The Monkey God

Hugh that is indeed a very interesting story and a whole new angle. Thanks for sharing it with us!!! & what a cracking job title to boot!!!! Did they sell themselves or was there a patter that you used? Something along the lines of a secondhand car dealer ?

Hi Guys, Its common knowledge that the Conqueror sank her, but I`m curious to know, is it known which member of the crew pressed the button? I assume the captain would have given the order to fire, but who actually pushed the button. I don`t expect for one minute to be naming names here, but what about a rank? Would it have been an Officer or a Rating?

Cheers Guys, for all your replies.

The jury remains out on this one. I did email the seller asking them for confirmation of the naming, but didn`t get a reply. Will do a bit more digging and see if I can confirm this one way or the other, but it seems more likely that they`d all just have RN on them as apposed to the ship as this seems to be the norm with all the other RN medals.

Hi Guys, Just to throw a cat amongest the pigeons, this medal sold the other day on ebay..... Genuine South Atlantic Medal Falklands War, Rosette inscribed to: AB <SSM> P A JEFFREY 0133252P * HMS SPARTAN

Wow, thats cracking thanks very much!!!!! Just out of interest, would these medals be named to the ship or just to `Royal Navy`?

Hi Guys, Am curious to know what operations submarines of the Royal Navy have been used in since the South Atlantic war. Where any used during the two Gulf wars or indeed during the whole air ops Iraq thing? What medals are submariners have likely to have been issued in the last 20 years or so?

Guys, Recieved this spam email thought I`d share it with you for your amusement............... Good Day, My name is Lt. Col. Abbey Goldfish, an American soldier; I am serving in the military of the 1st Armoured Division here in Iraq . As you know we are being attacked by insurgents everyday and car bombs, it became worse after Saddam Hussein was executed and I have gun injury, I am in the hospital During one of our rescue Mission we came across a safe that contains Huge amount of money that belongs to the revolutionaries, which I believe they use in buying weapons and ammunition, and it was agreed by all party present that the money will be shared amongst us.Out of the total fund my share was USD$26,000,000 ( Twenty Six Million US Dollars). I am seeking your assistance to evacuate my share of the money, which is $6,000,000 out of here to you in your country for investment as I willing to resign and change my identity, as soon as I get well from this gun injuring I will travel down to your country for any investment that will suite for this fund,as much as you can assure me that my own share will be safe with you. This is no stolen money, and there are no dangers involved, as I have made arrangements with a UN Security Finance,as soon as you agreed with my offer I will instruct UN Security authoritative letter to deliver the fund to any of my choosing destination. I shall be compensating you with Six Million Dollars on final conclusion of this project, while the rest shall be for me for my investment purposes in your country. One passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this matter with a third party, should you have reasons to reject this offer, please destroy this e-mail as any leakage of this information will be too bad for me.open the web leak below, for details. http://www.jonathanf...2003_chest.html http://news.bbc.co.u...ast/2988455.stm I do not know for how long we will remain here, and I have survived two suicide bomb attacks, which prompted me to reach out for help because I will be migrating to you to invest and start a new life not as a soldier anymore. Please if this proposal is acceptable by you, kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest including your most confidential telephone numbers for quick communication. As soon as I receive your email i will furnish you with full details on when and how the fund shall be delivered to you by the diplomat or transfer to your account as long you will not betrayed me and he will make a contact with you before anything move. I only reach out now that we have been clear of any wrong doing.upon the receiving your mutual assistant I will forward you all the document and the injuring picture I take with nurse. Waiting for your urgent reply. Best regards, Lt. Col. Abbey Goldfish.

