User talk:Brigade Piron

Hello!

Hi Brigate Piron, I'm tentatively back on WP after a several year break. My assignment in Pakistan is over and I'll be based the next four years in... wait for it... Madagascar. :D So I'm back on the Mada article project to the extent my job will allow time for it. So glad to see you're still here and working on beautiful articles like the Congo crisis. Hope all's well on your side. Cheers, - Lemurbaby (talk) 01:34, 21 February 2017 (UTC)

Hi Lemurbaby. Thanks for the message and I'm glad to hear you're back! —Brigade Piron (talk) 19:40, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

List of churches in Brussels

Hi! Hope all's well with you too! All is well with me, except that I am problematically busy. I'll take a look at the article, but I probably won't have time to make it a thorough one, sadly. Cheers, Oreo Priest ^talk 15:50, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Saarland Protectorate listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Saarland Protectorate. Since you had some involvement with the Saarland Protectorate redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. Thryduulf (talk) 02:05, 17 August 2016 (UTC)

Émile Speller

Hello Piron, it's me again. I recently created an article on Émile Speller, the major commandant of the Luxembourgish Volunteer Corps during WWII and aid-de-camp to several Grand Dukes/Duchesses. I'd be most thankful if you would look the article over for me, assisting with necessary cleanup and adding relevant categories. If you can think of anywhere to find information on this guy, let me know. I've found one additional source that may information on the identity of Speller's wife, but it's in French and not easily translatable for me. Would it be possible for you to translate it, or do you know someone who could? --Indy beetle (talk) 04:34, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Indy beetle, not a problem - just had a quick skim through and it seems very good! Will take a proper look when I get a moment. —Brigade Piron (talk) 06:31, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

Forgot to mention - I created the rather pathetic article for Albert Wingert. Don't suppose you have any sources to add to it with? I had thought more material was available and it looks rather sad at the moment...—Brigade Piron (talk) 06:37, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the assistance Brigade Piron! I just added a little info on Wingert's marriage that I found. I'm happy to return the favor and will continue digging. I think you are right in your assumption about more material being available. So far I've been looking at the reference section of the German article on him. The Luxembourgish Wikipedia also has a short article on him with a large "Further Reading" section. Unfortunately, most of those in the latter are in print and not available to me. --Indy beetle (talk) 15:29, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

Just would like to bring up this source that I've found. I'll do what I can to translate the German text about Wingert, but I think you'll really want to use it for stuff on the Luxembourgish Resistance. --Indy beetle (talk) 16:23, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Indy beetle, I've had a look at the article of yours - I'm afraid it will not be of much help. All the relevant information is that the youngest daughter of the three daughters of a certain Alfred Scholler married Speller. Unfortunately her name isn't given. I'll keep looking for more sources but I don't think there's much chance of finding something you've missed. If I have one suggestion it is that it might be worth putting a short paragraph about the role of the Volunteer Corps during the invasion of 10 May 1940? —Brigade Piron (talk) 16:51, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the help, Piron. I put in a short summary of the Corps involvement in the invasion, as you suggested. As for the mysterious Scholler daughter, I guess there's no real way to tell unless we find out more about her father, which seems unlikely. --Indy beetle (talk) 19:27, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

One more thing: I came across this documentary about the invasion of Luxembourg produced by the Luxemburger Wort newspaper. (If you can't access it, just give the site your email and it will let you through). I'm going to gather what I can from it, but my German isn't very good, so this could take some time. At any rate, it has some very interesting footage, and I think they show some letters signed by Speller. Though you should know. Indy beetle (talk) 05:03, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up! I'll take a look. —Brigade Piron (talk) 14:53, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Atrocities in the Congo Free State

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Atrocities in the Congo Free State you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Midnightblueowl -- Midnightblueowl (talk) 13:21, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Battle of Liege

There's a new editor altering OOB data without citing it, an error of omission. I'm attempting dialogue but also realise that I've reverted three edits (!). Would you mind observing? Regards Keith-264 (talk) 08:13, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi Keith. I see you problem. I think the IP user could profit from reading through WP:OR and especially WP:V. I'm not sure there's anything I can do, though - I think you're better off looking for an admin who can issue a gentle reminder...—Brigade Piron (talk) 14:52, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

