Stijn David

Hello,

I know the controversy and will not add any comments on that as i have written already quite a bit about it. But i want to adjust the following " Stijn David may well be correct that the glider pilots he interviewed (who all seemed to have been able to have retained their originally awarded badges)"

The Bold line is not correct and i also never stated that. Quite a few still had their badges, but certainly not all glider pilots who i met during the years => iff something is quoted. Please quote correctly

Cordial greetings,

Ah, I see you've found hm then.

Hello Leigh,

Yes, it seems that we have found the most clossest suspect. I do say suspect as the name was a bit different + the day the crash was vieuwed was 2 days later then found in the account of the gldier veteran.

The loss recorded is:

26.11.1942 - Flying/Officer Gibbin L/C - Hurricane from 225 ths Squadron

THe name is quite near what was written down, the period also etc.... (othe rtype of airplane however) but we can assume IMHO that the crash of this soldier was vieuwed by the Barenthin guys and they burried this pilot.

Cordial greetings,

Hello Leigh,

Thank you very much for your research and information. I don't think however that the person i am referring towards is the soldier from your last post. This for the simple reason the period is not correct.

Why do i think this way? I have the information from a German soldier (former glider) who was in Tunesia at the time. He did write this down. The trouble with such things is => is he remembering correctly? How did he know the englisch (or better allied) pilot his name was Gibbons?

He did write down the following:

" 24.11.1942: Eine Me 109 wird im Tiefflug von einer "Spitfire" verfolgt. Die (Me 109) Zog plötzlich hoch - der Engländer übersah dabei einen Windenmotor, streifte - und stürtzte ab. Der Pilot, Leutnant Gibbons war sofort tot. Wir beerdigten ihn - und errichteten auf dem grab ein Holzkreuz mit dem namen. "

So the loss of a RAF plane needs to be searched arround that date, more specifyed place: Near Mateur.

Any possibility in checking iff there where RAF planes missing on that date?

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

I am currently looking afte rinformation (confirmation) of a following RAF - loss from Tunesia.

24.11.1942 - a spitfire crashed near Mateur (Tunesia). The pilot should have been a certain officer named Gibbons.

Can this be confirmed? Iff so what was his rank, unit, etc....

Cordial greetings and thanks in advance,

Hello,

Here are the exact numbers on these awards

Kronenorden 3. Klasse mit dem Roten Kreuz: 396

Kronenorden 3. Klasse mit dem Erinnerungsband: 105

Kronenorden 4. Klasse mit dem Roten Kreuz: 1.783

Kronenorden 4. Klasse mit dem Erinnerungsband: 453

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

And as promised, the close up. Hope this does bring some extra info

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

Tommorow the close ups will be shown

Thank you for the info, super to see how simply by looking at his awards we can get some extra info. He did not speak any english so i could not really correspond with him.

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

While working my way through the belgian archives i have also found some info on the awarding of the Olympia EHrenzeichen towards Belgian subjects.

I can list the following:

Olympia EHrenzeichen 1 e Klasse: 3 awards

Olympia Ehrenzeichen 2 e Klasse: 2 awards

Probably a few more will be found, but at least these 5 can be named. (mayby they are also on Ricky's list? )

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

ANd here is the man himself !

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

Last week i was on vacation in Latvia (Riga). And when walking arround i spotted a old man with his breast almost full of awards => i asked him kindly iff it was allowed to photgraph him and he sad yes - go ahead

Here is this man's breast and what kind of bling bling he was wearing. Please comment on what can be seen as i am very unaware in the Sovjet award system.

Next picture will be the whole picture of this proud veteran

Cordial greetings,

Yup.

Generalleutnant Walter von Mossner (1846-1932)

Generalleutnant Gustav Graf von Castell Castell (1829-19??)

General Heinrich Ritter von Xylander (1835-19??)

General Heinrich Leo von Treitschke (1840-19??)

Hi Ricky,

Thanks my friend, and here are a few otehrs that needs confirmation:

* Generalleutnant Graf von Hulsen - Haesler (Prussia) => GK dd. 1904

* General der Kavallerie Prinz u Salm Hortsmar (Prussia) => GK dd. 1904

* Oberst Graf von Wedel (Prussia) GK dd. 1904

* General der Infanterie von kessel (Prussia) => GK dd. 1904

Thanks in advance :)

Hello,

Can anyone of the research gnome's help me in verifying who the named General was who did earn the Belgian Leopolds order (Grand Cross). I have the data out of the Belgian archives, sadly quite often the names are full of mistakes, etc....

* Generalleutnant von Mossner (Prussia) => GK dd. 1900

* Generalleutnant Gustav Graf von Castell Castell (Bavaria) => GK dd. 1900

* General Ritter von Xylander (Bavaria) => GK dd. 1900

* General von Treitschke (Saxon) => GK dd. 1902

Thanks in advance !!

Hello dear forum friends,

And here is the EK 2 document from a glide rpilot from another Go 242 who also landed on that very day in Cholm.

Check out the award date, unit designation, etc .... and you will see that history does come togheter whit a bit of luck and research

Cordial greetings,

Hello Werner,

Thank you very much for your information, quite a few belgians are still missing at this point, can you verify the following names also?:

* Gilles R. / komthur 2 e Klase => 1913

* Wilmar.J.P.C. / GK => 1846

* Nothomb J.B. / GK => 1847

*T'Kint de Roodenbeke de Naeyer / GK=> 1866

* d'Oultremont / GK => 1874

Iff possible, please confirm these awards.

