Chris Liontas

I would buy one as well. I would say this was about the most sellable PDF project of the decade?

Definately same here!! What a document! I'd love to have a copy!

2nd shot

Here is the one photo (not in a book) that I have of an imperial Chaplain. This came from AOK4 on the WAF forum years ago. Its not his tunic, but is looks really nice! I think the camera is playing tricks with the piping = it looks too dark to me, but the whole diorama is dark.

It must be nice to make diaramas with fully kitted manequins rather than models! AOK and Tony from Kaiser's Bunker have all the fun!

Robert do you have the book, the German Army in the First World War? They have some OUTSTANDNING color plates of real visors and frock coats from the first world war.

Chap15:

This is definately not a field chaplin's cap. The M-1914 field caps had a purple band and purple piping just above the band (no piping around the crown) and a white enameled cross between the cockades. The 1915/16 regulations allowed for the additional purple piping around the crown of the cap. The trench art is VERY cool!

Regards

Dave

Hi Robert! Welcome to the forum!

I got this from someone a while back, it's a pretty good representation of what the hats are supposed to look like. I was asking the same question and he posted this for me. I dont remember where he got it, or who it even was Sorry, my mind is going

But check out the upper and lower piping. All violet. I think I have a photo of a legit WWI setup from a guy in Germany, let me see if I can find it.

Chris, wow that was too much. Although he does have nice pants. Too bad the picture isn't color.

Why is he wearing an overcoat but showing off his awards...

Hi Robert! I am really not sure. I think we have seen this chaplain before in a profile shot. He looks really familiar for some reason. I'm going to dig through my files and look--its strange but I could swear I have seen him before.

Sorry all for the really dumb question, but where do you look in a Navy soldbruch to find out what boat a sailor was assigned to? Was there a special area? Thanks in advance!

(does anyone know of any ref books on Soldbruchs out there?)

And now I can place the name, face, and history behind this photo I got a long time ago. It was of an unknown priest with IC2. I knew it was an 1870 non-combatant award, but there was no name for the priest. Now with the information above, and the history of where the photo was taken, I present a photo of Pastor Emil Frommel. The photo was taken in Strasbourg, where Frommel took part in the siege. He was also the first pastor to give a sermon in Strasbourg's cathedrial after the battle.

Accroding to the information in Jerome's post, Frommel retired in 1896. Here is his 1896 ranklist entry:

Awesome! Thank you so much! Now that I have this info I can finally put a name to a face: Here is a photo off of Wiki of Pfarrer Frommel

Thank you so much!! I totally appreciate that info, the IC2 part is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you agian!

I saw this photo and immedately wanted it. I placed a "safe bid" or so I thought- Last few minutes of the auction, the price jumped 175 Euro! 201 Euro for this photo! Granted it is rare as heck, but 201 Euro is still a steep price! Are luftwaffe photos in general just more expensive? There cant be that many more chaplain collectors out there.

Photo is off of Ebay with owners mark.

Hi Chris,

is that from Bills collection?

Hi Chris!

Sorry I missed your question before Yes that is from Bill's collection. He was so happy when he got that tunic, he sent me quite a few photos of it. It was kind of like talking to a little kid on Christmas morning! I think you made his day with that tunic!

Does anyone have a list of decorations won by this individual. He looks to have served with Baden and Wurttemberg regiments under General August von Werder. I know he participated in the siege of Stasbourg. Anyone have any other information on him? Thanks a ton in advance!

What a story!!! Outstanding Chris! The site just gets better and better!

Chris this is an amazing grouping. Was this the official death certificate from the government, or from the unit? I have several WWII era death notifications, each of them poignant reminders of wars cost. An amazing grouping!

closer shot

Here is a shot of my Heer insiniga display. The tabs and photo I got from Chris are in the top left corner as you look at the frame. The frame contains several different variations of Heerespfarrer collar tabs including Catholic, Protestant, dress insignia, and one set of Field Bishop tabs.

The armband is a named armband from Heerespfarrer Hans Bunkel who lived in a town in North Germany, Uelzen. Pfarrer Bunkel was a Protestant Heerespfarrer, but unfortunately that is all I know. He is not listed in the 1939 listings, so he must have been called to active service after the war began.

The crosses are for the visor cap, and the overseas cap respectivly. The smaller dull silver one was taken from a extreemly moth eaten hat, which was then thrown away by the vet (Arrgg). The larger one for the Schirmutze was from an older collection.