I'm pleased to say that the editor took the trouble to add citations (from Zuber) so my caution was unjustified. I offered links to OR and Cite too, thanks for the reply. Regards Keith-264 (talk) 17:07, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Atrocities in the Congo Free State

The article Atrocities in the Congo Free State you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Atrocities in the Congo Free State for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Midnightblueowl -- Midnightblueowl (talk) 19:01, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

Maurice Stein

Hello Brigade Piron. You might remember perhaps, how I added some info to the German invasion of Luxembourg article a month ago. One part of the information concerned a meeting on the night of May 9th between the minister of justice, the police commissioner, and the commander of the gendarmerie. All I had was the gendamrerie commander's last name, Stein. I wanted his full name, naturally so I could include in the infobox under "Commanders and leaders." I've found these two pages from a book of some sort, [1] [2] and [3], that suggest that I'm looking at a Maurice Stein. Both are in French, which, as you know, I'm unable to read. Would you be willing to assist me in translating some of this? Basically the info about his activities before, during, and after the invasion; anything which could help improve the German invasion of Luxembourg article. Indy beetle (talk) 19:55, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

Of course! Purely on the first of your sources, Maurice Stein took command of the Gendarmerie on 30 December 1932 and was also give command of the Compagnie des Volontaires on 9 October 1940 but was dismissed by the occupiers on 1 January 1941. He was deported to Wittlich but released under Gestapo supervision soon after when he fell ill. He worked with the allies after September 1944 but was after suffering an accident had to resign in May 1945 as an "Honorary Major".—Brigade Piron (talk) 20:42, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

Articles 2 and 3 are not very exciting, though 3 does talk a bit about his role in stopping attempted Gestapo infiltration into Luxembourg during the Phoney War.—Brigade Piron (talk) 20:44, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for the assistance!. As for article 3, could you be more specific? Is there any information there that could be added to the "Background" section of the German invasion of Luxembourg article? Also, here is the last page, [4] and the first page [5].Indy beetle (talk) 21:00, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

I'm afraid there's not that much detail to add. According to p.25, he died on 7 March 1957 and had married in 1930. He was apparently involved in discussions about anti-tank barriers in 1939 (the Schuster Line I assume, p.24)—Brigade Piron (talk) 09:52, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

African nationalism

I'll set up a Miscellaneous one at the bottom, including all general Africa ones like that and also off continent island entities like Canries and Reunion etc. That one can be for the odd ones like those which don't fit an African country. So I'll move that to there shortly.♦ Dr. Blofeld 19:37, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Dr. Blofeld. I think it would probably be helpful to have such a section, if only to add stuff about the African Union and similar bodies too.—Brigade Piron (talk) 19:40, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

Added, it's under Zimbabwe. I'll have to try to get somebody to cough up $20 on that one though ;-) For this Miscell. you can do anything on any of the related African island groups too, all in one section, anything which doesn't fit a country.♦ Dr. Blofeld 19:45, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

Africa Destubathon

Hi, thanks for your work so far! Can you do me a favour though and always add every entry you do to the main list here as well as the entries page, regardless if yet approved or not as that's the master list of all articles being done. It's just very time consuming for me to be judging the articles, trying to contribute myself and chasing up what people have done and filling it out for people each time. So if you can take care of that this would be a great help, there's some part filled out ones underneath so you just need to add country, article name and then your username. Thanks.♦ Dr. Blofeld 20:33, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

Precious anniversary

Two years ago ...

history of Belgium and Africa
... you were recipient no. 1010 of Precious, a prize of QAI!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:18, 22 October 2016 (UTC)

Batetela Rebellion

Hello Brigade Piron. I notice that you have deleted the section of the above article covering the Force Publique mutiny of Dhanis expedition. Grateful for your reason. Regards Buistr (talk) 07:20, 30 October 2016 (UTC)

Hi Buistr, I'm sorry for the deletion and I hope you don't take offense at it. I think there are two reasons here of which the first and most important is the question of relative importance. The 1897 mutiny in just one of the "Batetela mutinies" - in my understanding, the term is applied to three, totally separate revolts that colonial authorities attributed to the same ethnic group and therefore connected. In my opinion, having a section about mutiny #2 without sections on the first and third (which are arguably more significant anyway) risks creating a false impression of the mutiny as a whole and distorting the reader's understanding of it. However, the sources available to me do not give me enough information to fill those gaps myself - hence the deletion. The second, less important, problem was the single in-line citation for a chunk of text.

