Dave Danner

It appears to be for the Gendarmerie de Midi-Pyrénées, headquartered in Toulouse.

To free up British troops for service in the rebellious American colonies, George III of England, also known as Kurfürst Georg III. von Hannover, sent 5 battalions of Hannoverian troops to Gibraltar and Minorca in 1775. Three went to Gibraltar and two to Minorca. When Spain went to war with England in 1779, the Hannoverians defended Gibraltar from a Spanish siege and French/Spanish naval blockade, successfully holding out for three years and seven months. Minorca was not as lucky. A surprise landing of Spanish troops in 1781 led by the French general in Spanish service Louis de Crillon, duc de Mahon, led to a shorter siege which ended with an epidemic and the surrender of the garrison in February 1782. George III awarded the Gibraltar title. Wilhelm II renewed it in 1901 for Hannoverian units in the Prussian Army which carried the traditions of those troops which defended Gibraltar.

The patch is for the 12th Infantry Division (12e division d'infanterie) in Algeria from 1956 to 1962. Both the 3e REI and the 5e REI served in the division, so that fits with the badges and information in your other thread. 12e DI http://encyclopedie-afn.org/12eDI http://encyclopedie-afn.org/12eDI_-_COMPOSITION

Super Dave's pretty well regarded in the SF community. The best shooter I know, who served with him in 1st Group, thinks pretty highly of him.

Nick, the Kreuz der Rechtsritter had a crown, the Kreuz der Ehrenritter did not.

Hi, The commander of the 4th Ersatz Division was Albert von Werder (22 July 1852 - 3. July 1936).

A miniature chain is usually worn at an angle on the left lapel of a civilian suit. So the order is from top down, which is why it is usually the reverse of the order on a horizontal medal bar. A Frackspange (or its non-German equivalent), worn below the lapel on a civilian suit or open-collared uniform (like many navies used), also is in reverse order for this reason.

Actually, on closer inspection, I think perhaps it is Haßauer. That name does come up in the Bavarian military records, although none are named Otto.

It should be Hoßauer. For some reason, the ß is often rendered as hs. Not a Bavarian name. The only ones I find are from Berlin.

KO4RM is the Prussian Crown Order 4th Class on the ribbon of the Lifesaving Medal. So he saved a second life after the first award of the Rettungsmedaille. UKDM is the Hungarian War Commemorative Medal.

I don't know how the numbering on straps worked, but Fußartillerie-Regiments go up to 28. FußAR 21-23 were formed in 1916, FußAR 24-28 were formed in 1917. Other new regiments were Bavarian 4-6 and Saxon RFußAR 12 and 19. You also have Fußartillerie-Bataillonsstäbe. These were formed in 1915-16 and numbered between 201 and 235. They were mostly repurposed/renumbered as Fußartillerie-Bataillone or Fußartillerie-Regimentsstäbe. For example, Fußa.Btl.St. 201 became Fußa.Btl. 55. Fußa.Btl.St. 203 became Fußa.Rgt.St. 203 on 22 August 1915. Most Fußartillerie-Regimentsstäbe were formed starting in January 1916, partly by renaming Fußartillerie-Bataillonsstäbe. The 1916 ones were Fußa.Rgt.St. 101-110, 206-208, 210, 212, 215, 218, 219, 223-225 and b.1-3. Fußa.Rgt.St.z.b.V. 1 was formed on 20 November 1916, and later was converted into Art.St.z.b.V. 2 (Gas). Fußa.Rgt.St. 111-125 were formed in 1917. These were called regiment and battalion staffs rather than regiments and battalions because they did not have a standard organization. Instead, they controlled various battalions/batteries which changed over time. The peacetime regimental headquarters effectively became this way too, as their battalions had been separately assigned to armies, corps and divisions. There were also a large number of separate (selbstständig) Fußartillerie-Batterien formed between 1914 and 1917. Many were combined into Fußartillerie-Bataillone. These had numbers up to 1025 in the army (Fußa.Battr. Nr. 1112-1020 were navy). And then there are the Reserve, Landwehr and Landsturm formations. According to Hermann Cron's Die Organisation des deutschen Heeres im Weltkriege, the total number of heavy artillery units upon mobilization consisted of: • 25 active and 23 reserve Fußartillerie-Regiments with 105 battalions or 382 batteries. • 2 Saxon Reserve-Fußartillerie-Bataillone with 8 batteries • 24 Landwehr-Fußartillerie-Bataillone with 96 batteries • 5 schwere Küstenmörser-Batterien • 3 kurze Marine-Kanonen-Batterien (42cm) • 22 Landsturm-Fußartillerie-Bataillone • 48 supernumary Festungs-Batterien Of these, the Feldheer went to war with 148 batteries. It is unclear to me, but I assume the rest remained in fortress or Ersatzheer duty, or were still being manned and trained up, and most joined the Feldheer later. Up to August 1916, to these were added 1 Fußartillerie-Regiment, 101 separate Fußartillerie-Bataillone and 665 separate Fußartillerie-Batterien. As the war progressed, most of the separate batteries were organized under the separate battalions. Cron then says at the end of the war, there were then 62 regiments with 190 battalions, 32 Regimentskommandos, 231 separate battalions, 7 kurze Marine-Kanonen-Batterien, 8 schwere Küstenmörser-Batterien, 5 schwere 15cm Kanonen-Batterien, and 50 mobile Landsturm batteries. According to Cron, the total number of batteries in the Feldheer at the end of the war was 1575, a tenfold increase over the 148 in August 1914.

