Vic Diehl

Quadaffi, has all of his personal presentation pieces on display in the Red Palace in Tripoli. As you would expect they are over the top in decoration. I hate to see another war, but If we have to go in there there are some important items to be brought home. 1. Bodies of 4 US sailors killed in battle at Tripoli in 1804, the mast from the USS Philidelphia, The wreckage of the "Lady Be Good" in Tobruk, of course all of our troops !

Just in case you are in the area, the cemetery is about 10 k south of Nairobi on the road to Mombassa, close to the entrance to the National Preserve. If you miss the cemetery this guy will greet you in the National preserve ;-))

Be sure to stop in an order a Tusker Lager

Close to the cemetery in the old Karen coffee plantation is a bar and club frequented by many British officers of the period.

pic

more

I was driving around yesterday and ran into this. I have seen a number of these British cemeteries in North Africa, Tripoli, Beghanzi, Tobruk, Cairo and they are all kept in an immaculate manner Nairobi War Cemetery The Memorial commemorates men of the British land forces who lost their lives in the advance from the south into Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia and during the occupation of those territories, and who have no known grave. Along with them are honoured those who died during the operations in Madagascar in 1942 and who have no known grave. Besides those who died in these campaigns, many men who were lost in the sinking of the troopship 'Khedive Ismail' en route to Ceylon on 12 February 1944 are commemorated here; they include a great part of the 301st Field Regiment, East African Artillery. In the Cemetery, a lawn about 23 metres long and 9 metres wide is surrounded by a hedge. Within this enclosure is a pier which bears the inscription: 1939 - 1945 THE COLUMNS IN THIS ENCLOSURE BEAR THE NAMES OF TWO THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED MEN AND WOMEN OF MANY RACES UNITED IN SERVICE TO THE BRITISH CROWN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN ITALIAN SOMALILAND, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA, KENYA AND MADAGASCAR, BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED A KNOWN AND HONOURED GRAVE Flanking this pier on either side stand two rows of columns, twelve in number, on which are carved the names. (Since the erection of the memorial and engraving of the dedicatory panels the burial places of many casualties have since been discovered and they are now correctly commemorated by headstone at the graves).

Mike, Thanks, It was so cheap I have always wondered. Put this one in the trash box. Thanks. Happy holidays to you.

Those little dimples along the lower left reverse seem to be from the gilding process when viewed under my stereoscope. Badge is definitely die stamped as it has the die release marks all around the edge.

obv---Hard to photo for me as it has a lot of gilt remaining, so the light dances around

I am not much of a uboat badge guy. I have an early Schott to lay with my daggers. I found this one for cheap, thinking it was from the 30's. Any help is always appreciated.

Brian: I am in your corner, as I am not the most trusting soul anymore. The only time I really felt good about returning an item was a German Flag I bought in a collection. It was a Turner Verein flag, beautiful red and filled with embroidery including the name of the town. I researched the town and found the the gymnastic society still existed. I contacted them and sent them pictures to see their reaction. Well of course they wanted their flag !! They were thrilled and willing to pay. I had practically nothing in the flag so I sent it to them for free. They did not name me honor mayor or anything, like Wittmanns latest return, but they were most pleased. That was my "warm and fuzzy" moment in military antiquing. I have a Japanese sword I bought locally after being passed up by the 4 sons of the owner. Sooner or later the phone is going ring. They can have it back, but it will cost them as it has a new fresh polish!! Brian----Merry Christmas !!

Well, the whole thing went badly. I was figuring since it was a family cross they would pay a reasonable price. I know family stuff I have from the War of 1812 are treasures almost without price. The brother in law sold the cross for a small amount and the grandaughter of Fritz, felt like it was the honest thing to do for me to sell it back to them for a few hundred. I declined. This is a really rare item and there is simply no way I am doing that and then some other family member in the next generation sells it for $200.00 again. I know we all can justify our own behavior and that is what I am doing no doubt. I did send them high resolution pictures so they do have something to look at. There will come a time in the next 10-15 years when this cross will be sold at Hermann Historica, I will most likely be too old to really care, but I think it will not sell for a few hundred. I did tell the wife that I thought it would be great if wives could set prices for militry collectibles world wide ;-)) I guess we are at the end of this story. Would any of you guys have done this differently?

