Inhaltsverzeichnis für May 2023 in The Armourer

Badges and more at Bosleys The 8 March auction at Bosleys saw lots of badges, as usual, plus plenty of other items of militaria. Let’s get to it, starting with an Irish Leitrim Rifles Militia Victorian officer pre-1881 pouch belt plate. It hammered for a round £1,000 (plus BP of 26.4% for room bids or 28.8% for online bids). Staying with the Emerald Isle, this next item was an Irish County Dublin Militia Victorian officer shoulder belt plate. Fine, rare silvered rectangular plate mounted with crown, Maid of Erin Harp and ornate end scroll with ‘DUBLIN COUNTY’. This one hammered for £1,800. At the other end of the price spectrum there was an Irish Queens County Rifles Militia Victorian glengarry badge c. 1874-81. This went for just £50. On to…

Of all the nations covered in this series on World War I accoutrements, the Belgian Army stands out as having some of the most diverse equipment across the span of the war. When war broke out, Belgium had a small professional army that was equipped with older accoutrements, the nation’s size and financial position preventing large investment in the military in the pre-war period. Once war broke out, Belgium held out against the German onslaught far better than any imagined, but was pushed to a tiny strip of territory on the coast. The nation rapidly mobilised as many men as they could, but for a tiny nation with few resources and all its manufacturing capacity occupied by the enemy it was difficult to source weapons and equipment. Few neutral powers…

Digby Tatham Warter DSO is best known for carrying an umbrella during the fighting at Arnhem Bridge. His divisional commander, General Urquhart said that Digby, “… waved an umbrella as if it were a symbol of invincibility,” and a newspaper called it: ‘A totem of British resistance.’ However, there was much more to Digby than simply carrying an umbrella in action. The battle at the bridge is well known; the bulk of the force being stopped short of the objective, the unexpected presence of German SS units, the failure of XXX Corps to arrive and reinforce them. While Operation Market Garden as a whole was a failure, the stoic determination of the men holding the bridge cannot be doubted. Born into an affluent land-owning family in Altram, Shropshire, in 1917,…

The first rifle volunteer corps to be raised in the county of Northamptonshire was that formed at Althorp by tenants of Earl Spencer’s estate in August 1859. Others within the county were not far behind and in total nine individual numbered corps were raised. To control these companies, and ensure uniformity in drill, an administrative battalion was soon created and it was this in 1880 that took on the title of 1st Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps. A strong battalion, it numbered 13 companies with headquarters at Northampton. The re-designation as 1st Volunteer Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment took place in December 1887.…

The Siege of Malta is next month’s cover feature. When war spread to North Africa in June 1940 the gaze of Churchill and Rommel fixated on the small island as a strategically vital location in the Mediterranean. From Malta British forces could attack German and Italian ships while for the Germans Rommel commented, “Without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa.” The result was an intensive bombing campaign by the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica over a period of two years with over 6,700 tons of ordnance dropped on the Grand Harbour area alone. However, thanks to Allied supply convoys and the RAF defending the airspace, the Axis countries were never able to mount an invasion and eventually the siege was lifted. By 1943 Allied forces from…

FAIR Chalke Valley History Festival returns One of the UK’s most popular summer events, returns to Wiltshire from 26 June to 2 July. For the first time this year, the entire programme will be themed, enabling visitors to find the talks and events they are interested in more easily, and to also encourage a little curiosity too. The six distinct themes are: Environment, Conflict, Politics, Science and Exploration, Sport and Society and Culture. Over the course of a week, the festival will host over 200 talks and panel discussions on leading issues of the past, present and future. These will take place across five venues: the 750-seater main tent, the 350-seater second tent, the Outdoor Stage, Speaker’s Corner - where speakers can talk in a more informal setting - and…

