IrishGunner

Nice pick-up

The Feuerwehr photo is great!  I've been getting a lot of new artillery photos lately; guess I should just off the scanner.

Vince, even as a relatively fluent non-native speaker of German, the handwriting gives me nightmares.  The printed Fraktur I can manage.  But the handwriting often leaves me more confused than when I started.  The more you study it the easier it is to get the gist.  But it does take time.

Nice addition to the thread, Jens!  Attended the best universities of the time; Heidelberg, Berlin, and Göttingen .

35 minutes ago, sftrooper86 said:

Does anyone know what his title on this black wound document means? Is his title a Professor Doctor of Philosophy????

Yes, a secondary school teacher (Studienrat) with a doctorate level degree = PhD.

Great find, Timo!  I guess the dealer didn't know what he had...?

Agreed, the "10 Recruits" bar is amusing.  Haven't seen that one before...

Richard, our Belgian experts will surely chime in, but in the meantime, I would say that this is a nice set of WWI era Belgian orders/medals.  They certainly have some value to collectors and I would not toss them to the kids for toys.  You can check online for the current selling prices.

Yea, interesting piece from eastern Prussia.  I know what you mean about temptation.  As I get back into collecting, I have to fight the urge to stray outside my artillery "zone" of collecting.

Yes, interesting.  But for a different reason.  Now I am wondering how many Austrians volunteered for the German Army since Austria-Hungary had its own option.  Apparently, quite a few.

The fakers will fake.

Thanks for sharing, Simon.

Was it this guy?

Tony, As far as I know, Škoda did not make a 20,5cm mörser.  Your photo is a Škoda 30,5 cm Mörser M11.

See here: http://www.landships.info/landships/artillery_articles.html#

The other two are heavy guns in fortress mounts.  Heavy fortress guns are always difficult to identify; it's helpful to know which fortress or the country.  For example, in Grodno, the Russians mounted Japanese guns.  Sometimes they are also naval guns for coastal defense mounted in fortresses.

The gun if the bottom photo of Post #37 is a 76,5mm Feldkanone; which model year is difficult to see (there are three possible: M05, M17, M18. The later M17/18 models are the most likely).

Andy's sources are always great.  As I said, I have a first edition original hardback regimental history.  It's 435 pages (of tortuous Fraktur), so I haven't read it all, but a check of the Table of Contents shows nothing related to the mountains.  7. bFAR spent its entire time on the Western Front, mainly in the Marne/Champagne areas.  Farthest south was Lothringen at the start of the war and later Verdun.  I also checked the page which lists units set up from the Ersatz Battalion; no mountain units.  If we had the Leutnant's name, that might help...

Just a run of the mill Bavarian FAR, albeit one of my favorites.

Thanks, Chris, that does make sense.  Then Infanterie Geschutz Batterie 24 was subordinate to 15. Sturmbatallion?

Can you tell me the source of your info (for my notes)?

So, the bayer. 5. Sturmbat.  is the 5. bayerisches Sturmbatallion with the Infanterie Geschutz Batterie 24 being a subordinate unit?

Just got this one in the mail.  I haven't done much research yet.  I am assume "Sturmbat." means battery (batterie) and not battalion.

He was from Oberrammergau and is commemorated on the memorial there... 03.06.1918 Frankreich.  He's buried in Kriegsgräberstätte in Loivre.

Narrowing down the unit would help, as this was just before 2nd Marne, there could be an interesting story.

Wow, I am so jealous of that photo with the Bergmütze/Granat.  I will have to go back through the bFAR 7. regimental history and see if there are any similar photos.

Chris, don't forget that Bavarian artillery wore the spiked Pickelhaube (instead of the Kugel) until March 1916.  Maybe that's what threw you off into looking at infantry regiments.

I'm glad you snagged a split group.  Another soldier with a story that will not be lost to time.

The swirls on the lower left of the cypher sill don't match exactly to bFAR 7.  So, it's only about a 90% accuracy in my opinion.  And as noted, that darker crown is a indeed a head scratcher.

1 hour ago, The Prussian said:

Hello!

I agree!

Bav. 7th FAR

Well, if Andy agrees with me, I win!

Paul, it's interesting that the bar in Post #185 has the USN/USMC Combat Distinguishing Device "V" device for the Legion of Merit, but not the Bronze Star.  Quite appropriate, just interesting.  China Service and Philippines Liberation to go along with WW2 and Korea service.  Probably some good stories go along with this bar.

In the second posting ... Post #186 ... What are the grey/blue ribbons on the bottom row of the bar on the bottom left?

Okay, I'll play.  The way you write the question, I suspect you already know the answer.  So, it might be a unit in your field of interest.  But it can't be an obvious one or you wouldn't have fun with the guessing game.  On the other hand, I'm going to take a wild guess in the other direction.  It looks a lot like Königlich Bayerisches 7. Feldartillerie-Regiment „Prinzregent Luitpold“.  Of course, I only say that because I have the regimental history and it is similar to the cover.  And the crown being a different (darker) color has me scratching my head.  But hey, it was worth a Euro to play the game. 

Now tell us the answer ... and the story.

From the cover of the bFAR Nr. 7 history:

I am certain you've seen this, but I'll post it anyway...

Details of KIA: https://www.koreanwar.org/html/korean_war_project_remembrance_search_6_2013.html?key=3122