Dave Danner

Also, the distinction among regular, reserve, Landwehr and Ersatz breaks down as the war progresses. For example, the 228. Infanterie-Division, raised in the spring of 1917, was formed by pulling together two regular regiments - IR48, which had begun the war in 5. ID, but in 1915 had been used as part of the cadre of the 113. ID, and FR35, which had begun the war in 6. ID, but in 1915 had been used as part of the cadre of the 56. ID, and a reserve regiment, RIR 207, which had been called up in the second wave in October 1914 as part of the 44.RD.

Paul: Infantry divisions On Mobilization in August 1914: 1.-3. GID, 1.-42.ID, 1.-6.bay.ID; 1.RD, 3.RD, 5.-7.RD, 9.-19.RD, 21.-26.RD, 28.RD, 30.RD, 33.RD, 35.RD, 36.RD, 1.bay.RD, 5.bay.RD; 1.-4.LdwD; Garde-Ersatz-Div, 4.ErsD, 8.ErsD (later the 243.ID), 10.ErsD, 19.ErsD, Bay.-Ersatz-Div. Later in August, the Navy raised the Marinedivision. In September a second Navy division was raised, and the two were redesignated 1.- 2.MD. Also in September came "Division Wening" (later 1.bay.LdwD) and "LdwD Bredow" (later 18.LdwD). In October, the 43.-54.RD and the 6.bay.RD were called up, and four other "name" divisions were formed: "Division Rekowski" (later 39.RD), "LdwD Einem" (later 11.LdwD), "Division Waldow" (later 5.LdwD) and "LdwD K?nigsberg" (later 16.LdwD). In November 1914, "Division Breugel" (later 85.ID) was formed, along with the 2 divisions of the "Korps Posen" (later 83.- 84.ID), "Division Westernhagen" (later 89.ID), "Division Wernitz" (later 86.ID) and "Division Menges" (later 88.ID). In December, more reserve divisions were called up; 75.-82.RD and 8.bay.RD. In January 1915, four Landwehr divisions were called up: 7.-9.LdwD and 6.bay.LdwD. In February 10.LdwD and "Korps Dickuth" (later 87.ID) joined the order of battle. March saw a bigger spurt: 50.ID, 52.ID, 54.ID, 56.ID, 58.ID, 111.ID, 113.ID, 119ID, 121.ID, 123.ID, 10.bay.ID, 11.bay.ID and 15.LdwD. In April came 115.ID, 117.ID and 12.LdwD (which in February 1918 became the "Ostseedivision"). In May 1915 were raised the 4.GID, 101.ID, 103.ID, 105.ID, 108.ID, the division-sized Alpenkorps, and 13.LdwD. In June came 107.ID and "Division Basedow" (later 5.ErsD). In July, 14.LdwD. Things were quiet on the organizational side for a few months, and then in November 1915, the 109.ID and 17.LdwD were added. That was it for 1915 and indeed until the big reorganizations of summer 1916 when the entire Army began triangularizing (many of the reserve divisions were already triangular). In June 1916, the Army added the 183.ID, 185.ID, 187.ID, 192.ID, 201.ID, 47.LdwD and "Division Rusche" (later 92.ID). In July came 204.ID, 12.bay.ID and "Division Clausius" (later 91.ID). In August nine divisions were raised - 195.ID, 197.-200.ID, 206.-208.ID, 14.bay.ID ? followed by 17 in September - 211.-218.ID, 221.-223.ID, 301.ID, 9.bay.RD, 19.LdwD, 20.LdwD, 25.LdwD and Kommando "Nord" of the Gruppe Nowogrodek (later 94.ID). October 1916 added 93.ID, 202.ID, 203.ID, 224.ID. In November came 205.ID, 225.ID and 226.ID. December added 302.ID and 2.bay.LdwD. In January 1917, 5.GID, 219.ID, 220.ID, 255.ID, 16.bay.ID and 26.LdwD were raised. In February, the 227.ID, 21.LdwD and 45.LdwD were added. In March came another big jump, 14 divisions: 231.-242.ID, 15.bay.ID and 46.LdwD. These were joined in April by 5 more: 228.ID, 22.LdwD, 23.LdwD, 38.LdwD and 44.LdwD. Things were a little quiet after that. In May, the 95.ID and 96.ID were raised. The Navy added the 3.MD in June. In September came 303.ID and 48.LdwD. In November the Deutsche J?ger-Division was formed. In January 1918, the 101.ID, was reduced to only a division staff, with no troops. In May 1918, three cavalry divisions, the Garde-Kavallerie-Division, 6.KD and 7.KD, were reorganized as infantry and designated Kavallerie-Sch?tzen-Divisionen, the GKSD, 6.KSD and 7.KSD. In June 1918, the 9.bay.RD was dissolved. The 4.KD, although retaining its cavalry resignation, was effectively dissolved as a unit, and became a command for Landwehr units known as 4.LdwD/KD. Nine infantry divisions were dissolved in August 1918: 109.ID, 211.ID, 235.ID, 10.bay.ID, 6.RD, 33.RD, 46.RD, 47.RD and 10.LdwD. Twelve more were dissolved in September: 108.ID, 183.ID, 222.ID, 223.ID, 225.ID, 233.ID, 14.bay.ID, 43.RD, 53.RD, 54.RD, 77.RD and 78.RD. The staff of the 6.RD headed an ad hoc division in Macedonia, the "Division Dietrich" in late September until it too was dissolved in October. Also dissolved in October 1918 were the 197.ID, 201.ID, 302.ID, 25.RD and Bay.-Ersatz-Div. In November 1918, the 202.ID was dissolved. The 231.ID and 232.ID also may have been dissolved before the armistice went into effect. Cavalry divisions On Mobilization in August 1914: Garde-Kavallerie-Division, 1.-9.KD, Bay.-Kavallerie-Division. The cavalry situation was pretty quiet thereafter, as planners kept waiting for that hole to open that cavalry could exploit. In October 1916, 3.KD was dissolved and 4.KD, 5.KD and 9.KD lost their horses. In November, 6.KD and 7.KD lost their horses, and the cavalry regiments were redesignated "Kavallerie-Sch?tzen-Regimenter". In February 1918, 5.KD was dissolved, followed by 9.KD in March. Garde-Kavallerie-Division lost its horses that month. In April, 8.KD was dissolved. As noted above under infantry, by May 1918, GKD, 6.KD and 7.KD were reorganized as GKSD, 6.KSD and 7.KSD. Also as noted above under infantry, in June 1918, 4.KD was partially dissolved, becoming an HQ for Landwehr units.

