Stijn David

Hi Alexandre, In a issue from the BDOS magazine this medal was discussed in a rather large article, different types, etc. ... I will see iff i can find out wich BDOS magazine it exactly is and will report back. Then you can get that source of information Cordial greetings,

Hello, These dates are from a older BDOS magazine, can find out a few more about these medals iff wanted. The magazine in question was : OMM nr. 87 - issue from december 1998 Cordial greetings, ps: i am slowly learning to become just a small shade of the master, one has to start as a humble apprentice

Hi WIlli, No need to worry => the master is amongst us and he will answer sooner or later. Patience my friend, patience ... Cordial greetings,

Hello, I have received a hint from a person, it is likely that the downed pilot was: Warrant Officer W.H. Hunter RAF(Service No. 941800) of 72 Squadron Is there anyone who can give me more info on this particular pilot?, any kills?, did he survive the war? , what medals did he earn, etc ... Thanks in advance,

Hello, Thank you for the update Paul, very interesting. Here we have our very same man, this time already when he was with Luftwaffe => so iff i am correct the shooting lanyard did replace the profiencystripes. Cordial greetings,

Hello, Indeed a very nice combination + altough i am far from a specialist let me take some educated guesses; * As there 3 thd classes of both Crown and Red eagle it must have been a higher ranking person. * The lack off WWI awards such as the Iron Cross 2 nd. class or the War Merit cross does make me believe that this person might have been deceased already by that time. * Then we have the combination of both the Colonial (Afrika) medal + the 2 red cross medals, the III and the II nd. class. I also believe that this person has been a doctor of some kind. Therefore i have been browsing a bit and have come up with 3 names (altough it would suprise me very much iff it is one of these gentlemens => therefore our wizards will proove me rather fast wrong ) 1) Prof dr. August Hildebrandt Red cross III class : 23/04/1901 Red cross II nd. class : 1914 2) dr. Tom Ringel Red cross III class : 23/04/1901 Red cross II nd. class : 1916 3) Prof. dr. Julius Wietig Red cross III class : 23/04/1901 Red cross II nd. class : 1916 Can anyone of the rank list guys eliminate these guys ? COrdial greetings + hoping i was of some use

Hello, Thank you, that should certainly help me to narrow down my search Cordial greetings,

Hello, I have Wehrpass with the DA 4 e Klasse (Long Service medal 4 e class - 4 years) entered, however no date is entered. Therefor ethe following question. This person has entered military service on : 01.11.1934 It is also noted that his military sevrice counted from that day on. So does that mean that this person did receive his medal 4 years service on lets say 01.11.1938 ? Or was it common practice that a eligable person did receive his medal a few monts later and that his document was also dated a bit later? Any idea's? Cordial greetings,

Hello, This is actually not so complete correct => Lille is actually French Territory, it has indeed a historical connection with belgium,(as well as the city of Lille aka. Rijsel in Dutch) but that is long gone history from medieval times. Arround 1200 Lille was still part of what was known as Flanders, this changed in the following years (as borders do change ove rhistory) and so that part of Flanders has become French territory. Just to be a bit correct Otherwise love the flare pistol. Cordial greetings,

Hello, And in order to give the meaning of tehse signs i will add for you guys also a bit of unitinfo on the different signs. (please note that the sign are not shown chronologicaly) 1) Schleppgruppe 2 The name Schleppgruppe 2 first appeared during october 1943 and was actually the old VK(S) 4 (= Verbindungs Kommando (Segelflug) attached towards the Luftflotte 4 (hence the 4 in the name) )that was renamed. This unit did have the following subunits as of that very date (october 1943): 1. (DFS) / Schleppgruppe 2 3. (Go) / Schleppgruppe 2 4. (Go) / Schleppgruppe 2 These units where active in Russia and following wartheaters can be highlighted: - Crimea (after it has been cut off by teh Russians from the mainland) - The ressuply of the 1 e Pz. Army (known more commonly as Kamenez-Podolsk) - the encerclement of Tarnopol - evactuation of the Krim ( april/mai 1944) During october 1944 this unit (or what was resting from that) was offically disbanded 2) Lw.Kdo DON This unit, actually there where 2 glider units attached towards the Lw. Kdo DON, namely: 1. (DFS) / Lw.Kdo. Don 1. (Go) / Lw.Kdo. Don was created to support the (august 1942) to support the 2 German and 2 nd. Hungarian army. The Russian winteroffensivs (1942/1943) did end the relatively quite period and it became the task of the glider units from teh Lw. Kdo Don to ressuply the many walking encerclements. At the end of april 1943 the glider units formerly existing unde rthe Lw. Kdo Don where disbanded and the material was devided under the VK(S) 4. I do hope this was a bit of interest as in order to point the different unitsigns into their real context. Hopeing to see a few from you guys

