Gordon Williamson

A nice pick up this week. Badges by Petz & Lorenz are relatively uncommon and this one has been vaulted and personalised. Quick check through U-Boat crew lists shows just two candidates for owners of this badge, both officers and one a U-Boat Commander.

Hi Kevin, The corresponding Soldbuch entry shows him entering the same Luftwaffe hospital that issued the WB doc, on 30 December. However the injury is a rather generic "Granatesplitter". Shrapnel could have come from just about anything, - a grenade, shell or possibly from a rocket projectile from an aircraft. I believe both the P-47 and P-51 carried rockets for tank hunting, and 3 Fallschirm Div was operating with 1 SS-Panzerkorps (these being the Paras you see on wartime photos riding on Peiper's King Tigers).

Not in the finest condition (although its only the finish that has deteriorated, there is no physical damage) but with things as rare as this you can't afford to be too choosy.

Very nice indeed. Any wound badges to Kriegsmarine personnel are relatively scarce, but one to a U-Boat crew member is really special !

Joe, Yes indeed. The cloth versions were private purchase items. Theoretically the only way to get a cloth DK was to buy one. Only the metal versions were ever oficially awarded. Having said that, a Waffen-SS DK winner I met swore that the only DK he ever got was the cloth version.

Spoke with the manufacturers. They found that the very dark grey decks made the drainage slots virtually inivisible and as this dark grey finish was in reality soon scoured off by salt water anyway, they preferred the appearance with the slots more visible. I tend to agree with them. I may add rigging and some weathering etc to mine just to see how much it improves it.

Did you have the full grouping ? I know that at first all of the awards were included and also a photo album but the group was later split up. I had hoped to find a nice portrait shot of Lömker wearing the DK. I assume there would have been some nice shots of him in the album.

Hi Richard, Yes he did survive. At least two of the boats he served on are known. He served on U-125,a Type IX under Günter Kuhnke and Ulrich Folkers then on U-223, a Type VII. He was captured when U-223 was sunk on in the Med. on 30 March 1944 after depth charging by a group of 4 British Destroyers, his first war patrol after receiving the DK. .

His cloth DK which came with the group.

Nice Dönitz signed DK doc from 1944. Note the use of the large font "Führerschreibmaschine" typewriter.

EK1 in 1942

EK2 in 1941

Nice early U-Boat Badge from January 1940.

Sudeten Medal

Just arrived. Nice doc set to a U-Boat DK winning SNCO. Served during the Spanish Civil War earning the Spanienkreuz in Bronze.

Roger is hoping they will be in from the printers late November. Printers are snowed under and of course every customer wants their order done before Xmas !

As correctly stated on the other forum, these are genuine Kriegsmarine breast eagles ( for the blue sailors shirt), with an embroidered version of the eagle for the Bordmütze which is slightly more uncommon than the woven version (which would be identical, but smaller, than the strip of breast eagles you have)

Dan, Not so much lack of interest, more that I don't think there are many SS collectors here on GMIC. However, I think from the point of view of any cap specialists, an interior view would be essential, both to show the lining and also with the sweatband folded back to show how the lining is stitched down around the edges.

WW1 Period New Zealand, another hard set to find.

Rarest one so far this year. Canada, for 1st MP Det.

Australia Kings Crown, quite difficult to find. Even the Queens Crown in Brass doesn't turn up to often.

George V Military Provost Staff Corps

Finally got all three of the Zimbabwe/Rhodesia types. Still to find the Southern Rhodesia Military Police badge. Not an easy one to get I believe.

Anyone any idea just how many different examples there are of the SACMP Chromed type with the enamel unit insignia ? I believe this one is for Eastern Province.

Hi Mervyn, Very nice ! The examples I have picked up are all the solid unvoided type.