Gordon Williamson

It does indeed ! Many thanks, its good to know I may have two good examples. I believe that these were worn on cloth backing patches and that both the original regulation dark blue and also red may have been used by MPs, so I can have an example of each.

Interesting piece. Its a generic tool for the Luftwaffe Frontflugpange. They all had different centres, but mounted onto the same basic clasp. Hence there is no centre design on this one.

Post #1 is for the Customs Service Cap Eagle Post #3 General Assault Badge Post #5 Destroyers War Badge Post #6 U-Boat War Badge Post #9 Centre piece for army belt buckle Post #10- Post #12 War Merit Cross 2nd Class Post #13 Centre piece for SA Belt Buckle Post #18 World War One Wound Badge Post #19 Early pattern Luftwaffe Cap or Breast Eagle

Very, very nice group Kevin. There can't have been too many who managed to get the requisite number of patrols in to earn the badge by such an early date. I see he isn't on the ubootwaffe.net lists. Have you checked WaSt to see if there is a KIA listing for him ? If not it would be a very rare example of a U-Boat man who was in service from Day 1 and survived the war.

Sadly, the EK2 doc is missing from the group. The photo is dated 1942 so it may be that it was taken before the Kreta cuffband was issued so the photo doesn't give a clue as to whether he served on Crete. Entirely possible though, maybe even likely as he was certainly a trained Para prior to the attack on Crete and we have no evidence to suggest that he was in any other unit prior to FJR3.

Glad you guys like it ! Also interesting, to me at least, is the Waffenfarbe colour of the collar tabs. Clearly not the normal Golden Yellow of Fallschirmjäger, but predating the introduction of regular Orangerot for the Luftwaffe's Feldgendarmerie, so almost certainly the blue Waffenfarbe of the Nachschubtruppe to which the Luftwaffe Feldgendarmerie was subordinated at this point.

Can anyone identify this one ? Impossible to see if there is a sleeve eagle, but certainly no breast aegle yet the visor cap has the regular Heer insignia.

And the icing on the cake - a photo of him with all his awards being worn, and the Feldgendarmerie cuffband on his Fliegerbluse. Only other shots I have seen of Fallschirmjäger Feldgendarmerie are the well known shots in Normandy but where all are wearing smocks so no insignia other than the gorget can be seen. This is only the second shot I have seen of Luftwaffe Feldgendarmerie in the Fliegerbluse with all insignia visible.

What makes the group special is that he subsequently moved from the Regiment to the parent Division and served in the Feldgendarmerie, winning the Ground Combat Badge. Needless to say, documents to Fallschirmjäger Feldgendarmerie are exceptionally rare.

I assume going by the date being so close to the award date for the Wound Badge, the EK1 may well have been for the same action

Serving with 14 Kompanie. FJR3 he saw action on the Eastern Front and was wounded. At the time he earned the badge, his unit was in the middle of some very heavy combat on the Neva front.

Ewald Nickel qualified as a Paratrooper in 1940

Roger has been trying out some alternative cover designs. This is the final version. Bit more dramatic than the first version.

Looks very much like Otto Müller.

Waiting for this to arrive in the next day or so. First decent one of these I've seen in a long time :-)

Hi Peter, A good, and relatively scarce, maker marked example. It is typical for the maker stamp on these to be more deeply struck at the top and less so at the bottom. Here is the example that is in my book.

Supernumary Senior Stoker Not a Kriegsmarine rank, more a throwback from earlier days when coal fired ships were the norm. Such terms are occasionally found in earlier KM documentation when earlier terminology from the Kaiserliche Marine or Reichsmarine were still sometimes being used. The "Heizer" part is more a "trade" than a "rank". Equivalent in KM terms would most likely just be (Matrosen) Stabsgefreiter. The supernumary part indicates that although considered qualified to act as a Senior Stoker, there was no vacancy on the unit establishment and therefore he would not be being paid for the qualification.

I'm afraid it looks like a fake to me. There is one major thing wrong, just for starters. The bands around the wreath should be at the top and bottom. On this one there are side to side, so it has been incorrectly assembled. This of course could happen on real pieces from time to time also, but the real killer for me is that it has certain "fingerprints" identical to Floch made copies, one of which, the normally random pattern of "dots" on the fields of the arms at one point run in a straight line with just above this three dots in a triangular arrangement. The exceptionally heavy looking retaining clip is also often seen on Floch copies.

I think the problem with much of the shipboard Flak armament on German warships was that it was great against enemy aircraft over a certain height, but if they came in literally at wavetop hieght as the Swordfish did, the guns couldn't depress low enough to target them.

Yes, looks pretty much like a Deumer. The base metal is Tombak, an alloy which certainly contains copper and once the gilding wears off, if polished the metal will look just like Brass but if left untouched will usually show a coppery colour.

Sorry, the publisher hasn't told me the price yet. It is the same format and roughly the same size as "Torpedo Los" so I guess the price will also be similar - around $80

Cover design just received from Roger. At the printers right now and hopefully supplies will be in towards the end of October/early November.

Hugh has forwarded me the images in question. The badge is indeed the correct badge for U-985, though this boat's insignia actually shows a Lion ( representing England) with a spear through its throat. On the version on the model the shaft of the spear is there, but not the point emerging through the other side. Probably omitted as there was no space at the lower part of the model to allow the spear head to be shown. With the slot through the conning tower it looks like this is a desk ornament intended to hold letters.

Very nice indeed ! :cheers:

Prices pretty much depend on where you are. You'd be hard pushed to get a really nice example from a European dealer for much less than £800-£1000 (around 1000 -1200 Euro.) UK prices tend to be a little cheaper. I got a mint one a year or so back for £650 (just under 800 Euro)