bolewts58

My guess for the arm-badge is Weimar era Prussian Police.

The MWH guy is wearing Garde-Kavallerie-Schuetzen-Division collar badges. Reichswehr Regt. 20. guy is wearing the collars of Freiwilligentruppen der 32. Reichswehr-Brigade / Freiwillige 12. (Schlesische) Infanterie-Division.

I'm very interested in your pass, as I'll only buy a 'Militärpaß' if it has Freikorps service. Generally, it's difficult to find these compared to those with WWI service only. Here are a couple of my scarcer ones. M.G. Abtl. of Regt. Baden, Freiw.-Abtl. von Medem. Served in the Baltic, as it says, fighting Latvian and Bolshevik troops. He received the Baltic Cross and Maltese Cross for the Russian Westarmee. Freiw. Batl. Graf Kanitz and then 1. Kurland Inf. Regt., Eiserne Division. He was awarded the EKII and Baltic Cross. He would have also been entitled to the Iron Division medal and likely the Baltic Landwehr Cross, as well.

Contemporary photo of Hans Winkelmann, 2. M.G.K., Reichswehr Regt. 16, dated 12.12.1920. He wears the SA 2nd class ribbon looped through his pocket button-hole and a typical issued blackened metal SA 1st class on his pocket.

Yes, of course. That makes sense.

I agree that "Bew. I u. II Stufe" is for the Silesian Eagle. "Bewährungsabzeichen" is the correct designation for the award. The use of the word "Stufe" (grade) instead of Klasse is peculiar to the Silesian Eagle. By the way, why Freikorps Görlitz?

There are two different collar badges shown. The man kneeling to the left of the gun is likely Freiw. Regiment von Oven and the man kneeling to the right is likely Freiw. Landesjaegerkorps. Both units served together in Berlin in early 1919.

The photo above illustrates the wrong collar badges for Brigade Ehrhardt. Those are the Garde Kavallerie Schutzen Division collars. Brigade Ehrhardt and the Wikingbund wore the same style, but without the G.K.S.D. letters above the helmet. Also, the GKSD collar had 2 splints for attaching, while the Brigade Ehrhardt collar had holes drilled through for sewing on. Here is what a correct set should look like.

Here's the type to which I referred along with the original 1938 illustration from von Salomon's book. There's been some lengthy debate about this badge on Russian forums with some siding with my POV and others believing the badge like yours is real. The overall opinion is that nobody really knows and many collectors think all of the badges are fake because there's also a strong possibility that the badge was never manufactured, but only proposed. Nobody has ever found either documentation on the badge or a photograph of someone wearing it. This likely explains why even von Salomon, who was contemporary to the period doesn't have a photo of the badge in his book. While I started collecting Freikorps in 1969, I don't have one of these badges in my collection, largely because of the dispute. I've handled the 3 known types, including yours. But, at anywhere from 250-450 Euros, I wouldn't buy any. There are enough other guaranteed items to collect, without sinking money into a badge that may be complete fantasy.

You have some very nice pieces. I especially like the medal bar, for obvious reasons and the Malplaquet Star. However, I have some concerns about the Grezschutz Bromberg badge. I've seen these copper badges with almost identicial vert de gris patina before and generally don't like them. There's always been some doubt about this badge with a pinback, because it was supposed to be a sleeve badge. But, all of the badges I've ever seen had a pin back and were oxidized brass. Back in the late 70s, I had a conversation with Verkuilen Ager about these and he told me that they had been reproduced in the late 60s along with a handful of other Freikorps badges as some sort of 50th anniversary commemorative item. I do know that at the time of my discussion with him there was only one type of this badge up for discussion: made of oxidized brass with a separately attached safety pin assembly with a flat, rectangular base for attaching to the badge. He was never definitive about these being fake. But, he simply said that a pin-back would preclude it being a sleeve badge. My suggestion at the time and my belief now is that it was actually worn as a breast badge. The sleeve badge idea came from von Salomon. But, he only showed a drawing of the badge with the label of 'Armelabzeichen'. This was the only contemporary reference for this badge anyone has ever had and it could be wrong, as there were other errors in his otherwise excellent book. However, I suspect your badge is one of those that has a hinged pin attached directly to the top of the badge. These have only shown up on the market whtin the last 15 or so years and tend to have slightly softer details particulary on the reverse compared to the ones that I saw 35 years ago and which I consider plausable. Could you please show the reverse of the badge? Thanks.