There actually is a spreadsheet which I found online once, but unfortunately I cannot remember where, which has not only the 1914 order of battle, but later mobilization of reserve and Landwehr units and wartime reorganizations. Its organization was somewhat complicated and hard to follow; it looks like it might have been someone's work in progress. I saved it and went through trying to fix typos and the like, but never got very far with it. It was useful as a back-up for other resources, but since I don't even have Nash or Cron, I don't have the information I really need, like depots so I can identify which states various regiments came from. Here are examples of a series of entries for the units of the 85th Landwehr Division, showing its OOB on mobilization in July 1915 and a January 1918 OOB from (I assume) Nash or Cron or another source: 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 170.LdwBrig LIR 17 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 170.LdwBrig LIR 21 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 169.LdwBrig LIR 61 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 169.LdwBrig LIR 99 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 1.mobErsEsk XVII.AK 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 2.mobErsEsk XVII.AK 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) mobErsEsk/GrenRzPf 3 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) FAR 85 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) II.Btl/Fu?artR 15 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 1.Res/PiBtl 26 1915 7/7/1915 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 2./PiBtl 26 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 169.LdwBrig LIR 17 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 169.LdwBrig LIR 21 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 169.LdwBrig LIR 99 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 169.LdwBrig InfRadfKp 85 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) 5.Esk/KR 6 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) ArtKdr 85 FAR 275 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) Stab PiBtl 485 MinenWerferKp 385 1918 1/13/1918 OOB 85.LdwD (Breugel) DivNachrKdr 585

