1. Garde-Reserve-Division

[Canutt]

Mario:

Here's the URL for the eBay item. Maybe you can ask the seller. The item is on eBay for five more days.

TC

http://cgi.ebay.com/Orden-Abzeichen-Fre ... dZViewItem

His source for identification is L.Hartung's book. Not the best source, indeed...

ciao,
Mario

As soon as possible I'll post a privat photo of Berlin foghting on March 1919 with a writing on the rear...

[Canutt]

here is...

[bob lembke]

The last posted PC is of course the same tank as in the last post by TC. The reverse is nothing surprising, except for the street that the picture was supposedly taken on (the first word on the last line), which I transliterate as "Marschauerstr.". However, my 1919 Berlin Strassen=führer of almost 700 pages of streets does not have the street (nor the same spelled with a leading "N"); the closest is a Marschnerstr. in Berlin-Lichterfelde. However, the street name on the card clearly has a "u" with the "over-sign"???, which matches other certain "u"s on the card. Any ideas? TC, as you seem to have several PCs of that street scene, do you have the street name? It is possible that the writer just got it wrong.

I think that the set of photos is quite interesting, and it would be nice and even useful to have the exact location. When I have more time I can look up the street on a map and see if the layout rings a bell. Any ideas? I dodn't know Berlin well.

Bob Lembke

[Mad Zeppelin]

Actually, the post card says "Warschauer Straße" - so we're still at centre east, Alexanderplatz area.
I'd like to point to the men in the foreground - this is the tank crew, getting in line for the soup (or whatever they served that day).
Excellent picture - one I've never seen before. The tank is of course "Hanni", an ex-Abt.12 vehicle, now serving with Kokampf.

[trickcyclist]

Mario's last photo reminded me of this well-known image of Hanni the Mark IV tank in Lichtenberg. The caption at the top says "Large-scale street fighting in Berlin during the general strike." The one at the bottom: "Stormed Spartacist trench in Lichtenberg."

Note that in Mario's photo and this one, the infantrymen wear large white brassards on their left arms. In the background of this photo, you can see a tank crewman in one-piece coveralls, either in leather or cloth. I wonder if the same unit is shown in both photos.

Lichtenberg saw heavy fighting with tanks, artillery, and flame-throwers.