This rather beat-up mimeographed document for the Silesian Eagle I and II is part of a group of docs and medals to a Grenadier in 7 Komp. Königin Augusta Garde=Grenadier=Regiment Nr. 4 which transitioned with remnants of the regiment into the Preliminary Reichswehr as: III. Bataillon (Augusta) Reichswehr Inf. Regt. 30 (Garde-Gren.-Regt.), sometimes referred to as just 'Bataillon Augusta' or 'Freiwilligen Bataillon Augusta'. I think it's an interesting illustration of the evolution of the army from Imperial to Weimar.

I love the word on the SAII doc, "Kaltblütigkeit". I know it's likely meant to translate as 'composure'. But, I like to think of it as 'cold bloodesness'. I think that fits the sense of Freikorps swagger better, rather than simple 'composure'.

Yes. quite scarce, especially with the accompanying medal mounted on a bow ribbon. Unfortunately, I regretfully don't own it anymore, as I needed money. So, it's now owned by a collector in Moscow.

Am unusual and scarce SAII doc and award to a woman, who was the wife of a factory director. The document pattern that started the thread is the first design from 1919. The 1921 pattern, that I have posted, signed by 'Guitner' is the more commonly encountered type.

Well I was wrong. I've found out more info and this badge was worn as a tradition badge, likely up until 1935. . I just picked up another arm badge of the Freiwilligen-Eskadron von Lützow/Freiwilligen-Eskadron Kürassier-Regiment 7, which was worn as a Tradition Badge by Gefreiter Hermann Gollus of the 10. (Preuss.) Reiter-Regiment 1. Eskadron c. 1929. The badge differs from the first version I showed above, in that it is one-piece instead of having the shield separately attached to the backplate with flat pins. However, I suspect that this pattern badge may have been a 2nd strike used first by the Freikorps, when they discovered weaknesses in the multi-piece badge, which was thinner and prone to stress-cracks which likely caused the pins to break easily (mine has a repaired stress crack and only 2 of the 4 original pins). This one-piece badge then became the tradition badge of the Freiwilligen-Eskadron Kürassier-Regiment 7 when it formed a tradition squadron in the preliminary Reichswehr in November 1919. As shown in the photo of Gollus, from his 1929 Sports Badge document, the badge continued to be worn as a tradition badge when Freiwilligen-Eskadron Kürassier-Regiment 7 became 1. Eskadron, 10. (Preuss.) Reiter Regt. Gollus was only 15 when the Freikorps was first formed in January 1919. But, given that many teenagers served in Freikorps units, it's possible that he joined the Freikorps at some point before March 1920 when they became part of 10. Reiter Regt. The reason I think this is because he otherwise would not have been eligible to wear the tradition badge. Here is an interesting group picture of 1. Eskadron 10. Reiter Regt. showing the arm badge being worn by Gollus and few other Freikorps vets. Gollus is sitting in the front row, 2nd from the right. Unfortunately I didn't get this picture. But, I did manage to get a copy of it, which I'll post here. http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_07_2013/post-12700-0-91827400-1374770685.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_07_2013/post-12700-0-72110700-1374770766.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_07_2013/post-12700-0-74128000-1374770802.jpg

Here is the other variation with 'Ges. Gesch.' in a triangle.

If you wanted to spend more, the badge came in a gun-blue finish with more detail on the Sturm soldier and a heavier wider pin and large block hinge. Note that the type-face for the inscription is different, as well. There was also a variation of this with a 'U' pin and the central medallion in a dull oxidized silver.. The detail on the Sturm soldier is particularly good and detailed on this variation. The other variation of the 'U' pin is marked Hamburg 3. This is a much scarcer variation with a really deluxe finish. The accompanying box marked Hamburg 3 is extremely scarce. Then, there were a couple of oddball variations with a needle pin, blasted rivets and only marked 'Ges. Gesch.'. Here's one. Note that the 'Ges. Gesch. is upside down. There's another version of this one with the 'Ges. Gesch.' inside a triangle in the centre of the badge. There were also at least 2 versions of the standard award document with a distinctly different engraving of the badge printed on the front. The organization was founded in 1925 and the first awards of the document were made in 1928. The most common badge with silver finish and square pin seems to be from this period. The various delux versions seem to have resulted from the vast majority of awards between 1933-35, I suspect because of all those new SA, DAF and whatever uniforms that were in need of some further pimping out. So, it's ironic that the ranks of the various Nazi organizations swelled with guys who then popped big DMs for this quasi breast star, that made them look like generals, only to have it banned shortly afterwards. As veteran organizations go, the Deutsche Feld-Ehrenzeichen E.V. was one of the most successful in marketing memberships and bling, only surpassed by the Stahlhelm, who were the consumate masters in bleeding the vet market dry on the sale of various baubbles from the Stahlhaus in Magdeburg..

