Gordon Williamson

Fine NCOs tunic with all full insignia

Bahnhofswache

Heinz Heuer, Feldgendarmerie Knight's Cross winner (awarded in Berlin, 1945)

In motorcycle protective coat

If I recall correctly this was a Spanish Blue Div volunteer.

Feldgendarme with Kettenkrad towing a truck out of the mud on the Eastern Front

Hard to see this guy against the foliage, but certainly shows how visible the gorget was !!

Early phases of the war on the Russian Front

Checking the lights on a naval staff car.

Stabsfeldwebel

Field car with bizzare disruptive camo scheme

From a Feldgendarmerie Soldbuch I once owned, with the guys Dogtag.

Motor cycle combo

Russian Winter

Eastern Front

Tidying up some box files of photos and came across this stuff. Long time since I stopped collecting Feldgendarmerie but its still an area I am very interested in. Any one else any Feldgendarmerie related photos to share ?

Several of these photos came direct from Feldgendarmerie vets but the majority from my good friend Josef Charita.

Note the well worn finish on the gorget in this shot.

Weitze is selling one of these in very similar condition at 685 Euro.

Not much different then. My Tombak example comes in at 35.5gr.

There is a theory that these celleon eagles with black highlighting threads, like mine shown below, are NCO and those all in gold yellow are officer. If this theory is correct, yours is the officer version.

The cockade looks fine also. Here is mine, and also a pic of one being worn by an NCO with mixed insignia (metal cockade/oakleaves and bullion eagle) on his cap.

One of the big problems with 57 pattern awards is that these were never "issued" or "awarded" but merely a set of design styles authorised for wear to get around the prohibition of the swastika and other NS imagery. The Federal Government may have laid down what they should look like but they were not produced for official supply to the govrnment but effectively, for anyone who wanted them.

Contrary to urban myth it was never necessary to provide proof of entitlement to the original award to be able to obtain a "57"example. In fact early Steinhauer catalogues listing the 57 awards specifically state this. They could be bought direct from the manufacturers, uniform outfitters, from sports trophy shops etc etc. by anyone.

So, this creates a problem. If literally anyone could make them, and if an award is made today by an "entrepreneur" somewhere in Germany who wants to cash in on the demand for 57 awards, and meets all the design criteria (i.e. copies say a Steinhauer & Luck made 57 piece) is it a "fake". Strictly speaking, probably not. They are simply newly made, and even if made for the collector market rather than the originally intended market for veterans who wanted to wear their awards in acceptable form, are they any worse than the truly awful quality crap that Steinhauer churned out in the 90s ?

To the case in point I'd say these look like castings taken from an early Steinhauer "57" striking. Doesn't mean they are fake. I have bought Steinhauer pieces which turned out to be castings, slightly smaller than their earlier die struck predecessors, but with absolutely identical S&L type pins, hinges, clips etc. Perhaps the low demand meant that S&L sub-contracted out manufacture of some 57 pieces to people who used die struck pieces as "masters" for the moulds.

This is no doubt why the very early "57" pieces are sought after. At least they were in all probability manufactured by one of the firms who made the original wartime equivalents, and to a high quality standard.

The correct term would be Flotille (Flotilla), not Flotte (Fleet).

17 Unterseebootsflotille was formed only on paper. No boats were ever allocated to it and it never became operational. Same applies to 15 and 16 U-Flotillen.

There is a known original type which is in the FO "Style" but all those I have seen have been unmarked so not directly attributable to FO.

Never heard of a maker marked Tombak FO, but anything is possible.

On the subject of Wound Badges, this one struck me as amazing in the amount of effort to produce a common black wound badge. The base material is not brass but Tombak (note the bronze colour showing through at the 1 o'clock position on the helmet).

This has then been gilded, then a silver plate added over the gilding, then a chemical blackening (not paint) to finish it off. What a time consuming and potentially expensive method. I wonder why they didn't just spray paint it black .

Anyone have any info on where this unit may have been in action around the date this document was issued in 1918 ?

So far as I know, no one has sued the N&MP boys. And they have reprinted many things, including things more problematic than H&S. (Though you need to take care, for you may not live long enough for them to fulfill your order -- months and months!)

Didn't realise they had a reputation for being slow. The copy I ordered recently arrived within 3 days ! I must have been lucky.