The Prussian

Hi Jürgen! You wrote that you didn´t know, that is was my photo.. In the post I wrote, the photo is from my collection. Well, I didn´t know, that my photo was shown at pinterest. That´s why I hate all those pages. Pinterest, alamy and all the crap. They steal photos from the net, some publishers uses them for their books and earn money with our photos. Well, my fault was, that I didn´t use a copy-protection...

Hi Jürgen! Wouldn´t it be kind, if you would ask me, before you post my photo at Facebook? A friend of mine showed me the attached post... Because I hate Facebook, I´m not amused... Photos in GMIC should remain in GMIC

Hi Jürgen! Well, we can´t say, which badges were worn in an unusual way... Some badges or patches were worn 14/18, even they were forbidden... Here is something from my collection: Bavarian mine-sweeper: Flammenwerfer: Saxon searchlight members: Meldegänger (Res.Inf.Rgt.82) And a couple of hand-grenade-launchers

Hello Jürgen! The only official metal badges were Edelweiß and Karpathenkorps. The rest were unofficial ones. Maybe there were some for Stormtroopers, but I haven´t seen some. Most of them were Freikorps badges. Your picture shows different cloth badges. The skullhead was for Flammenwerfer (official) and crown with the W was for Sturmbataillon 5 (the only official one).

Hi Jürgen! That´s not strange... Bavaria and Austria had a lot of commercial connections. Before, during and after the war. A catalogue would be hard to find. Maybe in several ones about austrians cap badges?

Yes... But it seems to be an italian magazine... The word "Sturmtruppen" was well-known in germany, but it was never used for official units. it was just a collective term for all "Sturm"-units like Abteilungen (detachments), bataillon or companies. IF germany had produced such a badge, it would be familiar to the unit, like "Sturmbataillon Nr.5 Rohr"

Hello Juergen! I´ve never seen such a badge on german uniforms and have never read about it according to german uniforms. I assume it´s a badge, made in Germany for austrian troops. Te meaning "Sturmtruppen" was usually used by k.u.k. troops and not by germans.

Hi Michael! The chevrons indicate his front-line presence. The first one (at the bottom) stands for one year, each other for six months. He has seven chevrons, that means he has four years front-experience. If the chevrons were upon the right arm, they would stand for wounds he suffered. By the way... we talked about the six-star generals in the FL Forum...

That was not my translation... It was the internet translator...😁

Hello! Is there anything on the reverse?

Hi no-one! No, unfortunately not. Because of the buttons, it´s probably a Pioneer-unit ("Génie"). Each division had 1 pioneer-bataillon. So I assume it´s "Génie-Bataillon N°2"

Hello guys! Thanks a lot for your answers! Well, because of the uniforms we found out, that they are belgians. The indicator were the buttons! Now I agree with the date 1916 too. No-one (nice name!!! 😁 )The card is written in german! That´s why I am so confused. In which case would a German (soldier or not) complain about bad food in relation to Belgian soldiers? As far as I know, in the first world war there were no prison camps in Belgium. And could a prisoner send photos like this home? Here again the text. The german original: den 1.II.1910(6) Liebste Eltern! Hier sind belgische Telephonisten Liebe Eltern! Ich hätte eine sehr große Bitte, wenn man bald ein Stück Käse sendet, ich wäre auch sehr herzlich tausendmal dankbar, weißt, liebe Mutter. Jetzt darf es auch bald ein Ende nehmen. Bei uns ist das Essen hundsgemein schlecht, solches Fressen stellt man einem Hund nicht hin wie wir es jetzt bekommen, wenn wir nicht so viel stählen, dann bekommt keiner genug. and the english translation: the 1.II.1910(6) Dearest Parents! Here are Belgian telephonists Dear Parents! I would have a very big request if you send a piece of cheese soon, I would also be very grateful a thousand times, you know, dear mother. Now it may also soon come to an end. The food here is bad as a dog's ass, you don't give a dog the kind of food we are getting now, if we would not steal so much, no one will get enough.

no-one?

Hello! The photo just arrived! Here a few close-ups. Probably we´ve got lions upon the buttons. So the guys are Belgians?

Hello! This card was written 1910 OR 1916, I´m not sure, if we see a 0 or a 6... He writes, that we see belgian telephonists and about bad food, that he received, and asked his mother for a piece of cheese. My question is: Do we see belgian uniforms or maybe belgian soldiers in the French Foreign Legion? There is a french-style collar number "2", but I don´t know, if the belgians had such uniforms. I ordered the photo but it didn´t arrive yet. I will show a better scan later, if wanted. If he was in the Legion too, the photo might have been taken in Africa, but the house-wall is NOT Africa, but France or Belgium. What would the white cap-bands mean? Thanks a lot!

Hello! As I wrote, those shooting awards were introduced in 1894. Because there is no grenade at the end, it´s an infantry man.

Hello! This is just a simple shooting award. They were introduced in 1894.

Hello! I wonder, how the book would look like, if there were all IC2 listed. In WW1 ca. 5.196.000 crosses were awarded... I couldn´t find him in the casualty lists. There are 8 Oskar Rosenthal, but no-one born in Duisburg. There is only one with no home-town listed, but he served with a Silesian regiment (700km from Duisburg...) http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/997734 I don´t believe, that´s him. So probably he was not wounded during the war.

Hello! No, that´s not possible. Garde hat those "Garde-Litzen" around the neck and on the cuffs. Your photo shows a gunner of: 1st battery/mounted Detachment of Field-Artillery-Regiment "v. Holtzendorff" N°8 in Saarbrücken since 1898 in parade-dress. Here is an old photo of 3rd GRzF:

Hello David! A Platzmajor was the officer in a fortress or large city who is responsible for the daily garrison duty of the troops and therefore always keeps an exact calculation of the strength of the garrison and the succession of officers. He is usually a captain, only in large cities sometimes a staff officer, who at the same time also has the state prisoners and imprisoned soldiers under his supervision.

Hello! As "Platzmajor von Mainz" he had lost his second "l" in his name...😁

Hello David! I´m not sure, if I found "your" man... According to the ranklist 1819 there was a Capitaine v. Pallmenstein aggregated in 34th Infantry Regiment. No entry in that regiment in 1820. Unfortunately there ain´t no index of names in those old ranklists...

Hello! I agree. The first ones seem to be bravery medals (the 2nd one with repetition), the third one maybe "Karl-Truppen-Kreuz", the "Honour Cross of the World War"* , then "Commemorative medal of Hungary", then the "Officers service cross". * All Germans who took part in a battle, combat or positional combat were considered front-line fighters. Later, the circle of those entitled to receive the Cross was also extended to include Austrians, the Saarland and annexed territories such as the Sudetenland and Memeland.

Hello! Since 1867 it belonged to Prussia, since 1871 to the German Empire. 1920 it came to Denmark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aabenraa

Hi Peter! Thanks a lot! To me as a German it is hard to determiniert the different british accents. The Cockney rhyming slang is very interesting!