I have also been able to ascertain the following information, which has proved most helpful & informative. I`ll post it below for the assistance of those.... "The type worn was the grey/green denim battledress uniform as it was a work style uniform but also comfortable and cool to wear within the hot confines of the U-Boat. You may already be aware but vast stocks of the said uniform were captured after the capitulation of the B.E.F. at Dunkirk. Enterprising Kriegsmarine officers saw these and decided to utilise them for their U-Boat crews." "I have seen them worn in photographs as being 'British standard', and as having been modified. However, the 'usual' modifications undertaken by Germans were by having the buttons replaced and by having the British epaulettes removed. These were usually replaced with their own style buttons (many different types) and, depending on rank, having their own shoulder boards sewn on or attached." "Bearing in mind the British BD was an unofficial uniform for the Germans, as such, each individual tended to add whatever rank or insignia they wished to the tunics. However, the 'norm' was to have the Kriegsmarine embroidered or bevo breast eagles sewn above the right pocket, and rank insignia sewn or attached wherever appropriate. For instance officer and NCO ranks attached their own epaulettes, whereas lower ranks attached appropriate patches on the left sleeve i.e. chevrons, etc. Maats and Obermaats (mates and leading mates) quite often attached metallic corners to the collar tips, to denote their particular rank. Medal ribbons, trade qualification patches and other awards were also attached to the button holes, left sleeve or the left pocket, respectively. However, metallic medals and awards were often left off as they tended to snag onto the internal machinery within the U-Boat. After the captured British stocks were exhausted (they were normally used for one tour only and then burned) the Germans manufactured their own denim BD uniforms in a blue-grey or teal-green colour. The pattern was very similar except that they omitted the 'fixed' British style epaulettes and the map pocket on the left leg."

Thanks Gordon, yeh sorry perhaps I didn`t word that as best as I could, but you got the gist, yeh thats what I was after confirming, many thanks

Thanks again guys. One more question if I may be so bold............ Is this historically correct? Did they really wear the U Boat board on their shirts?

Cheers guys for all your replies. I found this one another forum. "It was the denim type. Insignia-wise, bit of a mish-mash. Sometimes no insignia, sometimes shoulderboards, sometimes cloth breast eagles, sometimes metal breast eagles. They also sometimes replaced the buttons with gold Kriegsmarine ones too."

So its TRUE then that is fascinating!!!! Thanks guys!!!

Hi Guys, Have been told this... "Originally the U boat Denim Jackets were British Denim blouse captured after the fall of France in 1940 as the British Army left behind 1000s of unisssued Denims." Is this true? If so in what year did they start issueing there own tunics or did they always use British ones?

Hi Guys, Can anyone show me what a WW2 CONDOLENCE SLIP looks like? Whats the difference between a slip & a scroll?

Cheers chaps thats been of great help!!!!!!!

Sorry ignore my last post, didn`t see the Polish bit.

Hi cwaver, Now I`m by no means an expert, but I don`t think he served in the British army if that helps any?

Hi Guys, Just a quick one, can anyone tell me how many u boats there would have been in a `wolf pack`? That is if they had fixed numbers? I know next to nothing about there formations, so anything that might help would be of great interest.

Found this on the subject dates back to November last year, but theres some very interesting readers comments at the bottom that are worth a read..... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23770491-uk-forces-urged-to-woo-tabiban-with-bags-of-gold.do

I assume they loaded all the sovereigns onto camels and took them out into the desert for the tribesman. Which takes me back to other thread about bribing the taliban with gold. I assume that the modern camel would be a helicopter, but there seems to be a shortage of those if we`re to believe the news, which beggers the question, will they have to move the `gold` via roads, leaving it open to IEDs & or ambush. Glad I don`t have to come up with an answer to this problem......

There was a thing in the news about this the other day, well that they intend to bribe the taliban, no mention of whether this would be done in currency or gold. If currency which one I wonder surely not the US dollar? I imagine it would take a far amount of gold to get the job done, where would it come from and how would they get it to them? Sounds like an interesting plot for a film or book.............

Febuary tomorrow & still no sign of them in the UK, judging by ebay they seem to be available in the US, but the postage is ludicious!!!

Interesting thread. I wonder if the Queen will have a diamond jubilee medal minted in 2012 like she did for the golden jubilee in 2002. It`ll also be interesting to see if any of the `commonwealth` issue one even if she doesn`t.......

I re-sold the ROAB medal I bought in auction no problems, there certainly appears to be a market for them.