Researched bravery medal..

[Chris Boonzaier]

This may not be strictly the right section for this, but I thought I would post it here.

it is all rough stuff that has still to be fine tuned for a web page, but I just wanted to show how a little bit of research can bring a medal to life.

[Chris Boonzaier]

The 2nd Artois is a battle about which little has been written. Douglas Porch says "The Battle of the Marne in 1914 and Verdun in 1916, both of which produced a profusion of accounts, seem to fit the stereotypes of glorious victory or heroic sacrifice better than what amounted to the pointless butchery of the Artois. Those who survived tended to keep silent about their experiances. It was a battle that, in military terms, achieved nothing-and yet produced unintended consequences. If nothing else, it must be counted as the prototypical trench slaughter of the great war."

The French were to loose an estimated 150 000 men in the Autumn of 1915.

[Chris Boonzaier]

The Western Front in 1915:

The French army had taken over most offensive operations as the British needed time to restructure and train their new Army. In late September the Allies launched three offensives, known as the Battles of Champagne, Second Artois and Loos, the latter being a British "affair".

For the Germans the Artois battle was known as the "Autumn Battle at la Bassee and Arras"

The 2. bayerische Division had moved from their positions to the west of Peronne to take up position to the west of Vimy on the 7th of October. The 12. bay. Infanterie Regiment was to the Northeast of Neuville in the Prinz Reuss Stellung. They had missed the main part of the battle, the slaughter of late September, but were in position to face the next French attack. From the 7th to the 10th of october they were under heavy artillery and Minenwerfer fire. In some sectors the French infantry were only 30m's away and as a result the men in the front line were also under rifle grenade fire. Life in the front line consisted of waiting for the enemy attack, praying that no shell would land on you... and when it got dark, trying to rebuild some of the defensive positions.

[Chris Boonzaier]

The 6. Komp would have been in position in the front line on the level of the Artilleriegraben. The attack was from West to East on this map.

[Chris Boonzaier]

On the 10th of September the II. Batln was in the front line when the French attacked:

"At 3 pm a group of French soldiers appear in front of the Elsterweg behind a smokescreen. They advance but the attack is broken up under our fire. At 6 pm the enemy has concentrated his fire on our position at la Folie and fires a salvo into his own trenches to get his infantry moving. On the II. Batln. positions gas grenades explode and opposite the 7. Komp the enemy starts to climb out of his trench. Our men are already in positions and shoot them down as the clamber out. Opposite the 8. Komp. the bayonets and helmets can be seen in the front line but Z?gf?hrer Mayerlen calls in artillery fire and the planned attack is not launched. At 6.30 pm the fire dies down although the heavy calibers continue. The positions have suffered badly, the carefully dug positions have collapsed. Every man realised what awaited us the next day and they worked tirelessly to prepare the positions.

On the morning of the 11th of October the enemy artillery fire gets heavier and heavier. The large shells come howling over, including 28cm mines. The French have cleared away their defensive barriers, they are going to attack. Our sentries lay tensely behind their steel shields while fountains or earth, mud and smoke go up around them. In the trenches the soldiers are constantly digging out their comrades as the trenches collapse. They try and redig the trenches during the barrage but it is useless. In front of the 6. Komp a 28 cm mine blows a large hole in the trench and this makes movement impossible. The enemy is just 20 meters away and shoot down anyone trying to move along the trench..

Still the attack does not come. At 1 pm the 5. Komp. sees bayonet points in the opposing trenches but the Frenchmen are just removing a sandbag barrier.

At 5 pm the French fire moved backwards to the La Folie farm. The moment of relief has come and the men man the firestep. In front of the 5. Komp about 80 Frenchmen are advancing. The few Poilu that are not killed or wounded scramble back to their trench."

All along the II. Batln. line the attackers were mown down with accurate rifle and machine gun fire and the French attack crumbles. In a number of places the French occupied shellcraters, a few brave German soldiers were decorated for clearing out these pockets on the 11th of October.

(Part of the II. Batln trench....)

[Chris Boonzaier]

"Time passed slowly for the Regimental staff on front of Vimy. The telephone lines had been destroyed early in the afternoon and from 3 pm onwards there was no communication. Oberst Policza wathched with a heavy heart as the enemy turned our frontline into a crater landscape of mud fountains. Would a single man live through the drumfire? He knew he could rely on the men of the 12th. By 7 pm the telephone connection was functioning. The message came back that not a meter of ground had been lost and that astonishingly the II. batln had suffered only 28 dead and 49 wounded. The III. Batln in the second line at la Folie had only 4 dead and 29 wounded."

