Al P

Glad to see that you have finally cleaned up that mess Al

L/53 is Hymmen I do believe, but this does not look like an L/53. I thought I saw one of these in the past, but searching through numerous threads has not resulted in finding a match. Al

Congratulations on this little treasure. It gives hope to all of us that 'it still is out there' Al

The pilots badge is from the famous 'unknown' maker'. Al

Thank you for the comments. The torsos are homemade with chicken wire covered with old shirts and stuck on a short stand. The light gage wire can be formed to fit almost any shape, is very easy to use and can be easily found at any homedepot type store. All the medals you see on the Oberfeldwebel are original except for (and you guessed it) the RK, which is a Souval. Al

I was cleaning up my little bunker and moved a few things around. I kind of like it. Al

Thanks for sharing this story and going out to talk to this gentleman to begin with. Preserving history consists of more than polishing up a few baubles. Al

Thanks guys. The very late Al

Outstanding case you put together, I dont think 'not much' really does apply Al

Thanks Gordon, as far as I have been able to tell the differences between the 2 ships were minor and after staring at numerous pictures on the net of the entire class, I was no farther ahead in figuring out the name of this ship. Al

I posted the pics to another forum Kriegsmarine forum post Any help is appreciated Al

Any help in identifying which panzerschiff this is?

I agree with the above. A good copy for the most part but the details let it down. Note how on the reverse the cutout is not centered. Al

For the U-Boat badge it was 2 war cruises, but for the clasp it gets a bit confusing. In about the middle of 1944 the (bronze) clasp was introduced but with no pre set criteria for awards. It was given for a number of reasons including bravery or other outstanding service, number of missions etc. The only thing of note is that Donitz himself had to approve the award. The silver came out later (1944/45???) In 1944 the situation for the U-Boat crews was not good, so you can imagine that these are quite rare. Al

A very nice example!!! This one must have been stored very well for the last 60 years. Al