christerd

S/S City of Simla , very nice passengership of 10138brt , buit by W Gray & Co in 1921. She was torpedoed and sunk by U 138 under command of Wolfgang Lüth 20th September 1940. she was the a part of convoy OB-216 , only 3 died while 347 could be saved by other ships.

This card is posted from a crewmember of S/S Belgia in 1939 , she was built for the Swedish company Gothabolaget, but was sunk in the Thames in 1941 by German airplanes. Later salvaged and brought into service as S/S Empire Bell, the 25th September 1942 she was sunk for the second and last time. 10 of her crew died at the sinking, her faith was U 442 which only survived for 5 more months before she was sunk in February 1943.

Some new cards in my collection of Torpedoed Ships . First a real tragic story and somewhat typical for the war in the Baltic sea..... In the background we see a Swedish ship S/s Bengt Sture , in October 1942 she was going to Danzig with iron core. But in the night she was torpedoed by the Soviet Sub SC 406. Of the crew of 14 men and one woman at least 7 survived the sinking among them the woman Ketty von Hamm. They were captured by SC 406 and brought to Leningrad, where they all later was executed by NKVD. A crime against all rules of sea and war of course but the Soviets did´t care much for rules or morale.

Here is the medal bar , seller pic Christer

Hallo Sascha, It could be a Romanian award I guess, But the only one I know wich has some likeness to the ribbon is the order of the Star wich is a quite high award for a German private or NCO. But of course the medals on the medal bar could also have been exchanged so the III class BMVK maybe was a I class ? And the Wurt DA was in fact something else ? This ribbon bar will probably end up in the "unknown" part of my collection together with so many others that will keep me avake in long winter nights :D

Hi Claudius and Matt , Nothing with black light , the hook is rounded and looks like it soldered to the back of the ribbon bar plate. Looks and feels good. The feeling you can´t describe but after handling a lot of ribbon bars you get a kind of seventh sense for the bad ones The medalbar was also for sale but I did´t get it . The placement of the KVK is wrong but I have seen that before , maybe he thought his War" medals was more worth than a "behind front KVK" ? I got a Rgt story from LIR 123 , but it would be extreme lucky if anything is mentioned about a low ranking soldier like this. Christer

Hi all, I bought this ribbonbar with EK II- BMVK III mKr- HEK- KVK II- Wurt LDa- OstM From What I can see only 49 Wurtembergers got the BMVK III with Crown and only three was in Landwehr Regiments Uffz Gabler from LIR 119 Uffz Christian Nufeld from LIR 123 Uffz Fritz Wischedel from LIR 123 I cant find that anyone of them was killed during first world war so all three are possible suspects for the ribbon bar. Now , if there only was a list of all Ostmedal awards (or KVK II ) Does anyone have any Regiment story for LIR 119 and LIR 123 ? I know its a looong shot but maybe something is mentioned about getting awards from Bavaria ..... At least a nice ribbon bar to a fighter ? in two wars . Christer

Thanks Hucks and Martin I see that many of the Hafe schuts Flöttillen was abonded in 1944 so I can possible narrow down the suspects quite a lot See if I can find anything more about these units Christer

This is super , I am building Titanic in 1/350 and it looks micro compared to this I will follow this with interest , Great model ! Christer

I just got this nice photo dated July 11th 1944 of a ship crew ? At first I thougt about a Uboat crew but thay are to few and no higher ranks , and when I looked at the backside , there was some writing , but I´m not sure if I translate it right ? The Ha S Flo could that mean hafen Schutz Flottilie ?? and sine the landing in Normandie in June 1944 what places could they come from ?? Could anyone help me translate the writing so maybe I can get some more clues Happy weekend all Christer

Here is a beuty just arrived from US A bavarian soldier fighting in Finland 1918 , EK II , MVK III x , Hamburg HK , EHK , IX LS , Finnish Bravery 1st class , Finnish Bravery II class and Finnish com medal 1918 There was a Gebirgs Artillere Abt in Finland from Bavaria, and I am pretty sure I will find this guy in the rolls. The Finnish had a simple rule it seems to award German soldiers with Bravery medals. Officers - Finnish Liberty Cross Iv or higher , NCO and below Bravery medal II class if they didnt had a EK II before then they got a 1st class medal. So this guy probably didnt have an EK II and got first a II class then did something out of the ordinary and got EK and a first class. The combo with both Finnish medals is unusual so I belive I could pin him down. I´ll let you know if I find him ....