They weren't regiments, but battalions. This is what I have, but I don't remember what the source was: Fußartillerie-Bataillone: • im Jahr 1915 aufgestellt: Nr. 21-24, 26-28, 29-31, 36, 38-40, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 84, b.10 • im Jahr 1916 aufgestellt: Nr. 25, 32-35, 37, 41-49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59-83, 85-99, 150-157, 401-404, b.4, b.5, b.7-9, b.11-17 • im Jahr 1917 aufgestellt: Nr. 100, 101, 106-118, 124, 158, 159, 405-407, b.18-27 • im Jahr 1918 aufgestellt: Nr. 102-105, 110-123, 125-149, 160-164, 167-170, b.28, b.29 The following is from the Ehrenbuch der Schweren Artillerie: • Fußa.Btle. 41, 51, 60, 146, 158, 164, 172 and 406 were Garde. • Fußa.Btle.33, 61, 68, 98 and 151 were Badisch. As was Fußa.Btl. 24, which became FußAR 24. • Fußa.Btle. 58, 64, 72, 96, 102-5, 107, 152, 160, 161, and 404 were Saxon. FußAR 12 was the parent for Nrs. 72, 102, 103, 152 and 161. FußAR 19 was the parent of Nrs. 58, 64, 96, 104, 105, 107, 160 and 404. The parent of Fußa.Btl. 62 and Fußa.Btl. 63 was 2. Pomm. FußAR 15.

Kgl. Sächs. Fußartillerie-Bataillon Nr. 64 was raised in Juli 1916 and demobilized in January 1919. The archives in Dresden have the unit's records.

Thanks, Glenn!

Hi all, There is a long casualty list in the 6. April 1916 Preußiche Verlustliste for IR 20. About 700 killed, wounded and missing, just from the II. and III.Btls. of the regiment. Would this be for Verdun? The 6.Infanterie-Division Gefechtskalender has the division at Verdun then, but I don't know when IR 20 was transferred to the 5.Garde-Infanterie-Division and I don't have any references at hand like the Schlachten des Weltkrieges. Thanks, Dave

Lt. Werner Liskow, born in Erkner, Berlin, killed in action 8. September 1914 by Maurupt-le-Montois on the Marne.

To add Hans Anton Adolf v. Carlowitz geb. 2.11.1849 in Kratza, gest. 22.3.1904 in Dresden. And yes, that is the Silberne St.-Heinrichs-Medaille.

It's an example of the odd method of double-counting. You would think that they would have reckoned from mobilization on, so that, for example, war service from 1 August 1914 to 1 December 1918 would be 4 years and 4 months, doubled to 8 years and eight months, so you would need another 4 months to get a 9-year Dienstauszeichnung. Instead, according to the Allerhöchster Ordre of 7.9.1915, "Denjenigen Kriegsteilnehmern, die sowohl im Kalenderjahr 1914 wie im Kalenderjahr 1915 die vorstehenden Bedingungen erfüllt haben, sind zwei Kriegsjahre anzurechnen". To qualify, you had to have served in combat at the front - "an einer Schlacht, einem Gefecht, einem Stellungskampf oder an einer Belagerung teilgenommen haben" - or to have spent at least two months in a Kriegsgebiet. So the 1914-15 war years counted for two years, even though it was only actually 1 year and 5 months of war. Thus, service from 1914 through 1918 counted as 5 war years, doubled to 10, making most enlisted men who served throughout the entire war eligible for at least a 9-year DA. But there are exceptions, because of the definition of Kriegsgebiet. Some soldiers who spent an entire calendar year in Heimatdienst did not get credit for that calendar year.

Not necessarily an NCO. That grade of the Militär-Verdienstkreuz was awarded to Mannschaften - Gefreiten and Gemeinen (Infanterist, Jäger, Kanonier, Pionier, etc.). I suppose he could have made Unteroffizier by the end of the war, but not necessarily so. Hitler had this same combination, plus the EK1, a Regiments-Diplom for bravery, and the Wound Badge, and he stayed a Gefreiter from November 1914 on.

#1 & 2 are the EK and the Oldenburg Friedrich August Cross with Spange "VOR DEM FEINDE". The last three are probably all Turkish, with the clasp covering all three. It's also upside down. #3 is not likely the Friedrich-Orden. He does not look old enough to be a pre-war officer with the LD2. Maybe he was an enlisted observer with officer's rank in Turkish service, and got commissioned late in the war, and that is the 9-year DA.

What is also interesting is the battle not listed there. The entry for "21.9.18-30.10.18 Rückzugsgefechte in Palästina und Syrien" - doesn't that include the Battle of Armageddon?

It is the name of the recipient. Erhard Milch.

I honestly have no idea how that worked.

I suppose they are all the same guy. He entered as a WOC, but then became a commissioned officer, leaving service as a 1LT. The WOC course was branch-immaterial, and the cemetery record doesn't show a branch, but the enlistment says he was a shipping and receiving clerk, so ending up in an Engineer Petroleum Distribution Company wouldn't be surprising. If there was an application for a military grave marker, that would have had his service number, but I believe the grave markers are bronze plaques placed on civilian graves. Since he was buried in a military cemetery, that wouldn't apply.

There is a Movement Order here for a 2LT Jack E. Ward, 1381st Engineer Petroleum Distribution Company: http://www.cbi-history.com/part_vi_1381.html There is a 1LT Jack E. Ward, born 21 December 1914, died 12 March 1990, in the National Memorial Cemetery Of Arizona. His Social Security Number was 572-07-5326, which is a California-issued number, so he was probably the Jack Ward born in Nebraska in 1914 and living in Fresno, California in the 1940 U.S. Census. According to the census, he was living with his brother and working as a clerk, and had 4 years of college, so being made an officer makes sense. A Jack E. Ward, born in Nebraska and living in Fresno, California, enlisted in the U.S. Army on 23 January 1941. He enlisted as a WOC.