Sturm-Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr)

[The Prussian]

Wonderful collection, Chris!

Congratulations!!!! :love:

[Chris Boonzaier]

Just because it had to be.....

[Chris Boonzaier]

There are many interesting pages in the book above. I am going to start a write up soom, but in the mean time the pics are here...

http://www.kaiserscross.com/40029/450901.html

http://www.kaiserscross.com/40029/451801.html

It really is a jewel in the collection I am happy to have got....

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Chris:

Second document re.V.Fw. Kohlmeier, he indeed received the Prussian Gold Military Merit Cross with date of 6.June 1918.

He was one of approx. 1700 other ranks who received this ,so called PLM of the enlisted men. In relation to total eligible personnel it was less often awarded than the Pour le Merite.

Thank for showing the documents.

Bernhard H. Holst

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hello Chris:

Second document re.V.Fw. Kohlmeier, he indeed received the Prussian Gold Military Merit Cross with date of 6.June 1918.

He was one of approx. 1700 other ranks who received this ,so called PLM of the enlisted men. In relation to total eligible personnel it was less often awarded than the Pour le Merite.

Thank for showing the documents.

Bernhard H. Holst

Hi,

indeed, he was just one of 5 in the battalion to get it!

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is something extremely interesting.......

Rohr, inspite of his by then "famous" unit.... took 25 years to make major....

In the Nazi Period there was little or no mention of the unit.... which i have always found to be very strange indeed....

Until i found this online....

The founder and pioneer of German storm-troops, Captain Willy Martin Rohr, was half-Jewish. American military historian Bryan Mark Rigg tells in his book Hitler’s Jewish soldiers: the untold story of Nazi racial laws and men of Jewish descent in the German military (2002) how Rohr's two quarter-Jewish sons got special exemptions from the Nuremberg laws and went on to serve in the Wehrmacht during the WW II with many decorations:

Quote:

p. 115

On 14 February 1940, Admiralstabarzt Dr. Fikentscher turned to OKW on behalf of a half-Jew and retired navy staff doctor, Ferdinand Rohr, brother of the famous World War I storm battalion commander, Willy Rohr. 330 Rohr had described the adversity Mischlinge experienced, 331 having not only himself and his siblings in mind, but all their children as well. It is significant that Fikentscher listened to Rohr and took his grievances directly to OKW, and it may have had some influence on Hitler. It was noted that after this conference that Hitler would consider protecting half-Jewish parents of those soldiers who had proven themselves in battle and who had been declared deutschblütig. 332 Rohr had two nephews (Heinz and Joachim Rohr) who would receive this highly sought after exemption in December 1939, but any protection that it may have given their half-Jewish father, Willy Rohr, was for naught because he was the only one of Ferdinand Rohr's siblings who had already died.

pp. 204-205

Simon was lucky that he was not one of the several Mischlinge the Wehrmacht discharged between 1934 and 1939. However, many of those discharged were told that if war broke out, they would be drafted back. For example, in 1936 the army discharged lieutenants and quarter-Jewish brothers Heinz and Joachim Rohr. At the time, Heinz felt sad. The commander of Dresden's Kriegsschule, 46 General Joachim Lemelsen, took Heinz into his arms, shook his head, and said: "How could they do this to your father?" Rohr's father, Willy, was a famous World War I officer, commander of Storm Battalion Rohr. Before Rohr left, Lemelsen told Heinz to call him if he ever needed any help. 47 Rohr knew that he could do nothing other than obey the laws, so he decided to start his university studies. But before leaving, his superior told him to apply for an exemption. Not Rohr, but his mother Elisabeth, who still had several contacts among the military elite, started the difficult process to obtain exemptions for her sons.

[Chris Boonzaier]

I guees that put paid to celebrating any tradition of the unit in the 3rd Reich Period.....

[Jef]

Most interesting ,Chris.Thank you for sharing the info.
But,do you have info about Sturm-Bataillion N° 4, end October 1918. They almost fought in my garden. I'm dying to know which Regimentsgeschichte I need, to know more about there whereabouts end October 1918.
Jef

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi Jef,

here is something from SB 4

http://www.trenchfighter.homepage.t-online.de/40029/450922.html

[Jef]

Hi Jef,

here is something from SB 4

http://www.trenchfighter.homepage.t-online.de/40029/450922.html

Thank you Chris,

Nice card

[Chris Boonzaier]

Some Mail stamp variations......

[The Prussian]

Nice stamps, Chris. I know S.B. (Soldaten-Brief), but what is B.S.?

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi.

I assume Brief-stemple

Best

cvhris

[Robin Lumsden]

Of associated interest ....................

[Chris Boonzaier]

Adolf Breuer , thanks to Alex' fantastic work....

[Chris Boonzaier]

2 cards from the most expensive/desirable set of cards out there......

[Chris Boonzaier]

I have not gone crazy on these cards... some reach astronomical prices... so was surprised to get this one...

[Chip]

Chris,

That last one you have shown is the first one of these that I have seen that has writing on it. Like your other ones, my two are unsent. I wonder how many there were in the series? I had a chance years ago to buy several of them and only took two. Kicking myself now.

Chip

Edited June 12, 2013 by Chip

[Chris Boonzaier]

Does anyone get the connection here? :-)

[Chris Boonzaier]

"Sturm. Abt. Rottweil"

Back in the days when Sturm bataillon Rohr was still simply the Sturm Abteilung, stationed in Alsace it was ordered to pack up and move to verdun...

A small detachment was left behind, apparently to guard what the Abteilung could not take with. This small detachment passed the time by continuing Sturm tactic courses. The guy in the Militärpass above was detached to the Sturm Abteilung for a longer period than the regular courses.

Rottweil was the town they were stationed in.

At about the end of the time he was detached, Rohr had the detachment returned to him, and the "branch office" in Rottweil closed.

This is a fantastically rare little Sturm bataillon Rohr footnote :-)

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Chris:

I was wondering why it took so long for his training on the MG 08/15.

Bernhard H.Holst

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hello Chris:

I was wondering why it took so long for his training on the MG 08/15.

Bernhard H.Holst

I think it was a qualification he picked up while detached to Rottweil. He seems to hae been there longer than the usual Sturm training. The detachment in Rottweil was basically winging it as Rohr had not yet come up with a proper training program.

best

Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

This was a bit much "Had to have" !!

http://www.ebay.de/itm/271358246367?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1435.l2649

[Chip]

So Chris, did you get it? Your post was unclear.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Nah, that price is way outa line IMHO.

Of course, its all subjective... but I dropped out quite a bit earlier... did not need it thaaaaat bad....