joetauchretter

more pics. Joe

Hello All , I hope you all had a Happy Holidays ! As my main focus on German WWII collecting is the Dr?ger Tauchretter I went against my better judgment and purchased this item from ebay ! What really set my hair on fire , besides that it looks like many post war NVA badges is the fact that I saw this for sale on ebay twice ! I get very nervous when I see the EXACT same item sold time after time on ebay . Here are some pictures of it for you to see . Best Regards , Joe

Hello , Here is the third picture from this book . Best Regards , Joe

Hello , Here is the second picture of the taucher sleeve patch . Best REgards , Joe

Hello all , While looking through my collection of u-boat and KM related books I found these pictures of the taucher sleeve patches . Pictures are from the original book " SeeFahrt- Taschenkalender 1943 . Notice that the fist two sleeve patches do have a thicker neck area and the u-boot taucher patch does have that " skinny throat " look to it . This book shows many KM patches and what rank they are , but not the maker of the patches . Best Regards , Joe

Hello , I have always liked this woven badge , but I do understand that many people do think they are all fakes . I am NOT stating that these are all 100 % originals but I do feel good with several that I have seen . I received one of these in circa 1975 when I purchased a Dr?ger tauchretter and other KM items in a large package deal . I Like this badge due to it looks well made and has nice proportions to the sub , eagle and the all important swaz. In several collectors books I have seen several cloth badges that are accepted as original and I do not like them ! (IMHO ) as I feel the eagle looks very sick and near death ! the sub is poorly designed and that SWAZ !!!!!! IF Adolf say this badge he would go into a rage at his national emblem so poorly executed that he would have the maker of that cloth badge executed !! . The one in my collection passes the burn test and UV light test . As I cannot say for 100 % certain this IS real beyond doubt I use mine as a decoration back drop display for my Tachretter collection . Like I said I like it , but I think that this woven badge will always have that shroud of doubt surrounding it . Best Regards , Joe

Hello , I must agree that this item looks very crude and looks like it was made in Latvia or some other Eastern European country . I see the same type of poor quality engraving on all of those so called " 100 % original " u-boat cigarette cases and u-boat pocket watches and u-boat pocket compass ! I would stay far away from items like this . Best Regards , Joe

Hello Eduardo and all , Thank you for that very nice picture of the diver patch being worn on the sailors sleeve ! This is the reason for my posting the question about that old ebay auction sleeve patch ! Notice that ebay patch how poorly defined the detailing to the helmet and most important which caught my eye is what I call the " Thin throat or neck " , see where the round helmet meets the shoulder collar how narrow or thin it is in this area . I feel the helmet is way out of proportion . Now look at the second picture I have posted and your picture of the sleeve patch being worn , BOTH are better detailed , proportioned AND wider in the neck area like one would see on a real diving helmet ! Coulds both pictures happen to be made by the same maker and the one that was sold on ebay made by someone else ? I think a lot of people would like to say this is nothing more than just a makers variation but I have seen this EXACT shaped badge at militaria shows and some did say that they were NVA / East German Navy !! Why would somebody in todays world where everything is TR / KM , u-boote or SS related no matter what it is say it is NVA which sells for dirt cheap when they could have sold it for 100 times more as a " 100% original TR period piece ! " ? Best Regards , Joe

Hello Again ! Here is a copy of an original picture ( again , I do not own this picture or patch ) showing the diver patch , a different grade but notice that the shape of the helmet and air hose are different than shown in my first posting . Best Regards , Joe

Hello , I saw this u-boat diver sleeve patch some several months back on ebay for sale and thought that this picture looked interesting so I copied the picture but never placed a bid for it . In my opinion it looks to new and may be a repro or I was told that the NVA , East German Navy has a diver patch very similar to the KM version . I do not like items that are over 65 years old still look brand new and the metal seal with string seems odd , like putting a paper RZM tag on a repro collar patch to make it look more authentic . What is your opinions on this patch ? Best Regards , Joe

Hello , Very nice microphone ! I have seen many of these , but the metal storeage box WOW that is very rare and a first time for me ! The microphone and gasmask was the same as for the Army , Navy , Luftwaffe or even civilian use ( chemical manufacturers used these as well as researchers using dangerous chemicals and gases used this as well ) The only way to tell if this was used by the navy would be if it has the KM acceptance stamps on it . The Navy did seem to use this item more than the other branches of the service . Watch out for a mask that has RL stamps on it as that was for civilian resale ! Since Military and civilians did use the GM30 gas mask ( with different gas filters ) the mask was the same and many sellers try and pass off the civilian SM mask as a military GM30 mask . The RL stamps are found most of the time on the inside of the mask behind the leather face seal . Very nice box ! I would like to see more clearer pictures from all sides if possible ! Best Regards , Joe

Hello , This type of gas hood was to be worn by a person with a head wound during a gas attack . If you had a large head wound you could not have bandagess around your head and still wear a gas mask such as the GM 30 , GM 38 etc . The bandages would interfere with the sealing of the mask around the face etc. Best Regards , Joe

