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    I think Max Bayer got one along the same lines. He discussed militarising the Turkish boy scouts, but his trip to Turkey to oversee it all was cancelled, he still got a star.

    9 hours ago, ccj said:

    I'm about to throw the set in the dumpster. There's not much of any value.

    Yeah... sounds right.... drop me a line about which dumpster....

    I want to avoid some street bum wearing it and being shot at by the Belgians!

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    As I asked in #23:

    Which criterions must a unit fulfil to be a good (or the best) unit? It´s really hard to say.

    A brilliant unit on the western front could fail in the mountains of Tyrol.

    The best marksmen in the pre-war era was the 5./Inf.Rgt.31. They recieved the Kaiser-Badge each year from 1898-1904. Seven times in sequence. But do we hear a lot of that unit in the war?

    What about Inf.Rgt.146?

    They did see everything, but the western front. So they are not mentioned according to the "Great" battles like Verdun or the Somme.

    1914: East-Prussia, south and north Poland

    1915: Galicia, Poland and Serbia

    1916: Macedonia

    1917 and 1918: Palestine and Syria

    So again my friends: What is a good unit?

    To me the best unit would be a unit with the most engagements and the least casualties OR the unit with the most awards in the war.

    But who is able to count?

    I can recommend a book (but it´s about WW2):

    Martin van Creveld: Fighting Power ( https://medium.com/@bayobatt/book-review-fighting-power-4a9a8076b5e#.a9nff0beq )

    Edited by The Prussian
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    35 minutes ago, The Prussian said:

    As I asked in #23:

    Which criterions must a unit fulfil to be a good (or the best) unit? It´s really hard to say.

    A brilliant unit on the western front could fail in the mountains of Tyrol.

    The best marksmen in the pre-war era was the 5./Inf.Rgt.31. They recieved the Kaiser-Badge each year from 1898-1904. Seven times in sequence. But do we hear a lot of that unit in the war?

    What about Inf.Rgt.146?

    They did see everything, but the western front. So they are not mentioned according to the "Great" battles like Verdun or the Somme.

    1914: East-Prussia, south and north Poland

    1915: Galicia, Poland and Serbia

    1916: Macedonia

    1917 and 1918: Palestine and Syria

    So again my friends: What is a good unit?

    To me the best unit would be a unit with the most engagements and the least casualties OR the unit with the most awards in the war.

    But who is able to count?

    I can recommend a book (but it´s about WW2):

    Martin van Creveld: Fighting Power ( https://medium.com/@bayobatt/book-review-fighting-power-4a9a8076b5e#.a9nff0beq )

    By the way. Here is the 5/31 in 1902

    (Company leader: Hauptmann v. Keyser. The officer in the centre of the photo with the bright coat near the bicycle)

    Inf.Rgt. 31 (5.Kp).JPG

    Edited by The Prussian
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    "What about Inf.Rgt.146? They did see everything, but the western front."

    Thats a bit like saying "Its the best Rugby team in the world, but they did not play an international match" :-)

    But yes, an interesting unit, I have a nice EK1 group to an officer who was awarded the EK1 in the middle east.

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    "So again my friends: What is a good unit?

    To me the best unit would be a unit with the most engagements and the least casualties OR the unit with the most awards in the war.

    But who is able to count?"

     

    That is a very good question....

    There is the Subjective way of seeing it.... I think the 2nd Bavarian Jägers are better than the 1st Bavarian Jägers because I live 8km away from where the 2nd Jägers were based.

    The pessemistic way ... There was no way for a unit to control its losses or succeses... if they were sent to a sector the best they could do was to fight like hell... no amount of skill, training or bravery could cancel out a surprise enemy bombardment or a hidden enemy MG Bunker. The only way for a unit to be great is doggedly attack and defend.... often glory and capturing the nemy fort was simply a question of luck and chance.

    The Objective way .... have confidence that the German High command had a good overview on the values of its divisions, and used the right tool for the right job... i.e. if a Division was shunted from one sector to the other to take part in attack after attack.... it was because this division was good at it, not because the Kaiser did not like the commander.... :-)

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    Honestly,  I feel the best unit would be the one that the German I command or the local army commanders would use for assaults and for breakthroughs by enemy forces. 

    My original intention starting this thread was to get as much information on the battle record of the Seebataillon as possible.  So far not much luck... like so many other attempts. :wacky: Turns out all that come about was a fireball

    I think IR 115 and 116 did well.

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    Hi,

    Seebataillon are a pain in the Butt. I have a number of EK docs to them, but hard to find any info, although there is a regimental history for one of them.

    Maybe someday someone does a good history of the units, but I am not betting on it.

    The sad fact of the matter is, a unit can fight gloriously and bravely in a sector, but if that sector is not one of the "biggies" noone will ever notice.

    IR115 and 116 were at Verdun... so they were in a "biggie" :-)

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    That is pretty cool... was that not the unit that removed the spikes at the start of Verdun, all the spikes were collected by the units then lost.... when the kaiser came to visit they had to carve potato spikes and put them under the helmet covers.

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    Wow, so if I find a Hessen Pickelhaube without its spike it may have been removed it may have been by the soldier himself. Any known photos of this unit at Verdun and without their spikes?

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    • 2 months later...

    ccj .: The german seebataillons under Admiral Von Schroeder fight with courage and profesionalism their record is not very known . their french opponents and counterpart were the fusiliers marins under rear admiral R onarch in the muddy trenches of Flanders . The Marinekorps Flandern fought in the siege of Antwerp , the second battle of Flanders ,the battle of the Somme , the offensives of March 1918 and ... the Marine detachement Skutari of the seebataillon ,after return to Germany in August 4 1914 was later transferred to the Breslau light cruiser and the cruiser gos to Turkey . The Marine Korps in four years lost 10000men of around 60000 . After the armistice members of the korps formed the Freikorps Lutzow and the Freikorps Schwarze Jaeger . 

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    ccj Always at disposition . certainly the books about the marine korps are mostly in german but i have found for you the following in english : Wielding the dagger : The Marine Korps Flandern and the german war effort 1914 18 . author :Mark D Karau , edited in Westport Ct by Praeger .Good luck ! 

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