I hope you'd agree that the article is, at least, slightly clearer following the additions made yesterday. Obviously the article is far from comprehensive at the moment and, if you have access to good source materials, please do add to it! —Brigade Piron (talk) 10:37, 30 October 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for explaining the reason for refocussing the article. However I hope that as more source material is identified the article can be expanded to provide some coverage of all three outbreaks. The limited information that I have access to does describe the 1896-97 mutiny of the large Sudan expedition as being the first major violent protest against the European presence in the Congo. As such this does seem to be a significant but (at least to English readers) little-known incident of Central African history during the colonial era. Buistr (talk) 18:53, 30 October 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your understanding! I wouldn't say that 1897 specifically was the "first major violent protest" (1895 was probably more damaging) but you're certainly right about its importance. I'm hoping that I'll be able to significantly expand the article in the near future (I have some useful materials, but will not be able to access them for a couple of months). I was planning to do some work on rebellions in the Belgian Congo in the near future (we should probably have an article on the Pende Revolt of 1931, Luluabourg Mutiny of 1944, the Kwilu revolt of 1964-65, Student unrest of the 1970s etc. In the meantime, I've added some more details about the 1887 mutiny from your section to the article.—Brigade Piron (talk) 12:10, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

Ruanda

Please see my edit re Ruanda [6].--Woogie10w (talk) 12:51, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

Europe 10,000 Challenge invite

Hi. The Wikipedia:WikiProject Europe/The 10,000 Challenge has recently started, based on the UK/Ireland Wikipedia:The 10,000 Challenge. The idea is not to record every minor edit, but to create a momentum to motivate editors to produce good content improvements and creations and inspire people to work on more countries than they might otherwise work on. There's also the possibility of establishing smaller country or regional challenges for places like Germany, Italy, the Benelux countries, Iberian Peninsula, Romania, Slovenia etc, much like Wikipedia:The 1000 Challenge (Nordic). For this to really work we need diversity and exciting content and editors from a broad range of countries regularly contributing. If you would like to see masses of articles being improved for Europe and your specialist country like Wikipedia:WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon, sign up today and once the challenge starts a contest can be organized. This is a way we can target every country of Europe, and steadily vastly improve the encyclopedia. We need numbers to make this work so consider signing up as a participant and also sign under any country sub challenge on the page that you might contribute to! Thank you. --Ser Amantio di Nicolao^{Che dicono a Signa?}_{Lo dicono a Signa.} 02:39, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

Untitled

Hello! I just bought - in Brazil!! - an old deck of playing cards and it is written (handwritten and signed) "souvenir des sons officiers de 3o Cie du 24e Bataillon de Fusiliers. 25 mai 1945", along with 6 signatures, on the Ace of Spades. One of the signatures seems to be from someone named "Calliwaerth". As far as I could find out, it is a Belgium Bataillon founded at Gand and which existed from February to December that year. I would like to find out more informarion about this 24th Bataillon de Fusiliers and about the guys who signed this card. Do you know how could I find more info? Of course, I can send a picture of the card. Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 177.79.12.159 (talk) 02:59, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to help with that - I'm no expert in the fusilier battalions. Most were never deployed out of Belgium though I don't know offhand if the 24th was one of the ones that was. If I find anything I'll let you know.—Brigade Piron (talk) 10:00, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Congo Crisis

Hello BP. I was wondering why you reverted my edit on the Congo Crisis article. I was a little confused by your explanation. Could you clarify? -Indy beetle (talk) 18:24, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Yes, I'm sorry about that. I had written a proper edit summary but must have pressed the wrong button before it saved. Basically the issue is twofold. Firstly, chronologically that picture would be much more logical in the section below it which already has a picture and, secondly, the place you current had it squeezed the text between two images. I suggest that if you really want that image, it will have to replace the "reconciliation" postage stamp - but that depends on whether you think the picture is more helpful to the reader. —Brigade Piron (talk) 22:24, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Collect your prize

Hi, please carefully read the instructions at the bottom of Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Africa/The Africa Destubathon for collecting your prize. I will need you to send me an email, your wiki name, what I owe you and your preference for currency in dollars or pounds/country of residence.♦ Dr. Blofeld 14:42, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Jean-Baptiste Piron

Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Jean-Baptiste Piron you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Krishna Chaitanya Velaga -- Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk) 14:20, 18 December 2016 (UTC)

Move review for South-West Africa

An editor has asked for a Move review of South-West Africa. Because you closed the move discussion for this page, or otherwise were interested in the page, you might want to participate in the move review.