I will then add more info and more awrads towards the list

Cordial greetings

ps: could you please give details on the source? as important for the research

Hello Werner

Great information. Do you know iff it is possible to verify Anhalt awards towards belgian subjects between 1832 towards 1914?

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

Low ranks are not so unusual for flying personel, certainly not when they just qualifyed towards pilot, glider pilot, etc .... .

When you have the book about the glider pilot badge then you can see that quite a few soldiers where only "Flieger" when they received there Glider pilot badge. In most cases shortly afterwards they where promoted towards Gefreiter but pictures are known, etc ..

Cordial greetings,

Hello Kris,

Thank you for checking the name and the additional information. At least the 4 th class is confirmed now.

The case Langermann is a rather odd one. He was a native German who went into Napoleon's army and finally ended his career as a (naturalized) Belgian Brigadegeneral. And in the meantime he was also amongst the Polish it seems and did get a Virtuti Militari for his efforts against teh Russians.

Any idea where to fnd out more about the 1th Infantery DIvision and where these saw action?

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

Very nice collection and super picture of Bonsack.

He earned his L?H cross on 02/09/1916 as commander of the R.I.R. 215 (and somwhere during this year this roll will be published ;-))

Cordial greetings,

Hello RIck,

Thank you for the info on Krug von Nidda and for the search after the other oens offcoarse => he was actually awarded the GK on 13.04.1910.

So here are a few more (as they where Generals they should be tracable i guess)

* Vize-Admiral von M?ller (GK Belgian Crownorder => 1910) / Prussia

* Generalleutnant von Below (GK idem => 1910) / Prussia

* Generalleutnant von Roehm (idem) / Prussia

* Generalleutnant von Wachs (idem) / Prussia

* Generalleutnant von Schenck (idem) / Prussia

* General der infanterie von Xylander (GK crownorder => 1913) / Bavaria

The otehrs i have are non military

Cordial greetings and thanks in advance :cheers:

Hello,

Thank you for the additional information. Very interesting. I have een brwosing a bit about the Polish orders and decorations of the period and teh conferred polish orders must have been ones of the Virtuti Militari.

As after the november uprising and the war broke out the polsih (sjem) decreed on 19 February 1831 that the decoration had to be restored in its original name "The Order Virtuti Militari".

The order had the following rgades:

1: Grand cross

2: Commander's cross

3: Knight

4: Gold cross

5: Silver cross

As far as i could find there where approx. 3.863 crosses (all grades) awarded between 3 March and Octobre 1831. This 3.863 can be devided in the following numbers:

1 e class: non awarded

2 nd. class :1 awarded

3 thd class: 105 awarded

4 th class: 1.794 awarded

5 th class: 1.963 awarded

After the defeat of the Polsih troops the Russian tsar abolished the decoration and banned its use. On 31 December 1831 it was replaced by another decoration.

So our Belgian with German roots (he was naturalized towards Belgianin 1842) earned the 4 the class (gold cross) as well as the 3 the class.(knight).

Anyone who has a list of all 3.863 recipients so we could check him? Offcoarse all additional info would be much appreciated.

Cordial greetings,

Hello,

During a recent research in the Belgian archives i cam accros a very interesting soldier. Namely the later Brigadegeneral Langermann D.G.G. He was originaly a German (Born in Gustrow - Mecklenburg) and entered military service in 1807 with the french Army.

After he had a very strange and rather adventurous career he ended up it seems in 1830 in Poland as a Batallionschef in th rang of Captain and Ordonannsofiicer of General lamarque?

He did earn the following awards (wcih i can't identify at this point) in regards towards Poland:

* 22 Mai 1831: Gold Military merit cross (Polen)

* 24 September 1831; Knight of the military merit order (Polen)

Can anyone give me more background on how a French officer does end up arround 1830/1831 with 2 polish awards? and how do these look like, etc ....

All information is much appreciated.

Cordial greetings,

Hello RIcky,

OH my, these where again quite the persons it seems.

The date, yes the date => stupid me , all received the Grand Cross of the belgian Crown Orden in january 1910.

That date will help to find correct ones i think?

SOrry for the double work

Hello,

I am looking after addition info (such as first name) from the following persons:

* von Eppighoven, Freiherr (Gesandter der Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha)

* Auer von herrenkirchen (Grossmarschall am Hof der Herzog von Anhalt)

* Krug von Nidda (Generalmajor, 3e Kavaleriebrigade - Sachsen)

Iff you have listst, the clue on towards wich one of these guys it is is the Belgian Crownorder, the above named persons did have that one.

Cordial greetings and thanks for helping

Hello Rick,

Thank you, much appreciated

Cordial greetings,

ps: a few more wil follow to confirm :cheeky:

Hello,

Is there anyone who can confirm iff the above named General (Prussian?) did get the following award:

Belgian Crownorder - Grand Cross / 1910

I know there was a famous Kress von kressenstein (Friedrich Freiherr ..). Is it the same one?

All info is much appreciated.

Cordial greetings,