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    Posted

    Another recent 'TK' pick-up.

    Original hand-coloured lithograph from the mid-19th Century .

    'Dance of Death' series.

    'Death and the Jester'.

    Death always has the last laugh! :)

    Posted

    Another recent 'TK' pick-up.

    Original hand-coloured lithograph from the mid-19th Century .

    'Dance of Death' series.

    'Death and the Jester'.

    Death always has the last laugh! :)

    That reminds me, Robin; I read this book in University - one of the few I kept

    Posted

    Robin:

    It's a reproduction photo, but...

    http://www.ebay.de/itm/Gruppenfoto-Totenkopf-Pioniere-Flammenwerfer-Truppe-1-WK-Kaiser-Wilhelm-3-/170794438494?pt=Militaria&hash=item27c4244f5e

    Posted (edited)

    Probably has oil on it! :lol:

    Also, notice the gray collar Litzen on the Blusen.

    Chip

    Edited by Chip
    Posted

    Probably has oil on it! :lol:

    Oh, ye of little faith! :)

    The black skull is definitely good, IMHO ................ I just don't know what it is !!!!! :banger: :banger: :banger:

    Could be nothing to do with FW troops at all.

    Several FK units 'adopted' standard badges as their emblems.

    If you had it in hand, you would be convinced !

    BTW ................... no other ones have turned up in years now. ;)

    Just the two from the estate sale, found at the same time.

    Oh, well.

    The search continues.

    Now I know how the Knights of the Grail must have felt! :)

    Posted (edited)

    Thanks!

    One day, the black skull will be vindicated. I stake my collection on it! ;)

    Stranger things have happened...

    The Director of the Deutsches Feuerwehr-Museum Fulda confirmed to me today that the officer on the right of this photo is Dr. Bernhard Reddemann, commander of the flamethrower regiment. The writing on the back of the photo says, "Meeting of the Black Hand in the pleasure garden in Chauny. (signed) Straube." (Tagung der schwarzen Hand im Lustgarten zu Chauny. Straube.) Chauny is in the Aisne, Picardy. "Black Hand" was a German tobacco brand.

    Note the NCO holding the Totenkopf over the head of Reddemann. This photo is dated June 1, 1916; the flamethrower regiment wasn't awarded the Totenkopf until July 28, 1916.

    This is the second photo that shows flamethrower pioneers identifiying themselves with the Totenkopf prior to the official awarding of the badge, so now it's pretty clear that the Crown Prince didn't come up with the idea himself. I was sure that he had, based on everything I'd read and based on what I thought I knew about German symbolism, but I was clearly wrong.

    The flamethrower pioneers associated themselves with the Totenkopf first, and then the Crown Prince recommended to the Kaiser that he make that symbol official, in the form of a traditional Prussian Totenkopf.

    More proof that one can't be proprietary or pedantic about historical knowledge.

    Edited by Thomas W
    Posted

    Stranger things have happened...

    The Director of the Deutsches Feuerwehr-Museum Fulda confirmed to me today that the officer on the right of this photo is Dr. Bernhard Reddemann, commander of the flamethrower regiment. The writing on the back of the photo says, "Meeting of the Black Hand in the pleasure garden in Chauny. (signed) Straube." (Tagung der schwarzen Hand im Lustgarten zu Chauny. Straube.) Chauny is in the Aisne, Picardy. "Black Hand" was a German tobacco brand.

    Note the NCO holding the Totenkopf over the head of Reddemann. This photo is dated June 1, 1916; the flamethrower regiment wasn't awarded the Totenkopf until July 28, 1916.

    This is the second photo that shows flamethrower pioneers identifiying themselves with the Totenkopf prior to the official awarding of the badge, so now it's pretty clear that the Crown Prince didn't come up with the idea himself. I was sure that he had, based on everything I'd read and based on what I thought I knew about German symbolism, but I was clearly wrong.

    The flamethrower pioneers associated themselves with the Totenkopf first, and then the Crown Prince recommended to the Kaiser that he make that symbol official, in the form of a traditional Prussian Totenkopf.

    More proof that one can't be proprietary or pedantic about historical knowledge.

    Fascinating! Thanks, Thomas. :)

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