Field Marshal Archduke Joseph lived from 1872 to 1962. Field Marshal Archduke Eugen was the one from 1863 to 1954. I don't think he spent much time, if any, in Hungary after World War I. Field Marshal Archduke Friedrich lived in Hungary after World War I, and died there in 1936.

Maybe literally, but in English, we would say "commemorative" for a badge or medal. An event might be "memorable." Something like "director of the central institute for the development of relations between Holland and abroad" or "Holland and foreigners".

A 2 megabyte version of the full picture is here, at the bottom of the page: http://www.cfc-a.centcom.mil/Photos/2006/08-August/index.htm

The guy in the middle is Staff General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, Vice Chief of Army Staff, Pakistan Army General Staff.

Closer up, again with the DRA, it appears:

We need a nicer "off topic" smilie, but point taken. So, back on theme... Unfortunately, space limitations are forcing me to play around with the cropping and size, but:

Opinions on Wardak vary, and it is important not to confuse him with other Wardaks, many of whom were fine officers. When, during the Afghan-Soviet War, people spoke of "Gucci guerrillas", those Westernized Peshawar-based mujahideen leaders who seemed more comfortable being interviewed by journalists in the Dean's Hotel than in leading fighters in the field, Abdul Rahim Wardak was pretty much whom they had in mind. Of course, the always nattily-dressed political leader of NIFA, Pir Sayyed Ahmed Gailani, who is also the head of Qadariya sufiism and who routinely traveled between Peshawar and the exiled king's villa near Rome, actually did wear Gucci.

It is hard to tell, but the unidentified general officer in #7 appears to be wearing the "triple canopy" of Special Forces, Ranger and Airborne tabs, as well as an SF regimental crest above his jump wings. I suspect these are more or less honorary, reflecting joint operations with the US-led Combined/Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan (C/JSOTF-A), rather than graduation from hooah school and the Q. Also, just a nit, but there's no "h" in Massoud. There are various transliterations, with Mas'ud being closest to the spelling (مسعود), but Massoud himself, educated at a French lycee in Kabul, used the more Frenchified transliteration. Among other Afghans, a more Anglicized version like Masood is often seen. The US Army Infantry School instuctor's pocket fob, affectionately known as the "push to talk" button, seems a little out of place among Wardak's decorations. IIRC, Wardak was in India at a conference when the Soviets invaded, so that's how he managed to avoid being captured or killed along with most of the pre-Communist senior military leadership. Lt. Gen. Mohammed Yahya Nauroz, the Chief of Army Staff before the Saur Revolution, also escaped Afghanistan. He was active in the mujahideen cause but lacked Wardak's more flamboyant personality. Both were affiliated with NIFA, the generally royalist National Islamic Front of Afghanistan (Mahaz-e Melli-ye Islami-ye Afghanistan), the party which attracted a fair number of former military officers who had served under the king. Rahmatullah Safi, a Q course graduate who had commanded the king's special forces, was also a NIFA commander.

Literally, j?rk means grade and aste means degree, so you might say "II. Grade, I. Degree," but that sounds a little awkward in English. Also, aste can also mean grade and j?rk can mean degree. M?lestusm?rk does mean commemorative (badge).

And just to clarify, Admiral Harry D. Felt was CINCPAC, not CINCPACFLT, serving from 31 July 1958 to 30 June 1964. Admiral Felt had previously commanded Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. CINCPAC is a joint command. He commands all US forces in the Pacific Command - Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. By tradition, he is always an admiral, since the bulk of forces in the theater are naval.