Move review for German South-West Africa

An editor has asked for a Move review of German South-West Africa. Because you closed the move discussion for this page, or otherwise were interested in the page, you might want to participate in the move review.

Your GA nomination of Jean-Baptiste Piron

The article Jean-Baptiste Piron you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Jean-Baptiste Piron for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already been on the main page as an "In the news" or "Did you know" item, you can nominate it to appear in Did you know. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Krishna Chaitanya Velaga -- Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk) 12:02, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

Jean-Baptiste Piron

Fantastic, thanks very much! —Brigade Piron (talk) 12:47, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

You're welcome! I thought of something I wanted to ask you about. In the lead, you say it was called the Brigade Piron. In the second paragraph of the section Jean-Baptiste Piron#World War II, you have this sentence:

• The unit, numbering between 1,800 and 2,200 men, was soon popularly nicknamed the "Piron Brigade" (Brigade Piron) after him.

This last wording, with italicized "Brigade Piron" following the English phrase, suggests that "Brigade Piron" was the French name of the brigade. Was the brigade commonly known in English as "Brigade Piron"? Or was it called the "Brigade Piron" only by French speakers?

If the brigade was commonly known in English as the Brigade Piron, then you might consider adding "by its French name" before "Brigade Piron" in the lead. However, if you do that, then "known by" sounds better than "called" – compare "known by its French name Brigade Piron" vs. "called by its French name Brigade Piron" – (I had changed "known by" to "called" because you already had "best known" earlier in the same sentence). So, maybe it would be better not to mention "by its French name" there, but wait until the second paragraph of the World War II section to say that.

If, on the other hand, the brigade was commonly known as the "Piron Brigade" in English, then there is no reason to use "Brigade Piron" anywhere in the article except once: italicized in parentheses following the first mention in the World War II section that I mentioned above.  – Corinne (talk) 16:17, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

That's a good question and, in all honesty, I'm not quite sure. Brigade Piron obviously derived from the French (hence the word order) and based on a Google Books search, it clearly does have some currency in English-language works. That said, "Piron brigade" or "Piron Brigade" also seems to be used by modern sources. I'll make the (2nd) changes you suggest.—Brigade Piron (talk) 18:17, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

Well, you could say somewhere that the brigade is known by both its French name and its English name.  – Corinne (talk) 01:32, 8 January 2017 (UTC)

Battle of Liège

You might want to look at the talk page. Regards Keith-264 (talk) 19:14, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

Copperbelt strike of 1935

Hi, just wanted to ping you on Copperbelt strike of 1935. Please let me know for review comments - thanks again.Ssriram mt (talk) 13:49, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Vice Administrator-General / Vice Governor-General

Hello. As you know, yesterday I remodeled the list at List of colonial governors of the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo. While working on it, I've had a thought about removing all deputy colonial governors (Vice Administrators-General and Vice Governors-General), and leaving only those who were actual colonial governors (Administrators-General and Governors-General). The list look somehow "pilled up" if it include deputy colonial governors... Of course, I didn't want to remove them until I share my thoughts with you and hear your opinion on the matter. --Sundostund (talk) 14:08, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Yes, thank you for the work on the article - it looks much better! This should probably be raised on talk, especially since there are at least a couple more active editors in the topic. Personally I think I support retaining the Vice-GG positions if possible on the grounds that the more information we have the better. That said, I do appreciate your point. Might some shuffling of the table (indenting for instance) solve the problem? —Brigade Piron (talk) 16:44, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

I'm glad you like my work! As for the Vice-GG positions, I don't have some strong opinion about it. All of it is just an idea, I just thought how it would look if they're removed from the article... Maybe we can separate them in a different section within the article? If you have some idea about it, I'd certainly love to hear it. --Sundostund (talk) 18:39, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

