Marinekorps Flandern

[Gordon Williamson]

A very attractive and under-rated little cross. Anyone have one with a Spange attached ?

[Tony]

Hello Gordon,

I don't have one with the spange attached but this one came with the packet.

Do you know if these were the official packets or do you think it was just put in any old paper bag before I bought it?

Tony

[Gordon Williamson]

Tony,

My guess would be a generic packet, may well be origtinal to the medal, but not specific to it if you see what I mean. In other words loads of other awards may have come in the same style packet.

A bit like those so-called 1914 EK2 packets with the pic of the EK on it from Wilhelm Froese, Hagen, but are actually just generic bags from that firm used for several awards.

Still nice to have a period packet for it !

[Stogieman]

I'd agree with Gordon here. Both Poellath and Froese packets were generics that your purchase was popped in at the time of sale. The Froese packets can get very interesting as you will occasionally see multiple awards written on the front. Last one I recall was EK1/EK2. Poellath still uses these generic packets today, although the printing/format is extremely different. they will occassionally pop-up with "period" (and yes, I am using the term facetiously) "pilot" badges......

Caveat emptor!

[Tony]

Thanks for your comments on the packet. There is a name written on the front in pencil but is too faded to understand.

Stogie, you'll have to explain more about pilot's badges to me one day. It's lucky I'm a tight git and don't spend a lot on things I know little to nothing about.

Tony

[Jim Baker]

I don't know much about Imperial items. Was this cross awarded for bravery, service, or what? It's an attractive medal.

[Tony]

Well Jim,

As far as I know, these were non official decorations awarded after the war to members of the Imperial Naval Corps in recognition of their service Flanders.

Tony

[dond]

Gordon, Here is mine.

Don

[dond]

The reverse.

Don

[Gordon Williamson]

Very nice indeed Don ! Detlev lists the value of the clasps as just $25, but for something valued so low, you hardly ever seem to see them.

Same with the clasps to the Kyffh?user Medal, they are only valued at $25 too, I have been looking for the "U-Boot-Krieg" clasp for years and never seen one.

[Tony]

I've just dug out my clasps, none are attached to ribbons and nothing with U-Boot-Krieg either.

Would the Somme clasp have been worn on the Flanders cross, on the Somme cross or both?

Tony

Edited April 16, 2005 by Tony

[dond]

Good question Tony. What was the award criteria fro the cross/spanges?

Don

[Deruelle]

Hello everybody,

I have a photo in my collection of one document of Flandern cross, but the size is too big to post i now for me. So please, someone can post it for me. Give me a pm and I will send you the photo by email.

Regards

Christophe

[Ralph A]

Note that cross is reversed.

[Jason]

Hello Gordon, here's my single mounted one with a SOMME campaign bar.

One of my favourites!

cheers Jason

[Stogieman]

I have always thought this to be one of the most attractive of the bronze vet awards. Nice to see so many nice examples!

[Gordon Williamson]

Posted for Christophe

Very nice and interesting document indeed !

[Deruelle]

Thanks Gordon.

The cathedrale you'll see in this document is the Bruges' cathedrale (in Belgium). In a future post I will post some info about this officer.

Best regards

Christophe

[Bob Hunter]

Ralph & Jason both of you excellent mounted examples. Thanks for sharing and while I'm at it don't let me forget to thank Gordon. These won't remain under appreciated for long...

[Deruelle]

Hi

Have a look of this ribbon bar with Flandern cross ribbon

Regards

Christophe

[Deruelle]

Reverse of the Flandern cross ribbon bar

[HeikoGrusdat]

Hello all,

here is my flandern cross with all bars belonging to it. Of course they are not all from one soldier, just put together for display... I think no soldier could get a Luftkrieg and a Seekrieg bar

The often seen bars like Durchbruchsschlacht or Somme, Ypern or Yser are nothing special and always to get - but Luftkrieg, Seekrieg and Antwerpen are quit rare...

The interesting thing is that the Luftkieg bar was not mainly for pilots but for soldiers that served in anti-aircraft companies in Flandern...

sorry for the poor picture quality

Heiko

[Stogieman]

Nice to see all the bars Heiko! A good display. I agree, the 3 you mentioned are almost impossible to find anymore

[Tony]

Here's something from a book I have. I wouldn't mind having that mini.

I didn't realise the bars Belgium, England, Russia and Italy were available although for other awards.

Tony

[HeikoGrusdat]

Tony,

take care, you must completely seperate the german awards with battle clasps... all completely different types of clasps for each award. For example:

IRON CROSS: ca. 38 battle bars in silver, 8,4x30,6mm , two round pins

for example: St.Mihiel, Kiautschau, Balkan, Italien, Ukraine, Serbien, Polen, Champagne, Lodz, Skagerrak, Tannenberg, Elsa?, Lomsa, S?dwestafrika, Wolf, Finnland, Macedonien, Verdun, M?we, Flandern, Ru?land, Helgoland, S?dsee, Rum?nien, Griechenland, Togo, Pal?stina, Galizien, Doggerbank, Kamerun, Oesel, Frankreich, Seeadler, Ostafrika, Masuren

Note that there are names of ships!!!! These were the so called Hilfskreuzer, some type of armored steamship...

Look at the picture for these clasps...

Heiko

Edited July 26, 2005 by HeikoGrusdat