That it took you 2 minutes... no surprise whatsoever. That it took me about 2 minutes... feels pretty good.

My only input is also gut instinct: while an Ottoman diplomat might place foreign orders ahead of Ottoman service or commemorative medals, I can't imagine an Ottoman order of precedence that would place foreign coronation and commemorative medals ahead of Ottoman decorations.

Ducal Saxe-Meiningen Honor Cross for Merit in War, or just Cross for Merit in War. It is that duchy's equivalent of the Iron Cross, but for officers only. http://home.att.net/~david.danner/militari...xemeiningen.htm

He died in 1877 so he may never have received his Prussian KDM. He is not a prince, but a duke: Herzog Eugen von W?rttemberg, born 20 August 1846 and died 27 January 1877. His mother was Princess Mathilde zu Schaumburg-Lippe, which explains the Schaumburg-Lippe connection. He, his wife and his EK and WMV: http://worldroots.com/brigitte/royal/wuert...eugenwuertt.jpg

See: http://home.att.net/~david.danner/militaria/reuss.htm Cheers!

Maybe you missed my point, or our points crossed. There is no SWA or other medal to indicate an award for pre-war actions, so the Reuss medal has to be for World War I actions. I agree that there don't appear to be stripes there (even taking into account that yellow tends to turn dark on photos like this), so it is likely the amaranth statute ribbon. My point was only that there was a sufficient period from late 1914 through January for a wartime award to be made on the statute ribbon.

The "war ribbon" was introduced on January 9, 1915, BTW.

I think it is earlier. It is hard to tell, but I don't think I see a Showa Enthronement Medal (1928). However, I do see what appears to be at #6 a Taisho Enthronement Medal (1915). There also appears to be a Korean Annexation Commemorative Medal (authorized in 1912) at #4. So, possibly... 1. Order of the Golden Kite 2. Order of the Rising Sun 3. Russo-Japanese War Medal 4. Korean Annexation Commemorative Medal 5. ? (maybe an Interallied Victory Medal) 6. Taisho Enthronement Medal 7. ? The last may be a WW1 War Medal, but if so the order of precedence is odd. If a 1931-34 Incident Medal, the lack of a Showa Enthronement Medal and perhaps even a First National Census Medal would be odd.

It is only "clearer, easier and sounds better" if you are already using British English spelling, so that is not dispositive. The point is, for common nouns like honor/honour, color/colour, etc., one should use British or American spelling as one prefers, but for proper nouns that refer specifically to something American, one should use the American English spelling. Thus, "Medal of Honor". And that naval base in Hawaii is Pearl Harbor, not Pearl Harbour. We have a Department of Defense, Britain has a Ministry of Defence, etc. When translating from foreign languages, though, each may use his own spellings. Thus, I would translate Ministerul Apararii Nationale as Ministry of National Defense, while a British English speller would use Ministry of National Defence. And L?gion d'honneur can be either Legion of Honor or Legion of Honour. Multiple awards of the Croix de Guerre were common. The French custom was to wear the appropriate devices on the ribbon bar the way Americans would wear oak leaf clusters (Army/Air Force) or gold stars (Navy/Marine Corps). Sometimes, with lots of awards, this resulted in really long lengths of ribbon to support all of the palms and gold, silver or bronze stars. The most famous example of this is probably Marcel Bigeard, shown below. He has, after the British DSO, a WW2 Croix de Guerre and a Croix de Guerre T.O.E., each with a sh-tload of devices representing repeated gallantry citations. During World War One, the US didn't have many medals, so our medal conventions were not strictly laid down yet. Thus, one would routinely see awards pinned all over the uniform like this, rather than in neat overlapping rows, and each individual award was often worn, rather than palms, stars and clusters. This was even more the case for discharged soldiers, no longer strictly subject to uniform regulations. It is clear to me from the images that all of these Van Iersel is wearing are French. The Belgian CdG had a crown suspension. There is no Serbian CdG - besides orders, Serbia generally awarded its Bravery Medal, Milosh Oblich Bravery Medal, or Medal for Zealous Service. Montenegro, besides the Order of Danilo, granted its Bravery Medal and its version of the Milosh Oblich Bravery Medal.

