the remaining five warriors behind him towards safety.

As the smoke in his driver's tunnel cleared, he was just able to make out the shape of another rocket-propelled grenade in flight heading directly towards him. He pulled the heavy armoured hatch down with one hand, whilst still controlling his vehicle with the other. However, the overpressure from the explosion of the rocket wrenched the hatch out of his grip, and the flames and force of the blast passed directly over him, down the driver's tunnel, further wounding the semi-conscious gunner in the turret.

The impact of this rocket destroyed Beharry's armoured periscope, so he was forced to drive the vehicle through the remainder of the ambushed route, some 1500m long, with his hatch opened up and his head exposed to enemy fire, all the time with no communications with any other vehicle. During this long surge through the ambushes the vehicle was again struck by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.

While his head remained out of the hatch, to enable him to see the route ahead, he was directly exposed to much of this fire, and was himself hit by a 7.62mm bullet, which penetrated his helmet and remained lodged on its inner surface. Despite this harrowing weight of incoming fire Beharry continued to push through the extended ambush, still leading his platoon until he broke clean.

He then visually identified another warrior from his company and followed it through the streets of Al Amarah to the outside of the Cimic House outpost, which was receiving small arms fire from the surrounding area. Once he had brought his vehicle to a halt outside, without thought for his own personal safety, he climbed onto the turret of the still-burning vehicle and, seemingly oblivious to the incoming enemy small arms fire, manhandled his wounded platoon commander out of the turret, off the vehicle and to the safety of a nearby warrior.

He then returned once again to his vehicle and again mounted the exposed turret to lift out the vehicle's gunner and move him to a position of safety. Exposing himself yet again to enemy fire he returned to the rear of the burning vehicle to lead the disorientated and shocked dismounts and casualties to safety.

Remounting his burning vehicle for the third time, he drove it through a complex chicane and into the security of the defended perimeter of the outpost, thus denying it to the enemy.

Only at this stage did Beharry pull the fire extinguisher handles, immobilising the engine of the vehicle, dismounted and then moved himself into the relative safety of the back of another warrior. Once inside Beharry collapsed from the sheer physical and mental exhaustion of his efforts and was subsequently himself evacuated.

Having returned to duty following medical treatment, on June 11 2004 Beharry's warrior was part of a quick reaction force tasked to attempt to cut off a mortar team that had attacked a coalition force base in Al Amarah. As the lead vehicle of the platoon he was moving rapidly through the dark city streets towards the suspected firing point, when his vehicle was ambushed by the enemy from a series of rooftop positions.

During this initial heavy weight of enemy fire, a rocket-propelled grenade detonated on the vehicle's frontal armour, just six inches [15cm] from Beharry's head, resulting in a serious head injury. Other rockets struck the turret and sides of the vehicle, incapacitating his commander and injuring several of the crew.

With the blood from his head injury obscuring his vision, Beharry managed to continue to control his vehicle, and forcefully reversed the warrior out of the ambush area. The vehicle continued to move until it struck the wall of a nearby building and came to rest. Beharry then lost consciousness as a result of his wounds.

By moving the vehicle out of the enemy's chosen killing area he enabled other warrior crews to be able to extract his crew from his vehicle, with a greatly reduced risk from incoming fire.

Despite receiving a serious head injury, which later saw him being listed as very seriously injured and in a coma for some time, his level-headed actions in the face of heavy and accurate enemy fire at short range again almost certainly saved the lives of his crew and provided the conditions for their safe evacuation to medical treatment.

Beharry displayed repeated extreme gallantry and unquestioned valour, despite intense direct attacks, personal injury and damage to his vehicle in the face of relentless enemy action.

I think Johnson Beharry earned his VC.

PK