The Prussian

Hi Timo! These are fantastic informations! Thank you very much! I´ll riflfe through the files this weekend with a bottle of good ol´french red wine...

Hi Noor! Thank you very, very much for the MIC´s. They are very intersting! I´ll print them out and it should look fine beside the medals!

Oops, tha was a little misunderstanding by myself... Sorry. If you would pay for those charts, I d pay back to you immedeatly,if you could send me a pm. (If they are different to those, Noor showed in this thread). I could pay by paypal or bank transfer. Thanks a lot inadvance

and a close-up:

Hello! Please have a look at this wonderful photo. Unfortunately it´s unwritten and unstamped. One can see several gemans and a few foreign officers. One Japanese in a german tunic???? I´d be very grateful, if you could help me by ID those foreign unifiorms. Probably it´s an internation military-mission? Thanks a lot, mates!

Hi John! It´s called "Pionier-Bataillon v. Rauch (brandenburgisches) Nr.3" It came from Spandau and belonged to the III.AK In wartime the bataillon was splitted and the companies came under command of different divisions. Staff (6th Inf.Div.) 1.comp. (5th. Inf.Div.) 2.comp. (5th. Inf.Div.) 3.comp. (6th. Inf.Div.) 4.comp. (5th. Res.Div.) 5.comp. (6th. Inf.Div.) 1. Res.comp. (Pionier-Bataillon. 31) 2. Res.comp. (5th. Res.Div.) That´s all I know accordng to the history of formation

And don´t forget the fights of the people of th S.M.S. Emden, when they tried to get back to Germany! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Emden_%281908%29

Ah, ok. Thank you very much for your help, mate!

Hello Dave! These are very interesting news! Thank you very much!!!!!!! I still have the personal files of the teacher´s association, but didn´t have the info about his company and that he was wounded between 10t and 14th 1915!!!!!. From where do you have those infos, please? I also don´t have any infos about the decorations! What I don´t undersand is his time in IR146. He was a lieutenant, so he might have had an established post, right? But his name wasn´t shown in the regimental history of IR146.

I agree too! I know him personally. He´s a very nice guy. 100% correct und he does a very good job!

Hi Chris! You said,on of your favourites is the 155th IR. Do you have personal informations about that unit? I ask because my grand-uncle served there as a Lt.d.Res. He was named in the regimental history for serving in 1916. But then he left the regiment, but where? I have an info, that he used to be in IR146, but the regimental history doesn´ t know his name... Neither the Reserve, nor the Ersatz units... His name is Hugo Harhaus. Thanks a lot in advance

You have to fill in the name or the number, and when it arrives, it´ll show you the price

Hello Mervyn! Of course, here´s the link of the National Archive: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/medal-index-cards-ww1.htm

Hello gentlemen! I own a few british medals (1914- 15 star, war medal 1914-1918 and the british victory medal) All are named, but I can´t buy the medal chart at the national achives, because they don´t accept bank transfer or paypal. I don´t have any credit cards. I don´t need too much informations. The important thing for me is the bataillon, in which the soldiers had served. The names are: 20208 Private C. Bettles, Northamptonshire Regiment 68445 Gunner E.W. Clarke, Royal Artillery 41658 Bombardier J.P. Taudy, Royal Field Artillery B-2990 Private B. Evans, Rifle Brigade Of course, I´ll pay all expenses. I´d be very grateful, if someone could help me.

Wonderful stuff!!!! I´ve never seen that before!!!!!! Here I have a nice MW Photo. Unfortunately I can´t recognize the number on the patch. SMW (schwere Minenwerfer), maybe a 36?

Hello! I have recieved this wondeful old one from the 1.Garde-Regiment zu Fuß. Signed by Oberst v. Boehn http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktavio_Philipp_von_Boehn

Well, friends, I think, we put it on the point, when Chris said, " Best Regiment can be synonammous with "My favorite regiment..." :-) and Irish Gunner said: It does make for good discussion over Scotch and cigars though, does't it? At last, none of us was participated in the battles. Unfortunately I can´t discuss about Scotch and cigars, but wine and cheese that is ok for me...

A nice photo, Chris! I have a similar one of the RIR83

Can one rank a unit? I don´t think, it´s that easy. Mountain units are specialists. Are they better than a unit, who fought in the heat of Macedonia or in Asia? It also depends on the enemy. The stronger the enemy, the stronger the own forces... I don´t like the american ranks in the history of the 251 divisions, becaus the americans came too late into the theatre to have a good overview of the german forces. To say, which one was the best unit, we might know the casualty lists, the number of decorations, and the number of successfully battles. I recommend a brilliant book about these theme (but it´s about 39-45): Martin van Creveld "Fighting power - German and U.S. army perormance 1939-1945" (Greenwood press, 1982 ; in german language Ares Verlag 2005 und 2009)

Hello Mervyn. That could be a reason, yes. But because of those books are not quite cheap, I´m looking for "the perfect book". I don´t need too much old photographies, I´d rather bee looking for a book with many tablets, uniform charts like it is i the fieldgrey book from Dr. Kraus.

Hello Patrick! Thank you very much! I will have a look for the first one

again... Not a single book available?

Do you know whic country your photo was taken?

It seemed to be a needle in a haystack... Do you have more informations? A unit and a date?

Thank you very much for your help! It helped a lot!!!