The French offensive had been stopped but the men of the 12. bay. I.R. were to spend a terrible winter in the rain filled trenches of the Artois. When they were relieved after seven months of bitter positional warfare they expected a well deserved rest, but less than 24 hours later they were on their way to participate in the slaughter at Verdun.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Unteroffizier Sebastian Herrling of the 6. Komp. 12. b.I.R. was awarded the Bavarian silver bravery medal for killing/capturing the occupants of a shellhole.

[Chris Boonzaier]

"The French attacked at 17:00 on the 11th of October 1915 to the West of Vimy. After an extremely heavy artillery bombardment twenty French soldiers occupied a crater from a heavy shell that had torn a hole in the German front line to the South of the Artillery trench. Acting independently of his own section Unteroffizier Herrling rushed forward with hand grenades to within 5m of the occupied shellhole while the neighbouring sections which had suffered heavy losses during the artillery preperation began to waver in the face of the attack.

Heavy infantry fire caused Herrling to break of a flanking attempt and he instead attacked directly from the trench exchanging hand Grenades with the Frenchmen until his supply of bombs ran out. He then began to use his rifle until he saw the French in the crater signalling to their front line for reinforcements. Hastily collecting some more grenades he attacked the shell hole with such fury that the shattered occupants surrendered soon after."

The action as described in the citation is dramatic but the reality was probably even more so. After the terrible bombardment an adrenaline charged Herrling must have been a fear evoking sight indeed. The suffering of the Poilus must have been immense as the grenades detonated within the confines of the shell hole, the blast and splinters having a more or less captive audience. Had they not stayed put and had they done a leap forward they would probably have suceeded in overpowering and probably killing Herrling. As it is, luck was on Herrlings side that day.

[Chris Boonzaier]

For me a group like this where you can find the exact deed, and/or put the group in its historical perspective makes the items priceless.

If someone were to say to me that a mint medal is better I would laugh in their face.

Thie? got EUR850 for an uncased one this week... with the history behind this one... I would probably not sell it for double that.... :-)

[Mike Dwyer]

Truly great stuff, Chris. Information like this, true human stories linked to the piece of metal and ribbon is what makes all of this worthwhile.

Thanks for sharing this.

Mike

[Guest Rick Research]

Superb!

THIS is what collecting is ALL about!

[Chris Boonzaier]

[quote

THIS is what collecting is ALL about!

[Daniel Murphy]

Chris,

Great job, I just love it when you can take an inanimate object and give it life.

Dan Murphy

[paddywhack]

fantastic bit of reasearch there! amazing what they had to go through to get this medal! id so love to find out what my one was awarded for!! again nice peice!!!!

Edited April 17, 2006 by paddywhack

[notned]

Chris!

Superb!

I just love it when a story about a particular act of bravery can be told...

Puts a perspective on the men and their deeds!

Bravo! and thanks for sharing!

Kind regards

Paul

[Gerd Becker]

That is a fantastic set, Chris. The Medal is really nice, even if it is slightly damaged (what does not detract from its appearence in any way IMO), but the document is absolutely breathtaking

I don?t want to step on anyones feet here, but a mint cased Knights Cross with Swords and Oaks is compared to this Except, you have the documents of course

Great set with a great story

[Ed_Haynes]

Speechless . . .

[Claudio]

Hi Chris,

this is all about collecting Militaria: to see beyond the sheer material value of collectible. To find the real stories, put faces to the medals and be able to bring to life forgotten tragic and dramatic soldiers' destinies.

Thank you for having told your story!

Ciao,

Claudio

[Stogieman]

Hi Chris, too bad he wasn't a Baker........ he might have been given one of these:

[Stogieman]

It came with this:

[Chris Boonzaier]

He was a Butcher... there we have a baker.... whats next ????

[Chris Boonzaier]

Got some knick knacks to the guys Regt...

A postcard....

[Chris Boonzaier]

And the 100th aniv. of the regt (in 1914)

[Chris Boonzaier]

This stuff from the forum reformed into a web page part..

http://www.kaiserscross.com/40047/40450.html

[VtwinVince]

Finding an unnamed one of these is tough enough, so this really is an outstanding set, congratulations.