Chris is correct. These were a deluxe document available at the Fleck u. Sohn shop, printed by Carl Griefe whose shop was near Fleck. It was all about how much money you wanted to spend: The basic badge was silvered bronze with a flat square pin and small block hinge. This is the most common encountered on the market today, as shown below.

He served in Freikorps Epp from April to June 1919, which explains the sleeve badge.

This is a Stahlhelm parade sometime in the late 20s, early 30s. I believe the one of the far left is Georg Seldte, brother of the Stahlhelm founder, Franz Seldte. The officer in front wears the Freikorps Epp sleeve badge. But, by this point, this would be considered a tradition badge only.

I thought this was an interesting topic and would like to add something to it. Pictured is Barry Foster as Kaiser Wihelm II in the 1974 Brit TV series, Fall of Eagles. As far as I am aware, at least some of the medals he's wearing are actually those belonging to the Kaiser during the war. I know for sure that both the medal bar and the Red Eagle kneck decoration were his. They belonged to Forman's of Piccadilly, who loaned them for the production of the film. As I was a regular customer of the shop during my trips to London in the 80s, Mr. Forman was very gracious in showing me the medal bar, which was quite impressive. I understand that the medals are still in the Forman family and that their son Adrian has them now.

This is totally outside my area of interest. So any help on this medal would be great. I picked it up for a few Euros. So, I'm not particularly worried about it. I know this stuff is heavily faked. But, I compared it to one that sold at Baldwin's in HK and it's identical. Did I get lucky, or... thanks.

You're welcome. Reference books are few and far between and those that exist are not comprehensive nor perfect. Beside Ernst von Salomon's 1938 illustrated opus "Das Buch vom Deutschen Freikorpskämpfer" , which is in re-print for around 50 Euros (an original is about 180 Euros), there are two other small references: Deutsche Freikorps 1918-1923 by Lothar Bichlmaier and Lothar Hartung - a price-guide mainly of Freikorps awards (it has some glaring mistakes) and Katalog der Uniformabzeichen der deutschen Freikorps by Ingo Haarcke. The latter is the most comprehensive catalogue with prices on Freikorps unit insignia. But, it too has a few mistakes and makes some assumptions that aren't proven. The only English references are by Verkuilen Ager, both published in the 1970s and containing line drawings only: Awards of the German Freikorps 1919-1935 (1972) and Freikorps Insignia (1979). Both are out of print, but turn up from time to time. I knew Verkuilen pretty well, back in the day, but lost contact with him many years ago. He's still considered one of the leading experts. Although, I think some his information is now somewhat dated, as more accurate information has come to light. The most recent and by far best references are unfortunately in Russian. The Baltic Cross and other decorations of German volunteer units in the Baltic Republics, 1918-1919” and "The Silesian Eagle and other decorations of German volunteer units in Upper Silesia, 1918-1921”, both by Konstantin Nikolayev, considered the leading expert on Freikorps, at the moment. The problem is that most of the original Freikorps records were destroyed in a March 1945 bombing raid. So, what's left has been pieced together from various sources over the last 65 years and has left as many unanswered questions as it has provided answers. I would say that up until a few years ago, there were hardly any collectors compared to other areas of German Militaria because of this lack of reference material. But, the open nature of Freikorps material and the fact that there has been a dramatic rise in interest in the last 5 years, or so has led to an increase in the number of fakes and spurious items appearing on the market. So far, the fakes are confined to a number of well-known, high-profile and in-demand items such as the Silesian Eagle, Baltic Cross, Bug Star, Loewenfeldt Crosses, Oberland Bund medals, Ehrhardt Brigade badges, von Epp badges and medals etc. But, I expect this will expand to include other items, as knowledge and demand grow. There still needs to be a high-quality comprehensive reference written in English (or even German) ,on both the Freikorps awards and unit insignia.

Genuine first pattern with signature and date.

I'm sure they were worn, but not officially as they were all banned in 1935.