Feldgrau.net

Sure! Sergeant Major is the next rank after First Sergeant...so they're different.

In the US Army, First Sergeant is the senior NCO in a company. Sergeant Majors are then at Battalion, Brigade, Regimental, and Division levels. Same pay and everything...just more responsibility.

Der Spiess was their equivalency to First Sergeant in the Army. As a term of "familiarity", we call our First Sergeants, "Top" as in, he is the top NCO in the company.

So, Der Spiess = Chief, meaning Top.

Lexie,

Thats wonderful! Congratulations on finding him! It really does open up an entirely new chapter, doesn't it?

As far as your father, thats really remarkable. Your grandfather sounds like a wonderful man.

Thanks again for sharing :)

Alex,

I haven't been able to find anything on him. You could always try contacting the publisher!

Ted Nugent's Wango Tango

Lexie,

Wow, thats really incredible! Did your grandfather (the Dutchman) ever treat your father differently or badly due to his biological father?

Thats really quite interesting. Thank you for sharing!

Gerhard,

Heinrich Boll is one of my favorite authors, and in this particular case, I think its necessary to quote him.

"If the world were made up of infantrymen, there would be no wars."

Coder,

Well, for one, shoot first instead of just returning fire. And being able to act on your own initiative

I picked up Tuntematon Sotilas today but have yet to watch it...I've heard great things about it though! Maybe some of our Finnish friends on here can talk about that one.

Right. I'm sure with older weapons, there was some margin as not everything was machined as precisely as it is now. Just a thought.

Gerhard, Thank you very much for posting that. I'm sorry to hear about your brother and your parents...I definitely cannot relate to such a tragedy. As far as being absent without leave...its nice to hear that soldiers have always done that, and always will continue to! Anyways, once again, thank yo...

I am recently back from Iraq...and naturally, some things are cheesey in the games. But I like the middle eastern games because you can do things in the game that you wanted to do while you were over there, but couldn't! (legally speaking of course!)

Not pictures...but maybe you could use clips from a video, Mein Krieg, which is a documentary made by a few veterans who kept small video cameras with them throughout the war. I remember a segment of winter time, in color no doubt, that would really do the trick that you are seeking. Hope this helped!

Great Kitsune, thank you!

I have a real passion about collecting WWII autobiographies/memoirs. However I also collect weapons. I have a decent sized bayonet collection, some rifles (Mauser Karabiner 98k, Lee Enfield No4Mk1, M1 Garand, Moison Nagant, SKS, MAK-90, M1A (civilian M14), and 3 Japanese Arisakas). I also have a Wal...