I know this EK I has generated some interest good and bad. I currently am in contact with the grandson-in-law who has been searching for any books and medals from Fritz Hammer. He is sure this is Fritz's cross based on information from Fritz'z son. Here is one email---- Each time we communicate we come up with more info. His son, Also Friedrich (Fritz) Hammer, says that he was a Feldwebel (Sargeant) in the Tank Corps. The exact date of presentation is not known, because his son was not born until 1924. We have no documents on this, just the fact that his son, a Submariner (Kriegsmarine), in WWII, knew about it. I don't know what I can do to provide any other documentation. I have his WWII uniform items,including his lower class of Cross he got in WWII. It would be a shame to know that his WWI Cross might be out there and not be able to have it. But, it is up to you now to decide what to do with it. By the way, how is it you have possession of this Cross? Are you a military collector? (hoping fo good news). P.S. We just find out that my wife's brother, needing some money, hocked Opa Fritz's Cross, and also his "Book" showing all his posts, awards and promotions. You haven't come across any "books" from the German military have you? He is convinced it is a family piece and wants to buy it back.I really don't want to sell this item. I think no matter what price I put on this cross, the grandson will be sure I am ripping him off. Here is another email: In the story about his escapades, he was known as being part of a group called "Tank Killers." Their speciality was to lie in trenches and wait until the talk went over them, then stuff the grenades into the undercarriage bar, built to protect the undercarrage when it went over debris. The grenade would then explode, disabling the tank and catching it on fire. He "killed" four of these tanks this way; thereby earning him the Iron Cross. I have also founf out that his record was called a "Soldbuch", where all his record, including payroll were entered. Another interesting story was when he was home on leave in orms am Rhein, his hometown he shot himse in the tomach. It was a rule that soldiers kept their rifle directly by their beds when they slept. An air raid occurred causing him to jump out of bed, knocking over the rifle. It accidently fired, hitting him in the stomach. He recovered, but the bullet remained lodged inside him until his death. After his "accident" he was placed on duty at a POW camp in the Eifel area. Does any of this story ring true with you gentlemen?

Will collectors please post any pics of Alcoso Imperial German Naval Daggers? Thanks

Vince, You comments are always appreciated. I do hope that sometime you will be able to handle this one, the engraving has the "right feel" to the fingers as well as right patina for the period, but you really must see it in real life. I liked the engraving the first second I saw and German input was the same. But who knows for sure all we can do is the best evaluation. Years ago while studying named navy daggers I learned to rely more on my microscope than any other single tool. But in the end it is just more stuff, that just a few of us really apprciate. Best of luck to you in your collecting. Hope to see you at the MAX. Vic

I hear you. I know you feel strong in your beliefs that really make collecting fun and a learning experience for eveyone. If this was the first bit of German engraving I had ever seen I may be concerned. There are simply too many positive components for this not to be good. Stop by and look at it.

Every comment regarding this cross inscription is indeed appreciated. Of course, I believe in it as I am the owner and have been collecting for over 40 years. But such a truly rare artifact must be examined with all suspicion. Regarding the spelling of feldw. Records are very incomplete but based on research done by Strasheim and Hundleby by 1918 at least two VzFw, Lommen, and Ludwig had joined Abt 1. See pages 46 and 47 of their book Sturmpanzer A7V. So in my opinion, based on the literacy of the engraver the inscription on the badge is completely understandable. By eliminating the first and last few letters of the Vizefeldwebel term we would end up with exactly what we have engraved on the badge. Of course we will never know for sure. When the badge goes to auction some day in the far future, then we will know what many collects really think. :beer:

Eric, Just want to mention that, yes this cross has been cleaned, sadly there are even traces of abrasive cleaning. There was a time that the entire back of this cross would have been so blackened that the inscription would have been barely visible. Cleaning of artifacts, other than removing destructive elements like rust, does nothing but remove important historical information. Vic

Eric: Your point is well understood. The photo on post # 19 and a couple before that were done on a flat scanner at 1200 DPI in an attempt to better show the engraving, I had to photoshop the color to get it back from the brightness of the scanner so the patina in those couple of pics has an unusual tint. If you look at the original early posts you can see the patina is consistant throughout and of the proper color. I have watched guns being aged with chemical patina, it is an interesting process indeed. Vic I do hope if you are at the MAX show you will stop by Johnson Reference Books and Militaria and check out this cross.

First bit of information coming in from the Panzer Museum in Munster. These are the commanders of the ABT. 1. No help with this cross, but perhaps helpful to some of you with another project. Sehr geehrter Herr Diehl, bei dem Abzeichen handelt es sich um das Eiserne Kreuz erster Klasse, das für besondere Tapferkeit verliehen wurde. Die Gravur erfolgte nachträglich, denn das EK I mit einer Gravur zu versehen war war nicht üblich. Ich selbst habe dieses noch nie gesehen. Somit hat meiner Meinung nach die verleihende Einheit dieses in eigener Regie veranlasst, um den Soldaten besonders zu Ehren. Leider besitzen wir in unseren Unterlagen nur die Aufteilung der A7V und deren Kommandanten der StPzKrW Abt 1 im April 1918 Sturmpanzer-Kraftwagen-Abteilung 1 A7V Kommandanten Isolde OLt Skopnik Lotti Lt Vietze Alter Fritz Lt Volckenheim 4 Lt Block 5 Lt Bartens / Hptm Greif (Abt Führer) dessen Zuordnung auf den jeweiligen A7V nicht eindeutig ist. Mehr konnte ich nicht herausbekommen.

full

1200 DPI

Here is a 600 dpi scan of pin assembly I know faking these engravings is rampant and almost a cottage industry. I am still liking this one as original.

It is important to me that we keep digging at this cross and leave no question unanswered. I have been told two time that the pin assembly is a period replacement. Here is a closeup of the assembly.