I am sure the person who does the retouching means well, and the person (or people) responsible for the Home of Heroes site are doing great work, but those "color" jobs on photos look, frankly, ridiculous and only serve to distract since the colors are generally wrong and diffuse any detail to be found. Regarding the decorations: 1st row: 1. Yes, the CMH was a chest medal at the time; also since it is a proper noun, you should probably use the American English spelling, Medal of Honor (no big deal, just a nitpicky idea). 2. Medaille Militaire (Military Medal), France 3. Croix de Guerre, France (can't tell what device it has) 4. Croce al Valore Militare, Italy 2nd row: 1. Interallied Victory Medal with maybe 5 bars. 2. another French Croix de Guerre with Palm 3. by the style of suspension, very possibly a British Military Medal. 4. not sure there is a medal there, it may be the way the fourrageres appear 3rd row: 1. another French Croix de Guerre with Palm 2. Montenegrin or Serbian medal. 3. probably a New Jersey World War I Service Medal 4. ? 4th row: 1. ? 2. ?

Fourth U.S. Army has never deployed overseas. It was a regional command, responsible primarily for training and recruiting, and controlling reserve units, until eliminated in 1990-91. An MP on a post like Fort Sheridan under 4th Army would have worn that patch, although like Doc I don't recall ever seeing it worn this way. Of course, I was born in 1967 so I don't really know 1960s uniform conventions very well. For what it's worth, a basic history: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Armies were formed and fought in World War One. After the war, the country was divided into several army and corps areas, which by the onset of World War Two numbered four armies (1-4) and I believe nine corps (I-IX). 1st Army was the northeastern US, 2nd Army the southeast, 3rd the southwest and midwest and 4th the western US. 5th Army was formed for operations in North Africa and then Italy. 6th Army was formed in the South West Pacific Area. 7th was then formed before the invasion of Sicily (and commanded by Patton there). 8th Army was then formed in the Pacific as the forces under MacArthur grew in number. 1st Army was then relocated to England to control forces for the invasion of France, with 2nd Army taking over its role in the US. 3rd Army was also then moved to England, with 4th Army taking over its role in the US. As more forces were added in Northern Europe, 9th Army was formed there. 10th Army was next in the Pacific, and was the command for the invasion of Okinawa. For some reason, 11 through 13 were skipped, and 14th Army was part of the phantom FUSAG deception plan to convince the Germans that the Allies would invade at Calais rather than Normandy. 15th Army was formed at the end of 1944 to control occupation forces in Germany. After the war, the US was divided into 6 army areas (1-6), 7th Army became responsible for Europe, and 8th Army became occupation forces in the Pacific, and then became mainly responsible for to Korea during the Korean War. In Vietnam, the army/corps structure wasn't designated as such. The army-level command was United States Army, Vietnam, and the corps-level commands were I Field Force and II Field Force. A third corps-level command was added in 1968, which, oddly, was designated a corps - XXIV Corps. Until 1990 or so, there were again 8 numbered armies. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 were regional commands. 3rd Army also was a regional command, but was inactivated in 1974. It was reactivated in 1982 as the Army component of what became Central Command, responsible for the Middle East. 7th Army is US Army Europe, and 8th Army is the Army component of US Forces Korea. As noted, 4th Army was inactivated in 1991 or so. 6th Army and 2nd Army followed around 1995. So today, pending any further changes, there are 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 8th Armies. MNF-Iraq is also an army-level command, but not designated as a numbered army.

A slightly larger image from here: http://www.greatwar.nl/america/vaniersel.html By the quality, though, probably just the smaller image magnified. However, a third Croix de Guerre is clear.