Talk:Memel Medal

Article cleanup

Please let me know if there's any concern. K.e.coffman (talk) 02:11, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

If you are going to wipe an article to such a degree, please change the assessment to stub. And remember for general information, it does not have to be cited. Certainly it is preferred but not necessary; better just to tag such. Kierzek (talk) 03:17, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

The article has been tagged Refimprove since 2013, so I assumed no further improvements were forthcoming. Good suggestion on the stub template; I added to the article. If you are interested in working on the decorations-related articles I could ping you with a few that need work, if you may be interested. Would that work? K.e.coffman (talk) 03:25, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

If you give me a list when you are done, I will try to get to them when I can. Thanks, Kierzek (talk) 03:27, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

@Kierzek: By "done" do you mean "done slashing and burning"? Point taken. :-) I'll ping you in the future first for feedback. K.e.coffman (talk) 04:26, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

World War II awards

Here are the articles that I've identified so far:

• Kuban Shield -- Stubbed
• Demyansk Shield -- Stubbed
• Crimea Shield -- Stubbed
• Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe -- Tagged "Unreliable sources"
• SS Long Service Award -- Tagged "Unreliable sources" done.
• Cholm Shield -- Tagged "Unreliable sources"
• Infantry Assault Badge -- Tagged "Unreliable sources"
• Tank Destruction Badge -- Tagged "Refimprove"; separately, I'm not sure if the section "Recipients" is needed there. These largely seem low-level, non-notable personnel. done as far as ce work.
• Wound Badge -- have not done anything about this one, but it's already tagged "Refimprove" from 2010.
• General Assault Badge -- Tagged both "Refimprove" and "Unreliable sources" done.

I believe that's all I've touched recently. Will ping you if I see more. For the Shield-type awards, I actually think that the stub-class is appropriate, since they were awarded "just because one happened to be in a certain location", and not for an individual's actions. But I'd leave any further expansion up to you.

Hope this works! Please let me know of any further feedback for improvements. K.e.coffman (talk) 04:26, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

Yes, that will work. I don't know when I will get to it but I will do it. And as for the "shields" I agree. But, for the German Cross, that was a very high award, one step below the Knight's Cross, so I would leave that in bio articles and leave more detail in its article. Kierzek (talk) 04:38, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

Thank you -- as long as they are on your radar and are on track for being improved at some point, that's great. What I find problematic is that poorly sourced / POV articles are just sitting there, and in effect helping to propagate the Wehrmacht / Waffen-SS mythology.

I personally find the badges / cuff links / shields a bit totemic and tedious, to quote from Smelser & Davies: "Sacrifice and humility are the hallmarks of German soldiers. Their actions win them medals, badges and promotions, yet they remain indifferent to these awards." The cover art "evokes heroism, determination and might of the German soldier and his weapons". Etc.

References

However, it's just my opinion, and nobody owns these articles. So if the information is presented from a neutral standpoint (i.e. the article does not sound like war-time propaganda and / or one of Kurowski's accounts) and it helps readers to understand the historic context, I'm all for it.

Re: The German Cross, if properly cited, I don't think I've removed any. In this instance, I removed it from the Infobox (but kept in the list of awards). My reasoning is that the infobox provides key details and establishes notability, and the Knight's Cross is sufficient for it. Hope this works, and please share more feedback as needed.

Separately, I added the General Assault Badge above. K.e.coffman (talk) 05:34, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

You did remove the German Cross from Hubert Meyer's article; that is one which comes to mind. As for moving the German Cross in the other bio articles, I would leave them mentioned in the info box, but don't feel that strongly about it. Kierzek (talk) 23:38, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out; I added it back in. I'll avoid removing the GC in the future. K.e.coffman (talk) 00:28, 9 June 2016 (UTC)

Could you also have a look at Parachutist Badge (Germany)? The article appears to describe the history of the paratroop forces, instead of focusing on the badge proper. I took out a couple of more obviously POV stuff, but I'll let you handle the rest. K.e.coffman (talk) 01:57, 9 June 2016 (UTC)

I will when I have time; I will add it to my "sandbox list". In fact K.e., please just throw them in my sandbox if anymore are to be added to the list. Thanks, Kierzek (talk) 13:18, 9 June 2016 (UTC)