The tinnies are for a German Lutheran Day (the round one), A German Christian girls organization (the green one), and the kind of spear head looking one is a tinnie for the Deutches Christian Movement (which was a rabid organization that tried to make Jesus un-jewish and Nazify Christianity as much as possible...I have an account from a Cathoic Priest that was stunnned when a fellow Heerespfarrer gave a sermon that came entirely from the Nazi playbook rather than the Bible. The Catholic Priest was happy to get transferred to the front to get away from the DCM pastor)

The Field Bishops tabs are kind of a interesting point. They came from an advanced collection,and are really nice! They have been sewn on to a tunic.....but are they real? I can tell you I just dont know. Its possible these came from one of the field bishops tunics....but is is probable???.....I'm happy and that is all the counts

The green songbook came from Chris B with the tabs, overseas hat, and photo. The brown one is one I got a while ago. The green is Protestant, the brown is Catholic. Both are by M.Mittler and Sohn who seemed to be the major supplier of these books in the second world war. In the first world war, there were several companies that provided prayerbooks. In World War II, only M. Mittler and Sohn seems to have been able to supply the front in bulk. The company supplied prayerbooks before 1900 to the Imperial Army, and the publishing house is still in existance today (although is much smaller form)

The shoulderboards on the bottom are modern Protestant (cross) and Catholic (with the crown) shoulder boards

Did you get the tabs as well?

Hi Chris!

Yup sure did! That, a prayerbook, and a small photo. I have the tabs displayed in an overall tab display. I'll snap a photo of it tomarrow

Yup. I photographed those with a camera in the dim dark mists of time, and now the tabs have moved on, so can't SCAN them afresh, but I did handle them at the time.

And I still cannot reconcile the excessive numbers available with the perfect construction/materials.

Even stranger, I have never seen a photo of either Dohrmann or Rarkowski wearing the naval version of their uniforms-- just the army version. Ronneberger was the only navy-only member of the trio.

I agree Rick! I have no idea what made these so popular. I have talked to both Steve Wolf and George Petersen about these repro tabs, and both have stated they have been around since the early 70's, and were marketed as such. The wierd thing is, who would WANT Navy Field Bishop tabs in that kind of number?

One thought that has been buzzing around in my head, the repro artist might NOT have known the difference between t he Field Bishop rank and the regular Marinepfarrer rank. They may have thought they were cranking out regular tabs, I dont know any other reason.

I want to continue this discussion with some photos here compareing the real deal with the fakes. There are 500 fake Navy tabs to ever real tab out there.

another shot, shows the violet piping really well

It's amazing just how small a world this is. I was talking to Chris Boonzaier via the forum (PMs) the other day, long story short we started talking about my collecting field, German Chaplain's items. He mentioned the only thing he ever found was (besides some armbands -- another story) a German Chaplain's overseas cap, photo, prayer book, and collar tabs at the Weisbaden flea market. Chris said he sold those items a long time ago to Bill Shea, and honestly forgot a lot about them.

Well heck....I was at Bill Shea's house when he recieved word that a chaplain's overseas hat was coming in from Germany. I immedately spoke for the hat before it even arrived. At the time I didnt even know Chris.

Well here is is, about 7 years later, and I find out that my hat came from who I consider to be a good collecting friend. Its just amazing that one of my best pieces came from Chris, and I can now put some history behind the hat--rather than just have it sitting on the wall!

Hello Chris,

I went to Kinko's and got laser copies of some of my documents. That way if something happens the real ones are put away.

thanks,

barry

You know Barry, I am going more and more to this route. It seems the more I research it, the best way to save the documents is to display a good copy, and keep the other in a binder.

My only problem with going to Kinkos is the large Swastica on the promotion document that I would be copying. Not really the greatest thing to be carrying around -- Right now I have the document hanging on a wall (no sunlight near it) in an Indian River display case (with replaced foam in back and Acid Free backing). I thought this along with good climate control might do the trick.

A question about framing documents. Do you want the document itself to not touch the glass of the frame? I have heard this will cause problems long term for the document. I have a de-humidifier in the room, and check moisture regularly, but what about the paper touching the glass?

Thanks all!

Hello all! Is there any reference that compares the US and Germany's subs in world war II? I am interested in the abilities of the boats compared to one another. Since both Germany and the US relied heavily on Submarines in World War II, a comparison of their main operational boats would probably be interesting.

Thanks all

WOW!!!! Chris I dont know what else to say!!

This forum is absolutely amazing!! I not only get the Priest's military history, I get his home address!

AWESOME!! Thanks a ton guys!