Gordon Williamson

This is from my previous Streifendienst set ( Soldbuch & Ausweis). Now he does look like a seriously nasty piece of work.

I suspect that Chris has hit the nail on the head. The guy saw action in the attack on Poland but then seems to have been on a home posting in Germany until he is sent to Italy. He suffered from Chronic Bronchitis. Probably they needed drivers in Italy, and as an Unteroffizier with Driving Licences Class 1, 2 and 3 he should have been quite useful. I'm guessing also that they sent him there as an attempt to keep him in the service, maybe thinking that in the drier, warmer climate in Italy his Bronchitis would ease up. Even if it did improve in Italy, it went downhill again once he returned ( I can just see the military logic - his Bronchitis seems better now, lets send him to a unit in Russia !) and he was medically discharged as unfit for military service on 5 December 1942. Not a particularly impressive military career otherwise, but only the second Streifendienst related book I've come across in over 40 years.

Hi Paul, Kind of - but only if you take it literally - in that I suppose you could say they did patrol the shore. I wouldn't really compare them too much to what the US Navy would think of as the Shore Patrol. You wouldn't see a squad of these guys rousting drunken sailors out of a bar. I'd say they were more concerned with security than discipline. From the photos I have seen, none of them look too young (I'd say most looked 30s or 40s) and were career policemen drafted in from the Wasserschutzpolizei (WSP). They weren't formed into "units" like the Feldgendarmerie "Trupp", with their own specific Field Post Numbers etc. A handful of these guys were allocated to the office of each Hafenkapitän which I guess was the military harbourmaster. The issue of their uniforms is really complex. They used WSP uniforms, KM uniforms, mixed WSP/KM and at one point their official uniform became the KM brown work jacket rather than the blue Reefer jacket. Very difficult to find photos of two MKP guys wearing the same type of uniform ! As far as I can see, the Police rank of Oberwachtmeister was considered equivalent to Obermaat. Now a KM Obermaat wouldn't wear shoulder straps but would have the "klaren Anker" over a chevron on the arm, as mentioned by Markus. However, the relevant Marineverordnungsblatt specifies that MKP Obermaat would wear the shoulder strap with braid edging and the clear anchor, no pip, which for the KM proper, would be for the rank of Bootsmann ( Portepee Unteroffizier) a higher rank. (The straps shown above, for an MKP NCO would be for a Feldwebel -equivalent to Police Revier-Oberwachtmeister). So, straps without a pip could be Bootsmann for Wehrersatzwesen , or Obermaat for MKP, two totally different ranks. Confusing, eh !

Hi Markus, Yes, of course. But they will fit well to display with my MKP Gorget. :cheers:

Shoulder straps as worn by an NCO of the MKP. Note the use of a "clear" rather than "fouled" anchor - i,e, the twist of rope usually found around the anchor is omitted.

Heeresstreifendienst in action. Photo =Brian L Davis.

The Heeres Streifendienst, attached to the Germany Military Attache in Rome. The Army patrol service didn't wear a Gorget or Cuffband, but an aiguilette similar to that worn by Adjutants.

Well, for me at least. The guy wasn't anything special, no awards, and was invalided out of the Army due to illness. However, during March-June 1942 was in a rather interesting unit.

Here is another. I think I may have posted before. Taken from a movie film. As the officer turns away after having recieved his award, you can just see the outline of the box, note the the U-Boat badge he has received is cased

Thanks Martin, I could have guessed you'd contribute something HK related :cheers:

Rudolf Fischer of U-275 receives his DK from Dönitz.

So far unidentified crewman receiving his DK from Rösing.

Having just been awarded the official Knights Cross, Herbert Kuppich shows off the crew-made on board version.

More U-Boat badges being awarded by Dönitz

EK2 being awarded to Leutnant zur See Wilner of U-405

Dönitz awarding the U-Boat Badge

Dönitz awarding the EK1 to an unidentified crew member.

I thought it would be interesting to have a thread on award ceremonies for KM badges. I'll start the ball rolling - please post yours. There are hundreds of RK award ceremonz photos out there. Lets see what we can find for lower awards. First, here we have Horst von Schroeter awarding the U-Boat Clasp in Silver to his crew members. The badges are being carried by the Leutnant at right.

Yup, works fine. So any new thread will appear as normal with all images in place. Existing pre-change over images will re-appear shortly - nothing has been lost.

Martin, What you are seeing in the sales area are newly posted images. After the move to the new server, frsehly posted individual images could be put up and would be seen immediately as they only take a second or two to upload. The size of the huge bulk of existing photos on the data base is huge and takes longer to upload. Nick is hoping these should start to re-appear by the end of the weekend - (i.e., later today) Just to prove the point, I'll add another photo now and it should appear immediately. Here is the "über-Juncker", the fabulous early example with cut-out Swastika and deck gun, and Screwback ! Photo courtesy Helmut Weitze, Badge is I believe now in Michel's collection.

And finally for now, the foward superstructure. Again this is just a shot of several part-completed sub-assemblies just sitting in place, just to give an idea of what it will look like.

The funnel. Again,early stages, with lots more to go on here

Partially completed bridge. Lots more to go on here, plus the bridge windows have to be glazed.

The area still looks very bare, but there will be dozens of little deck fittings to add once the deck planking is glued down, plus of course the ships boats too.

None of the little sub-assemblies are glued in place here. I just sat everything in position to take the picture. Thats why the edges of the wooden deck look turned up.