Erik Krogh

The silver wedding plate

I recently acquired a grouping of DKiG winner Alfred Haremsa that includes a silver wedding plate, a homemade album of large photos taken during U-617's visit to Vienna in 1943, many individual photos, and an engraved watch. Here are some of the highlights of the grouping. Grouping Overview

Rick, Thanks for posting this interesting document! Not even 16 and one's life is already owned by the KM... Best Regards, Erik

Thanks a million Rick, for keeping me from doing something stupid (like trying to remove perfectly good radiator paint). I don't collect much Imperial stuff, so I had no way of judging originality. All The Best, Erik

Reverse of badge.

I have just purchased this Imperial Naval Wound Badge for a good price on eBay. It appears to be a match with accepted original badges on this forum. However, I think that someone has spray-painted the badge silver. I can see little patches of black underneath. I'm wondering whether I should try to remove the silver paint and return the badge to black, or leave it alone. I have used fingernail polish remover to restore other badges. Any opinions if I would also remove the underlying black finish? Thank you for your comments!

Here's a detailed scan of one of the shoulderboards.

Paul and Sergey, Thanks for your kind words! Alex, I posted this tunic on a Soviet-specific forum, and Doug Drabik made the following comment: "The tunic you have is a very nice Admiral of the Fleet of the USSR M1943 service tunic that could have belonged to Kuznetsov or Isakov. Difficult to tell without ribbons though as the insignia is the same; the tunic was worn when both held the rank. Without really comparing the sizes of Isakov and Kuznetsov, it would be difficult to tell." I have taken the liberty of assuming that the tunic belonged to Admiral Kuznetsov because it is my understanding that only Kuznetsov wore the marshal-style shoulder boards during WWII (please see page 241 of "World War II Parade Uniforms of the Soviet Union" by James Sinclair II and Doug Drabik). The conventional wisdom has it that Isakov wore the marshal-style boards in the 1950s. So, it is possible that the tunic belonged to Admiral Isakov. In any event, there were only two WWII Admirals of the Fleet. All The Best, Erik

Admiral Kuznetsov period photo

Sleeve insignia

Shoulder board

I purchased this M43 tunic awhile back at a local militaria show here in Southern California. While not an experienced Soviet collector, I have handled enough German WWII cloth to be of the opinion that this is a period tunic. The tunic got the thumbs-up on a Soviet-specific forum. While researching the tunic, I came across a picture of Admiral Kuznetsov wearing a similar uniform. I have also read the account of how the Admiral convinced Stalin to allow him to wear the Marshall's star on his shoulder boards in the book "World War II Parade Uniforms of the Soviet Union" by James Sinclair and Douglas Drabik. General view of the tunic:

"I hope the Verwaltungs branch insignia is above the rank stripes. If not, the coat has been "improved." Rick, You are truly amazing! Of course you are right - the Verwaltungs branch insignia is indeed above the rings, and in beautiful tarnished bullion. The coat feels right (i.e. "unimproved"). It also has a right side loop for the Turkish star. Thank you very much for IDing this officer. I will be taking mannequin shots of the frock coat and posting on the KM uniforms forum soon. Until I get the time to take decent photos, here is a scan of my coat's sleeve insignia. All The Best, Erik

Here is the name tag sewn inside the interior pocket

Reverse of the bar

I am researching a KM frock coat in my collection. It is named to a Korvettenkapit?n, who I believe is Gustav Oels. The coat came with a mostly Imperial ribbon bar which appears to be original, but I have no expertise whatsoever on these bars. Could anyone help me identify the awards? Thanks! Here is what I have found on Oels: Korv.Kpt. Gustav Oels, gef. 01.02.43 Oels,Gustav geb. 14.05.1895 in Jaderberg/Oldenburg; K.Kapt. 01.02.41; M.A.A.119 kdr, 03.40 - 12.41; M.A.A.520 Kdr. 10.41 - 02.43. Bei Flugzeugsbsturz t?dl. verungl?ckt 01.02.43 Here is the ribbon bar obverse

Name tag

Colonial tunic board and collar

Here's an early-style "colonial" tropical tunic named to "Sch?fer".

Here is the green uniform's size marking stamp

Nesredep, Thanks for your comments. There are no markings on the white mess dress jacket and vest. The green uniform has two sets of markings on it. The markings are under the flap that covers the retaining rings for the buttons. Here is the first marking. It reads: SCHL?SSERSCH---UMWOLL SPINNEREI u WEBEREI AKI. GES. In OZORROW GEGR. 1607 My loose translation is that the top line refers to the type of cotton material used on the tunic. There is a hole for one of the buttons, but the missing letters are probably "BA" - BAUMWOLL = cotton The second line states "spinning mill" and "weaving mill". perhaps OZORROW is the city where the mill was located. Here's the image

White vest

Mint condition eagle

Mess dress shoulder board

My white formal mess dress jacket and vest. Sorry that I don't have the correct shirt and bow tie for this jacket.