13-14 MAY Temple at War. One of the largest historic re-enactment events in the southeast of England. This year’s show promises yet again some of the very best military re-enactment, vehicles, vintage displays, ephemera combined with a wealth of trade stalls. Location: Cressing Temple Barns, Witham Road, Cressing, Braintree, Essex, CM77 8PD Contact: info@templeatwar.co.uk 21 MAY Mark Carter Militaria and Medal Fair. An excellent fair for the militaria and medal collector with 80-120 stalls offering quality militaria, medals and military books. Location: Yate Leisure Centre, Kennedy Way, Yate, Nr Chipping Sodbury, Bristol, BS37 4DQ Contact: markgcarter6@gmail.com or 01753 534777 2-4 JUNE Great Central Railway 1940s Weekend. An evocative commemoration of life in wartime Britain set along four stations of the GCR all with individually themed attractions. This event showcases military…

From 1779, Britain and her colonies fought a series of wars against a wide range of African states. South Africa medals were first awarded for these frontier wars or Xhosa Wars in 1853, retrospectively reflecting participation in one or more of three major campaigns in 1835-36, 1846-47 and 1850-53. It was only awarded to survivors in 1853 and since the medal itself is not specific only the medal roll or service papers will indicate which of those campaigns the recipient had served in. Those for 1835-6 are quite hard to find as most are for the campaign of 1850-53 against Sandili. For the complex series of South African frontier wars between 1877 and 1879 it was originally proposed to award a new medal but in the end the authorities simply…

It has been described by collectors as the most dangerous SS award you can buy. It was certainly the hardest Third Reich sports badge to win, as it is estimated fewer than 200 were handed out and many of those were destroyed at the end of the war by their owners. This is the Germanic Proficiency Rune, the equivalent of the DRL and SA Sports Badge for members of the Germanic-SS, which is to say, non-Germans serving in SS divisions in Holland, Norway, Denmark and Flanders. It was created on 1 August 1943 by Heinrich Himmler as the Germanische Leistungsrune award in Bronze and Silver classes. In the institution document Himmler wrote that it: ‘… should be an example in physical training and tests in the use of weapons in…

Ratisbon’s 54th Contemporary History Auction The next auction at Ratisbon’s runs from 8-16 April and consignments have started to arrive so let’s take a look the first ones on the books. Expect to pay through the nose for this lot, it’s a pair of Waffen-SS Totenkopf collar tabs to Heinz Schmidt. EM/NCO type. Constructed of black cloth. Machine-embroidered skull. Original RZM paper tag on the back. A matching pair. Very hard to find! If you manage to bag these though, take heed that there are other items from SS-Sturmmann Heinz Schmidt later in the auction. Starting price is £1,756. This next lot has two items that are always in demand. Firstly, there’s a Tank Assault Badge in Silver for 50 assault days. Made from zinc by Gustav Brehmer, so ‘G.B.’…

COVER STORY By January 1940 Adolf Hitler’s Germany was in the ascendant. Poland had been defeated and plans for the invasion of Norway and Denmark were well advanced for April. Next on Hitler’s list was the planned attack on the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, which was part of a larger plan, codenamed Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) to conquer France. For a century, the principle of Dutch foreign policy was neutrality, a strategy that worked during World War I. The original German plan sent the main weight of attack through the Netherlands and Belgium directed towards Paris, mirroring the strategy Germany used in WWI. However, on 10 January, everything changed when a German plane transporting two officers carrying the operational orders destined for Army Group B made a forced landing in…

Cynthia Nott’s article on the Russian occupation of Alaska (Armourer July 2021, issue 191) reminded me of another site further south in California. Now Fort Ross State Historic Park the wooden fortress was founded by Russian promyshlenniki (frontiersmen) in search of the pelts of seal and sea otter. They had ventured via the Aleutian Islands from Siberia to Alaska after 1742. 42 years later a colony was established on Kodiak Island. The enterprise of merchant Gregor Shelikov was successful enough by 1797 for his widow Natalia Shelikova to engage partners and found a United American Company. As the profits poured in Czar Paul I granted a charter to a new Russian-American Company (RAC) in 1799. This joint-stock concern with 200 shareholders (similar to the Hudson’s Bay or East India Companies)…

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