Hi John, Thank you for the confirmation. Any idea in wich time period we have to place this item? A) Luftgau Kdo III = Hamburg (that is indeed the area from wich our person was) And iff my sources are correct then the name as shown Luftgau Kdo III has the following history : Formed 1.4.37 in Hamburg. 12.10.37 renamed Luftgau-Kommando III. 4.2.38 renamed Luftgau-Kommando X. (source: http://www.ww2.dk/ground/hq/lg3.htm ) B) Then we offcoarse have the number : 63039 This can not possibly be the feldpostnr. As when i look that one up it has the following unit : (25.11.1944-8.5.1945) 16.3.1945 Landessch?tzen-Zug der Luftwaffe 403/XI Then our soldier was already dead (he did die on 03.11.1943 in a crash with his Go 242). So datewise it can not possibly be a feldpostnr. The nr. is also written in the Wehrpass as Erkennungsmarke . That would also declare the A (=bloodtype) and the 91 (Stammrollnummer). Any idea's? (will post a scan later to confirm this) Cordial greetings, Cordial greetings,

Hi Ricky, Aha => well then i hope that someone of you guys does pick this one up + that his identity will be revealed once again from the darkness of history. As that way i will also learn again why the Schwarzburg one does change its presence Cordial greetings + thanks

Hello, Here is a disc that belonged towards a KIA glider pilot. Can anyone enlighten me on what the meaning would be from the lettering? Am i correct that L.G. Kdo III does stand for : Luft Gau Kommando III ? This is his first ID disc, as accordingly toward shis Wehrpass he received a new one later on with the following code : 63039 A - 91 Thank for looking + for future explanation

Hello, Probably a dumb question but one that keeps me figuered anyway when looking at this eyecandy. Why is the F?rstlich Schwarzburgisches Ehrenkreuz (Modell f?r Rudolstadt) - Ehrenkreuz 3. Klasse on the ribbon bar at the second place while at teh actually medal bar it is positioned almost at the very end? Any toughts on this? Thank you

Hello, Thank you for clearing that out => i think we have to search for a more normal mortal soldier. Mayby listing up what Englisch related fighter groupings or units where active in the Tunesia area can already narrow down a bit the possibility's ? Cordial greetings,

Hi Rick Thank you, iff it indeed was Churchill's nephew then we might find it out. I think however that the Englisch pilot did tell that tale to impress the German's, i do not believe it all that much. => naughty chaps Cordial greetings,

Hi Paul, Thank you for the kind words, do not panic => certain things do take time and sometimes even small groupigs can be just as satisfying as a high end award one. Research and always keep digging is what makes it staisfying. Cordial greetings, ps: i would love to see some more Crete glider bravery (or Crete cufftitle) documents !!!

Hello, I have received the following item a few years ago from a German soldier who was eyewitness from the downing of a Spitfire in Tunesia. The pilot managed to get out of the plane before it crashed and went into German captivity, i have only the date of the downing of this spitfire, namely 22 april 1943. The shown piece is a original piece of parachute Silk cut from the spitfire pilots chute. Is there anyone who can help in the following questions: * What unit could teh SPitfire have belonged? * Are there loss lists known for that very day in the African theater? Thank you in advance + hoping to get a bit more info.

