Gordon Williamson

With great difficulty. If a cap is clearly an early Tellerform style, you can be certain it was manufactured as a Recruitment cap as the Feldgendarmerie didn't exist until mobilisation for war, so for instance a 1937 made orange piped visor could not be Feldgendarmerie so you'd be safe to ID it as recruitment. Likewise, if you were able to date a cap by its construction features or even a date inside, as being mid-late war, then it could not be recruitment as they changed to White Waffenfarbe in 1942. For all the caps made in the interim, you can't really tell. Unfortunately the colours varied significantly too, I have seen orange piping ranging from a definite basic Orange similar to that you'd find on a civil Gendarmerie cap, through to a definite orange-red. Likewise with the piping on Feldgendarmerie shoulder straps. I am sure that lots of Feldgendarmerie stuff has been written off as "faded artillerty red" over the years. Lovely cap by the way !! .

Here's the other photo, from the same seller, of the same guy, this time as a dog handler, in normal field grey service dress. This is the sellers image, not that clear, but the Feldgendarmerie cuffband is definitely there. Hard to tell if the sleeve eagle is worn.

Next, some crew members of Seehund midget submarines of the K-Verband.

Here are a couple of nice shots of the waist length leather jacket in the same style as the black Panzer wrapover as worn by U-Boat crews. First, a crew member of a Type XXI U-Boat.

Hi Prosper, The collar and cuffs would be normal Heer dark green. Apart from the orange waffenfarbe, and the use of the sleeve eagle and Fg cuffband, everything else about the Waffenrock is bog-standard Heer. Some of the very early Feldgendarmerie wore the Polizei Waffenrock with brown collar and cuffs during the transitional stage 1938-39. with a mix of Polizei and Heer insignia, like those shown here. There was an early Polizei style Feldgendarmerie cuffband ( similar in style to the police "Motorisierte Gendarmerie" and "Deutsche Wehrmacht" bands ) on a darkish brown wool base, but the guy in the Waffenrock photo is wearing the regular Heer pattern BeVo woven Fg cuffband.

Hi Kevin, Yes, all the orange piped Waffenrocks I have seen have been recruitment. Even the big Bender book on Waffenrock's doesn't mention Fg, though their existence is known from the few photos that exist. I guess it was because the authors didn't have access to either an original example, or period photos. I'm on to another photo of this very same guy, from the same source but shown in his regular Feldgendarmerie service dress.

One of the rarest of all Waffenrock tunics is the one for the Feldgendarmerie. The Fg were only formed during mobilization for war and a Heeresverordnungsblatt in December 1939 prohibited further manufacture of the Waffenrock, so the window of opportunity for the manufacture of Feldgendarmerie Waffenrocks was very brief. On top of that, during this period there were only a small number of Fg units so we have a tunic which only a small number of people could have worn, manufactured for only a very short period. Over many years I can count the number of photos with the Fg Waffenrock I have seen , on the fingers of one hand. but what makes it even more interesting is the fact the guy has the Panzer Assault Badge ! My guess is that he served in a Panzer unit, earned his badge, was wounded ( he wears the Wound Badge) and whatever wound he received, rendered him unfit for climbing in and out of tanks, so he was re-assigned. Photos of Feldgendarmen with the EK1 are hard to find, but this one may well be unique in having the Panzer Assault Badge. !

I guess most document collectors went through that when first encountering these entries ! Its amazing the number of times books with these entries have been offered by dealers claiming it means that the guy in the book had been trained as a Spy ! :-)

Stunning selection Martin. The "Big Four" couldn't have found a better home !

By the simple expedient of having them all demobbed, the Allies removed any legal protection these soldiers would have had as PoWs. They were now "displaced enemy persons". Schmidt was interned at Neuengamme. Interesting, as this former Concentration Camp was initially used to hold ex-SS men and others held for "security" reasons. This sheets is his acknowledgement of having had his valuables returned to him ( including this Soldbuch) on his release in 1946.

Personal details on demob. Note his confirmation at the bottom of the sheet that he has received full pay up to July 1945

Demob papers from August 1945.

........included in the set was a spare ID photo, possibly from his Zugwache Ausweis. In this he is clearly wearing the 1914 EK2 and Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer, so he obviosuly saw combat service in WW1.

Only one award listed, the Ostmedaille, but.....................

His service pistol referred to on other pages was evidently reeplaced by his own personal Walther PP purchased at his own expense.

Interesting entry on his kit issue page, for the Streifenschnur. Members of the Streifendienst wore a modified version of the Adjutants Aiguilette as a badge of office.

Interesting ( to me at least !) units Zugwachkompanie z.b.V. 504 Zugwachabteilung 504 Zugwachabteilung 503 Also, Heeresstreifen Lehr Abteilung Wehrmachtstreifen Lehr Abteilung.

Seems to have been a bank employee before military service with the WEhrmacht. Born in 1890, so already 51 when this book was made up.

Loads of very reasonably priced Soldbuch and WEhrpass material on Helmut Weitze's update last Friday. Looks like there was a bit of a feeding frenzy as most seem to have gone very quickly. Managed to get this rather nice book. Leutnant Erich Schmidt

Hello Morten, Yes, these are army Feldgendarmerie troops.

That would be my guess. A pin of this quality, in real silver, would not just have been given out willy-nilly to all employees. Most likely it was a reward for a certain number of years of loyal service to the company. I would have suggested it is the type of thing maybe given to an employee after 20 or 25 years service but as the firm was only created in 1925 that couldn't be the case. The 20th and 25th anniversaries would have been after the war ended . The firm did not survive the war's end, its surviving facilities being taken over by Howaldtswerke. Could be for 15 years service though 15 isn't an anniversary that would normally be considered special enough for such a reward. Alternatively, although 1925 is usually quoted as the foundation year for the firm, this could be incorrect as I have also seen 1919 and 1921 quoted ( the firm was created when a number of private firms were amalgamated under state control) so it is possibly a 20th anniversary pin from 1939 or 1941 if these earlier foundation dates are correct. The other possibility is that it was given to those who had performed some particularly meritorious service during the construction of one of the major warships that DW constructed ( the pocket battleship Deutschland, heavy cruiser Blücher and battleship Gneisenau.) By the way, some won't have realized, but the "D" emblem of Deutsche Werke represents the emblem of the firm, a Lion with its tail curled back up over its head. Often people think it is a dragon of some sorts ( due to the similarity of the head part of the emblem to the Viking longship dragon head bow emblem used often used as a nautical symbol). Every time I look at that image of your pin Erik, I like it even more. Absolutely fabulous.

Super set Erik. That pin is absolutely gorgeous !!!

Super collection ! Finland certainly had some of the most attractive designs for their awards. They certainly deserve more appreciation by collectors.

Many thanks Jim, thats great ! Next puzzle is the insignia itself. I'd have expected to see what appears to be the two lighter yellow stripes grouped together over the darker red stripes. What the photo appears to show is one yellow over three red, then another yellow over two red. Can this be correct or am I just misinterpreting the image ?

Hi Jim, Although the pic is a decent size, I'm afraid the original print is over-exposed. I darkened the scan quite a bit to get the posted image. Even darkening that area doesn't help much. I should have added earlier, that the pics have notes on the back. The typewritten one is from the Naval pic, the pencil note is from the Army one.