That may be an option certainly. As I say, it is probably best to raise the discussion on the article's talk page before making any substantial changes! I'll see if I can find any more free pictures to illustrate it. —Brigade Piron (talk) 22:28, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Fair enough! As I said, I don't have some strong opinion on the issue, and since I have some other things to do, I don't plan to raise the discussion at the talk page, at least for now... I fully respect what other users did at the article, that's why I didn't remove anything during my work there - I just reformatted the article. Also, it would be great if you can find more free pictures (especially those of post-1908 Governors-General, but of course look for pictures of pre-1908 officeholders as well). --Sundostund (talk) 16:19, 14 January 2017 (UTC)

The Vice Governor-Generals were the actual governors on the ground and should remain. See Congo Free State#Government. (Personally, I do not like the tables; I prefer plain lists. It also made the distinction between GG and VGG clearer.) Srnec (talk) 05:52, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

@Srnec: As you can see, I didn't even attempt to remove the Vice Governor-Generals from the article, without clear approval from other involved editors... Personally, I always prefer tables over plain lists - beside better systematization, they allow us to add elements which wouldn't exist in plain lists (images, years of birth and death, etc). If you have any proposal on how to make distinction between GG and VGG clearer than it is at the moment, I'd be more than happy to hear it. --Sundostund (talk) 17:08, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

Separate tables. Srnec (talk) 22:35, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps that might be a good idea. It might also be possible to list Vice-GGs by Governors too? —Brigade Piron (talk) 22:39, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

@Srnec and Brigade Piron: Both of your proposals seems quite acceptable to me - I'm looking forward to see one of them implemented in the article (I can't say my final opinion until I see how it looks). I'll let you guys to implement what you think is the best in this case, then I'll make my corrections (if I find it necessary to correct something). --Sundostund (talk) 14:30, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

I'll see what I can do if I find some time! I don't suppose you could take on List of colonial governors of Ruanda-Urundi at some point by the way? —Brigade Piron (talk) 09:47, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

Independence of the Congo

Hey Piron. Just wanted to let you know that I created a simple draft at User:Indy beetle/Independence of the Belgian Congo. No doubt this project will take me some time. If you would care to put in some info, it would be much appreciated. -Indy beetle (talk) 02:44, 6 February 2017 (UTC)

Hi Indy. Thanks for the note. —Brigade Piron (talk) 19:40, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

Western Front (World War I)

Greetings Brigade, the article is being reviewed and I wondered if you had a better source for Belgian W. Front strength? Regards Keith-264 (talk) 09:31, 4 March 2017 (UTC)

Hi Keith. I'm afraid I don't - only for the Yser in 1914. —Brigade Piron (talk) 19:40, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Le Grand Kallé.png

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The Bugle: Issue CXXXII, April 2017

Your Military History Newsletter Project news: From the editors; awards and honours; contest results Articles: Last month's new featured and A-class content Book review: Nick-D and Hawkeye7 look at air power and nuclear weaponry Op-ed: Hawkeye7 on Australia's part in the advance on the Hindenburg Line Timeline: This month in World War I

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If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 23:50, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Editor of the Week

		Editor of the Week
		Your ongoing efforts to improve the encyclopedia have not gone unnoticed: You have been selected as Editor of the Week in recognition of brief summary of reason for recognition. Thank you for the great contributions! (courtesy of the Wikipedia Editor Retention Project)

User:Fitzcarmalan submitted the following nomination for Editor of the Week:

Editor Brigade Piron is by far one of Wikipedia's most valuable contributors when it comes to Belgian history. They've been editing this project for over five years now, making 30,000+ edits so far and authoring 23 good articles (to my count) in the process. And when it comes to countering systemic bias, having recognized it as one of this project's "core deficiencies", Brigade Piron is no less prolific. They've greatly improved many African history articles, a much needed initiative, and continues to do so in a regular fashion. I have never had the opportunity to interact with this editor before, unfortunately, but I am nevertheless delighted to nominate them as Editor of the Week.

You can copy the following text to your user page to display a user box proclaiming your selection as Editor of the Week:

{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention/Editor of the Week/Recipient user box}}

Thanks again for your efforts! Buster Seven Talk 22:28, 23 April 2017 (UTC)