Question of the Hour

[redleafjumper]

Good answer Rhibwold and a good try muffin.  It is the Roman Legionaire's pick-axe as described in Caesar's "Commentaries".

What is the claim to fame of General Francois Chasseloup-Laubaut?

 

[vonGarvin]

OK, this may be easy, but what does "FLAK" come from?  (eg: what does it stand for, not just the definition)

 

[George Wallace]

Fliegerabwehrkanonen (Flak)

 

[vonGarvin]

Fliegerabwehrkanonen (Flak)

VERY VERY close.  Close enough to be correct.

"FLugzeugAbwehrKanone" (the capital letters are there just to show where the acronym comes from).  Anti-aircraft Cannon.

 

[vonGarvin]

In the theme of the previous, how about "PAK"?  (again, may be too obvious, but it IS Friday, and it's been a looooong week)

 

[George Wallace]

Panzerabwehrkanone


PanzerAbwehrKanone

 

[George Wallace]

Spahpanzer is a favourite.

 

[redleafjumper]

Don't forget about the question on the General asked above.

Spahpanzer?  Usually a light, wheeled armoured recce vehicle.

 

[vonGarvin]

Panzerabwehrkanone
PanzerAbwehrKanone

Indeed!

Spahpanzer is a favourite.

Spähpanzer is indeed a recce vehicle, tracked or wheeled.

Hows about Schützenpanzer?

 

[George Wallace]

Would that be a panzer you drive to a Schützenfest?    ;D

 

[scoutfinch]

self propelled gun?

 

[vonGarvin]

Would that be a panzer you drive to a Schützenfest?    ;D

:rofl:

No, but good enough!  APC  (Schützen literally means 'to protect', so....)

 

[vonGarvin]

self propelled gun?

Nope, that would have been "Panzerhaubitze" (Ph?)  Schützenpanzer is (literally) an "armoured infantry vehicle", or APC as we call them

 

[redleafjumper]

Hey, what about this one?

What is the claim to fame of General Francois Chasseloup-Laubaut,  and as a follow-up to this question, what was the claim to fame of his colleague General Jean-Baptiste Eble?

 

[AJFitzpatrick]

They are both French 
Napoleon's chief military engineer? ( I have to admit I googolled this)

 

[larry Strong]

General Jean-Baptiste Eble

He was responsible for bridging the Beresnia river with 400 French engineer troops and allowed the remnants of the Grand Armee to break combat with the Russians and escape.

General Francois Chasseloup-Laubaut

Still looking for info on him, He has something to do with building a fort near Poznan or Warsaw!

source: The Napoleonic War by Gunther Rothenberg

 

[redleafjumper]

Larry is correct regarding General Jean-Baptiste Eble and AJFitzpatrick is also correct about General Francois Chasseloup-Laubaut.

What they have in common is that they both were involved in the bridging of the Berezina River.  Eble was in comand of the pontoon train and saved supplies sufficient to do some bridging after having been ordered to destroy all the pontoons.  Chasseloup-Laubaut commanded Napoleon's engineers but they were not equipped to do any bridging.  Francois put his men under Eble's command for the operation.  What might have been a total disaster for Napoleon was averted by the hard work of these commanders and their exhausted support soldiers who, through their hard work allowed the remnants of the Grand Armee to slip away from the Russians.


What is the "PanzerKampfAbzeichen Der LuftWaffe"? 

 

[vonGarvin]

What is the "PanzerKampfAbzeichen Der LuftWaffe"? 

Tank destruction award of the (German) Airforce.  Guys like Hans Ulrich Rudel would have been awarded this, no?

How about the "Panzervernichtungsabzeichen"?  It literally means "tank destruction award", but what was the criteria for winning it?

 

[larry Strong]

"Special badge for single-handed Destruction of  a Tank"

2 classes Silver and Gold

It was introduced on 9.3.42, this award was not for members of A/T units, but for service personnel who destroyed a fighting vehicle single handed.

The criteria for the award were:

- Destruction  was to be made by means of a hand grenade, rocket grenade, satchel charge or any other similar hand held explosive.

- one silver emblem was awarded for each fighting vehicle destroyed.

- 4 awards could be worn a one time, being worn done above the other on the upper right arm of the tunic

-On the 5th award all 5 badges were exchanged for 1 gold badge.

- This process continued with 1 gold award having silver badges beneath it until the 10th badge was awarded and so on..

The greatest number of tanks destroyed by 1 man qualifying for the bestowal of the badge was 21. This was achieved by Obrestleutnant Gunter Viezenz.

source; A Collectors guide to WW@ German Medals and Political awards by Christopher Ailsby

 

[vonGarvin]

Very well done!  More info than I thought possible, but hey!  Very nice!