Hallo Hzenba and welcome to this forum. I´ll try to answer your questions as best as I can, All Hinderburg crosses came with a ribbon . same ribbon for fighter cross and non fighters and another for Widows and Parents The cases was privately bought but contained no ribbons , the cross was just delivered in a paper with a piece of ribon. And if you were from Austria you could have a triangular ribbon made for you in your own country style. All theese crosses have to be applied for from 1934 until early 1940s If you are interested please see my homepage www.bayoswede.se there you will find a lot of pics and info about the crosses Christer

Wow , what the chance that this photo surfaces after one year Hope now that you can find it on Ebay and see if was sold or even better comes again on a new sale . But what kind of uniform is he wearing ? Christer

I just bought this box for an Egyptian order (said the seller ) but Does anyone here know for what the box is intended ? Best regards from sweden Christer

Just realized that there is only one class of the Baltic Cross of course but this Leutn Sommer is the first I ever seen wearing both ! Ribbonbar and Pinback , very strange Christer

I just bought two pics of two soldiers from the 1914-18 war. And wonder if there is a chance to find out anything about them ? First out is Lt u Adj Hössle ( auf Schwäbische Gmund) it says on back He has EK II , EK I , Würt MVO , EHK , and LS ? + SA Sport Badge Next is Lt Sommer ( Rasputin ) maybe a nickname ?? He has EK II , Ausrtria 1914-18, Police 18 y , March 1938 , Oct 1938 , Baltic Cross II , Baltic Cross I , Olympic Medal, Hungary 1914-18 , Bulgarian 1914-18 ? EHK , and SA Sport Badge The both seem to be some sort of Stabs Officers ? Any luck ? Christer

;) I´m also interested in that ribbonbar , but I leave it and hope its goes to a good home Christer

Nice Bar ! There is not a lot of Lübeck bars out there .. Christer

Hi, one of most crazy projects I´m working on is a database over Germans with Finnish awards (Liberty Cross, and Medals) It is very hard to find this names and probably totally impossible but still I have a quite big base thats growing each week with new names. The Germans got awards in two wars 1918 and 1941-44 , and of course 1918 is most difficult to find information about. Here is the numbers awarded to Germans and how many names I have so far (oakleafs means second award) Grand Cross X w Brllianten 1918 1 awarded 1 Grand Cross X 1918 3 3 Grand Cross 1918 1 1 Grand Cross X 1941 7 7 1st Class X Brillianten 1918 1 1 1st Class x Star Oakleafs 1941 3 3 1st Class X Star 1941 11 11 1 st Class X oakleafs 1941 17 17 1 st Class X 1918 ? 4 1 st Class X 1941 72 72 1 st Class 1918 ? 2 2nd Class X 1918 ? 17 2nd Class X 1941 26 26 2nd Class 1918 ? 5 3rd Class X 1918 ? 18 3rd Class X 1941 58 58 4th Class Oakleafs 1941 1 1 4th Class X 1918 ? 6 4th Class X 1941 ? 9 FrM 1 1918 ? 65 FrM 1 1941 ? 1 FrM 2 1918 ? 125 Christer

The Zähringer Löwen that I started the thread with was sold for 685 Euro , probably to a German buyer .. Weight 16,4 gram , 43 mm dia. Nice one awarded to a man who was at the Royal court of King Oscar II in Sweden. Sad to see the Orders now sold all over and a group of 12 awards splitted up. Christer

Hi, Yes its silver-Gilded according to the seller , and marked S.F.S 13099 ? Christer

Here is another medal that I´m thinking about , but as with the Zähringer Löwen it looks like new ? Crown Order 3rd class , real or no deal ? Christer

What do youn think about this ? Offered for sale now, Zaehringer Loewen Knight first class , sorry for the small pics but can you see anything disturbiing ? Best regards Christer

Thanks hagahr , I really love your site And the discussion between "original" and "copy" will keep going on I´m sure Christer

Hi Michael , nice to hear that your grandfather is still around , and 92 !! Thats impressing , If you post or mail your adress I will send a bigger copy of the first photo in the thread. I´m planning to visit the place in Sweden during this summer and if so I can show some pics of how it looks today Best regards from Sweden Christer