Hello , I do not think these rubber boots are Kriegmarine issue , That is not a KM ink stamp . I believe this pair of rubber boots belongs to a heavy duty rubber gas protection suit . The orange ink stamp WaA in a rectangle in a waffen Ampt stamp which I see on Gas protection related items . Any Rl numbers found on these boots ? Best Regards , Joe

Hello , Very nice pictures of life boats and the one man life boat carrying bag ! Here I have 2 pictures of the pre ware and very early war u-boat lifeboat float made by Marks . This was a large square rubber canvas float that was held in a round container with a lid that could be remotely opended from inside the u-boat in case of the need to abandon ship in a hurry . This container was to the port side of the ship near the deck gun , many books show this round lid as being used for the ready ammo locker . This is incorrect as you can see in the second picture u-boat crewmen loading the raft back into it's round container . Best Regards, Joe

Hello , WOW , What a find , 53 steel boxes for the head wound gas mask ! This steel box held a rubbr/fabric hood with an oval celluiod disc so the wearer could see out from . This gas mask hood was to be worn only by men with head wounds during a gas attack . As gas warfare against ships was unheard of during WWII nor ver practical this would not be found on U-boats ! This item must been intended for ground KM forces such as Flak units or other ground fighting units that may come under gas / chemical warfare attack . A standard GM41 or 42 gasmask filter would be screwed into the threaded socket on the front of this gas hood . If you would be interested in selling the box or the gas hood as I collect both Dr?ger tauchretter and German WWII gas warfare items . Best Regards, Joe

Hello , I found this picture of u-boat crewmen wearing Dr?ger tauchretters floating on a Marks life raft using a Flare gun that looks very similar to the one in this thread . If not the exact type I thought the picture looked interesting as you do not see many pictures of u-boat men using this flare gun ! Best Regards, Joe

Hello , I would like to see better close-up pictures or better yet see the decals in my hand to be 100% certain . With just these pictures to go on I feel the decals are post war to make this helmet more " collectable " , just add a swastika and the price goes way up ! I doubt that a helmet like this would have double fire police decals applied to it during the TR period . I think this helmet was very old at the time These fire police decals came into use and I cannot see this helmet having much use at this time as they had a better steel fire helmet . I cannot believe this would be a late war Volksstrum helmet also due to its age and the fact that helmet decals were no longer applied to helmets . There are many good repro decals on the market today and I saw one company that sells " pre aged " helmet decals ! You can apply these decals and at once they look 65 years old ! Just my opinion . Best Regards, Joe

Hello , Very interesting helmet , but in my humble opinion I feel that the decals are post war add ons . Check out this fire helmet on ebay , it looks like the helmet at the start of this thread ! Item number: 120269356084 Best Regards, Joe

Hello , This gas mask is called an optical gas mask . These were issued to all branches of the German military not just the KM . This mask is made from leather and has glass eyepieces held in place by metal inserts . The metal rod along the top of the eyepieces moves them to change the interpupillary distance between them . You can change this distance on standard gas masks like the GM 30 or GM 38 . The rubber hose was worn over the shoulder and standard filter canisters can be used as well as the Co2 filter ( as shown in this picture ) . If there are no KM ink stamps this could have been used by anyone . I have been looking for this gas mask for a long time , if it is for sale let me know as I already own the empty steel carrier box ! Best Regards, Joe

Hello , Very nice looking gas mask This is a gas mask with microphone attachment , I see many of these for sale and everybody calls them Kriegsmarine gas masks , but other branches of the military used these also so to be correct ( like yours ) it must have the correct KM acceptance markings . Best Regards, Joe

Hello , Even for free I would stay away from this one , In my opinion a bad fake . I do not like the odd shape to the helmet and lake of sharp detail and the raised circular rim that runs around the Eagle and swaz. looks like it was done by a blind person ! Best Regards, Joe

Hello John, Thank you for your update on this flair gun . I saw those shiney bores and had my doubts , but as I was not 100% certain I did not point that at to you . What really strikes me as very odd is the eagle with the M stamped next to the 44 . Look at the stamped 44 , see how dark and aged toned it is and looks original to this gun . That stamp looks like it should be 65 years old , it is age correct ! The stamp next to it , the eagle with the M looks like it was stamped just last week ! it looks too new and bright and it is not aged toned as stamped wood should show after all these years . Look at the two side by side , the two look like night and day , IMHO they were not stamped at the same time or even in the same decade ! That Eagle with the M should be as dark as the 44 stamping . Another reason why I am suspicious of this stamp is that I saw the SAME , EXACT stamp sell on Ebay several years ago and it sold for approx. $585.00 ! No one buys a metal stamp for that kind of money and just puts it on a shelf ! I have seen many other " original " metal proof stamps sold on Ebay over the years , so one must be on the look out for stamps that look too new and out of place on the item they wish to buy . Best Regards, Joe