Hi Christian, Not such a s trange question at all, indeed we have a very same system used in belgium and you can find these remembrance table's often on large monuments. Almost every small town has such one, so it would not suprise me iff Guy has a picture from the momument where his familymember's name can be found. I have also encountered numerous times on graveyards in belgium that the former holder of certain awards are even remembred in their dead that they did held a certain decoration => for example, the Belgian WWI firecross can often be found either pictured, as a large facsimile in bronze on a certain tombstone, etc ... (the very same ways as in WWI a holder of the EK 2 was remembred) Cordial greetings,

Hi John, Thank you for the free drawings Well since you seem to like drawing a bit => her eis anotehr one that can be found, this is the unit weapon of the Lw. Kdo Don Cordial greetings, ps: there are even some gliders marked with a Kitty =>

Hi John, Thank you for the reply, i think it would be nice iff other members also could post some bravery groupings and give the story why certain awards where rendered. I will see what i can do in the future to get a few other glider bravery story's out. Offcoarse it does not have to be glider, other Luftwaffe is just as interesting. Cordial greetings,

About 6 months after his mission he was also awarded the iron cross 1 e class for the crete operation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How was this possible? Since the mission he had to cary out was such a complete succes and he was one of the very few that landed directly near the objective + made it possible to capture the bridge undamaged. In ths first fase of the action he was actually the key person . But why was the award rendered so late ? apparently the administrative way untill the succes was recognized as such took quite some time and this does make the time difference. ANd here we do see the result of a late recognition, 2 bravery awards where rendered for both the same action with 6 months difference !!!!!!!!! Cordial greetings and thanks for looking and reading.

Hello, And here we do have our proud new awardee with the EK 2 attached towards his uniform. But it did not end here offcoarse ....

Hello, About 2 months later (after a well deserved holliday) he received the iron cross 2 nd. class. Here we have the award document. More to follow. ...

Hello, Here is a documented (and straight from the owner into the collection) story of a Glider pilot who was active in the battle of crete. He did earn 2 bravery awards for his action, here the story go's. The original recipient was drafter in the Luftwaffe on 01.10.1939 and was trained to become a glider pilot. His first military training as such he received at the glider school of Braunschweig/Waggum. After having completed the glider training he was transferred towards the 5 e Staffel L.L.G 1 (based at Halberstadt) here he received further training and was commanded towards a Uffz. training course at Harzgerode. This training course was a very hard school and from the 60 persons who participated 3 died during the course !!!! (as a result the commanding officer was degradated from oberleutnant towards Feldwebel => he died during the Crete campaign) Our glider pilot was on the list to take part in operation "Mercure" and went with his unit on 13.05.1941 towards Greece. He was known as a excellent glider pilot (he has the highest glider degree for that time => the silver C) and was on the active list to fly with the first wave (as a part of the Gruppe West) He started on 5.40 hours at Megara in the " Erste Kette " als Left " Kettenhund " from Lt. Pongratz. His crew that he did transport : 9 soldiers from the Zug Oberleutnant Sch?chter. And now towards his actual combat report : " From about 10 km. at 1200 meters hight i did start my mission, My object was covered with very strong smoke and dusk clouds (from bombardments, etc .. ) I did land directly near the bridge (my glider was number 16) over the Travonitis river. The machine was quite a bit damaged but the crew did stay unharmed and fully operational. A few seconds after the landing the DFS230 was covered very strongly with machine gun fire and did start to burn. Our grouping did cary out its mission (capture and hold the bridge) but was under heavy fire. We had to take cover at the side of the bridge and managed to place our 2 heavy machine guns at each side of the bridge to secure the objective. After the Tank attack (?) at about 18.00 Hours i did receive the order from a Oberleutnant (name unknown) to guard 12 prisonners and bring them towards a gathering point for POW's. Once arrived there i did receive another order to guard the prisonners (a total of 50) during the night from the 20 may towards 21 may 1941. At 21 May i did receive once again a new order to bring the POW's towards the Maleme airfield, wich was under heavy Artillery fire. The POW's had to work and fill the bomb damages in order to make the airfield usable again at some point. From 22 towards 24 May all remaining (read surviving) glider pilots where placed under the command of a Kriegsmarine Officer and used as coast guards near the maleme airfield. At 24 May we where transported out of Crete towards Megara again" Here we do see a picture from his fotoalbum from his glider, very close near the bridge.