christerd

I saw that Kurt Irmer was on SMS Frauenlob , that was a Cruiser launched in 1902 , she was sunk by a torpedo during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and only 9 men of her crew survived . He was lucky not to be on the ship then... christer

Hi again Mira , Yes today Finland celebrating 100 years as an indenpendent nation starting Dec 6th 1917 I began my interest about Germans in Finland April 1918 with collecting Finnish Orders and Medals and started to build a database over people who got awards , and soon I realized that a lot of German soldiers got Finnish awards . And so it went on In the first days of April 1918 , there was approx 9 500 german soldiers in Finland they had 18 Artillery guns , 10 " Minenwerfer" and 165 machineguns with them. I dont think there is a translated version of the book series but I will scan the chapter about the the transport fleet and hopefully your Swedish friend can translate it. Since I have a interest in the 1918 war I collected quite many books about it written both by Finnish and in some cases by German participants , and I will see if I can find some more info about your grand grand father. Do you have any info about what he did after April 1918 ? The name of the book serie is ( in swedish) " Finlands Frihetskrig , skildrat av deltagare." It was printed in Helsingfors 1922 and it is 8 volumes in all. I´ll be back Christer

Dear Mira , Fantastic ! The book where your grand-grandfather is mentioned is a Finnish book ( written in Swedish) from 1922 its in 8 volumes and named " The War for Liberation of Finland, told by thoose who participated" volume VII is about the German troops in Southern Finland and in chapter 3 written by KorvettenKapitän Bastian is your relative mentioned and the photo. KorvettenKapitän Bastian has a lot of very respectful words to say about your grand grand father Kapitän Irmer was head of the transport Fleet and a key person in the movement of troops to Finland in April 1918. The Transport Fleet was divided into three groups : 1st group : SMS Kolberg Fraktschiff Bahia Castillo Fraktschiff Buenos Aires Fraktschiff Cassel Fraktschiff Frankfurt Dampfer Equity 2nd Group : SMS Nautilus Fraktschiff Schleswig Fraktschiff Chemnitz Fraktschiff Hannover 3rd Group : SMS Möwe Fraktschiff Habsburg Fraktschiff Altenburg Fraktschiff Giessen So it was quite a big fleet of ships Some pictures of the fleet , first on shows some ships in Germany beeing loaded in Neufahrwasser Second one is Bahia Castillo and a truck beeing lifted on the ship. Third one is the ships on the way to Hangö, Finland Picture number four shows some of the Ships in Hangö , April 1918 I will see if I can translate some of the writing about your grand-grand father in the book, he did a great work. MFG Christer Daun

A couple of new ones to my collection First a 3rd class Liberty Cross 1939 , not one of rarest but still only 1004 awarded so take some time to find one at a good price a medal from 1902 ? next , " The commerative medal of the old Finnish Army" quite rare ( Tiainen rates it as R3 in his book) a little outside my normal area but when I find some unusual Finnish I tend to increase my area Then a mini ( just Love minis ....) a 3rd class Liberty Cross for civilian 1941 only 152 awarded and I suppose less minis ' And two German Ribbon bars from 1918 war , first a Bavarian , could be from GebirgsArt Rgt 2 ? Totally impossible to id of course and the another German with a Baden Zähringen Löwen , also hopeless to id ...

Hi Timo , At least two companies made these medals , Tillander in Finland and Sporrong in Sweden Swedish made was hallmarked and some of the Finnish ones ( LT ) They where awarde until 1937 ! almost 20 year after the war .... christer

I start to wonder , did this guy buy every order at the kunker auction 2015 ? Now he have at least 10 objects from the Kunker auction out for sale if I see right Christer

He really sell out a outstanding collection a 1st class 1918 civilian !!! . One strange thing is the bidder with few feedback who bids on all his items, but only to a certain level. And he has 65 bid retractions in 6 months. Maybe the seller have a friend as insurance..... well well , the Finnish Orders seems to have been a Good investment . christer

Wow ! 1000 $ Thats quite a lot of Dollars Christer

Wow , he could loose a lot of money if the price dosn´t rise ..... christer

Hmm, It really looks real by the pictures on EBAY , and I haven´t seen any real good fakes of this class ... But hard to be 100% without holding in real life , and comparing weight and size . But I would vote for genuine , anyone else ? The price is ??? but maybe everyone waiting for a sniper attack ? will be interesting to follow. Christer

Wow , only 165 left to find Baragin price for the moment ..... christer

Great chain Tomasz, A soldier that gas been in three wars 1918, 1939 and 1941 Fantastic Quality christer

I have been looking of buying one of these , but I thought the price was a little bit high, but now I see the reason You own almost all of them ... , very nice collection ! christer

Wow, I Love the Third Clas w Red Cross ! And you seems to have a crush on 1st Clas medal w Red Cross ? christer

Waited for a long time to find a 3rd Class Liberty Cross mini, but today it landed in my postbox Beautiful quality on these small crosses Christer

Very nice Dave ! I think there was about 2600 awarded of this medal ! But I think the document is even rarer , I have not seen more than a couple during the years . Christer

It have been tough to get new objects to my collection of Finnish Orders , but today a new one arrived in the mail 1941 Liberty Cross 4th Class with Red Cross , awarded about 800 times , mostly to medics and doctors . This one is in almost mint condtion , Now I have to look for a Civilian 4th class Christer

Hi Again , Yes they are still with me, Price haven' gone up , so 20 Usd including postage and they are yours . Easiest way to pay is by paypal or if you send med cash ? I will be going to US in the summer so green money is always welcome. christer

Hmm seems to be a quite rare medal ? I suppose it would be hard to get two of theese ( silver and bronze ) Thinking about buying the two award certs Christer

Aha , Thanks ! Now some googleing ... to find out what is looks like Christer

Iss there anyone who read French and know about Belgian medals ? This Award cert is for a Belgian medal 2nd class to a Swedish man in 1926 , but what kind of medal is it ?? He also got a first class I Think in 1935 Christer

And here is the medal bar , arrived in the mail today Christer

Hi Lars , After looking at it IRL I totally agree with you , the order is to wrong to be Finnish and as you say , the first one could be Belgium instead. Well I got two nice minis from Finland and now on the hunt for a Crown Order and a Polish one Probably more easy to find than a FLC II .... Christer

Wow , Nice collection !

A new one , with a owner that has done what ? Finnish Order of the Lion Knight 1st Class , Finnish Liberty Cross 2nd Class Civilian , and French Agricultural Merit Order Officer Strictly he should have the FLC II before the Lion Order but the French Order is quite rare it is one of the highest Orders and instututed in 1887 and since then only about 60 000 has been awarded and I suppose most to French citizens . Probably some professor , I will try and find out who it could be The combination must be unusual