GC*

Dear fellow collectors, I am starting this topic to discuss with you my latest collecting interest, namely the hat badges worn by Czechoslovak, Bulgarian, Romanian and Polish units which fought alongside the Red Army in the Second World War. Just to make clear immediately what I mean, in referring to the countries reported in the topic's title I refer to the following military formations: Bulgaria - Fatherland Front and Bulgarian army units which fought together with the Soviets after the coup of September 1944 Romania - Romanian army units which fought together with the Soviets after the coup of August 1944 Czechoslovakia - the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, formed in 1942 Poland - the Armia Ludowa (People's Army) and the Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (People's Army of Poland) Let's start with the pieces I already have in my collection. Here come a People's Army of Poland eagle (produced in the Soviet Union without the crown and with a different design from original Polish army eagles) and a Bulgarian WWII-immediate postwar period star (I have discussed with other collectors about this star and nobody seems to be sure whether it was actually used by fighting troops in WWII or not - reminds me of the Yugoslav case, with its huge variety of different cap badges and cockades).

Good choice! Because regarding the Warsaw medal the ring does not convince me and also about the Belgrade I have some doubts.. Anyway, it might be helpful to look at this site sometimes, http://www.soviet-medals-orders.com/index.shtml (but maybe you already know it..).. it shows a large variety of different campaign medals' tipologies, with specific details (as well as other Soviet medals and orders)!

Good evening dear JensF.! And sorry for this late reply. I am not a big expert of medals but I can tell you that I am 100% sure that the Sevastopol medal is a copy. Look at the K and Y of "sovetskuyu" on the reverse of the medal. K and Y should look like the ones in this photo that I attach

Dear fellow collectors, I am a collector of Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations hat badges. However, I started since few time to broaden my horizons and I approached those Arba states which experimented Arab Socialism and various forms of "marxist government". So here we are. These are my first eagles. I am particularly proud of the two Libyan ones. I would have some questions. First, regarding the Libyan, Egyptian and South Yemenese ones, could somebody tell me in which period and in which corp (military? police?) they were used? Then we come to the littler ones, to the stars-with-eagles and to the unknown rank. First, are they iraqi? Again, period/corp? And are they hat badges or collar/uniform pins? Same for the other badges under the three eagles. Thanks for your help Best, GC

Here comes the second photo.

Good evening to everybody gentlemen, I would need your help with this DDR General of the Airforce hat badge. The question is simple..original or fake? It comes from itself that unfortunately I do not own a copy of Klaus Walther's precious volumes "Uniformeffekten der bewaffneten organe der DDR" Band I or II. I am actually planning to buy both volumes since some time, but the few copies available on amazon and ebay are so expensive..and every time I plan to save some money to buy them I run into some hat badges of undoubted originality which I finally buy.. So gentlemen, I need your help. Is this hat badge original or a post-Cold War copy? I actually own the same hat badge but in the black cloth and silver cockade version, and the back of the black cloth shows the signs of the embroidery, while here we have just cloth..but besides this detal I cannot say that much..seems original to me, but maybe somebody with a reference book can tell me more. Thank you very much. Best, GC

After I wrote the last message I received an email from a collector and friend who suggested that the hat badge could be Bulgarian. Any of you gentlemen has an opinion about that? Thank you again Regards, GC

Dear Taz and Artan, thank you very much for your comments. I see that my headache will keep on making me search for this cockade's origin! Forestry service is indeed a good point of reflection, but I am still trying to figure which country this hat badge could belong to. Albania was actually my last possibility, I'll try to look closer into my sources. Anyway, thanks a lot to you both gentlemen. Regards, GC

Dear fellow collectors. I just came across this hat badge which is giving me real headache. I thought it might be an albanian one principally for one reason: i collect hat badges from the Warsaw Pact nations and I have a relatively good knowledge of Yugoslav post-war hat badges. Thanks to very interesting conversations here on the forum I also bettered my knowledge of WWII and immediately post-war Yugoslav cap badges. Well, here comes the point. I've never seen a badge like the one I am posting here before, nor it appears to have any immediate similarity with the style of all the former European socialist countries. A friend and collector also suggested me that the hat badge could be Albanian, saying that he remembered he once saw an Albanian Navy hat badge which looked pretty similiar to this one - but he was definitely not sure about that. So, now I turn to you! Thank you. Best, GC*

That is what I meant! Awesome! Thanks Segreant for sharing these amazing pieces!

Sergeant, thanks for your comment! I hope I will be soon able to enrich my Reichsbanner collection with the cloth kokarde. Here I attach a photo of the only other Reichsbanner item I have, a membership pin, definitely not that rare. I have seen many Reichsbanner items which were far more interesting..different types of belt buckles, flags, flag tips, armbands.. I would be very interested in seeing your collection! Regards, GC

Hans Beimler was a famous German communist who fought during the Spanish Civil War. He actually died during a fight and the 11th International Brigade was named after him in the end of 1936.

I am no expert of Cuban militaria..but the cockade in the center of the embroidery is the exact copy of 1960s Soviet judicial ones (which are mainly composed as well by crossed swords behind a shield). Regards, GC

Anyway all these medals are definitely easy to find. I assume they are not woth faking..

Thank you Valter for your comment. Effectively it is always so difficult (often impossible) to determin if a star sold as Yugoslav was effectively used by yugoslav forces or not.. Very interesting topic anyway! Regards, GC

Here the reverse. I fill provide more close-up pics of the two Reichsbanner cockades in the middle, as it is possible to read the fabric marks.

Good morning everybody dear fellow collectors! I would like to show you and receive some comments about my collection of Weimar Republic period items. Here you have three Reichsbanner S-R-G cockades (SPD military organization, which then joined the Eiserne Front) and two KPD stars. I am still trying to find a quite special Reichsbanner cockade with the black eagle made of cloth (for a reasonable price...which prooved to be the real problem!). Regards, GC

Here the reverse. Unfortunately three cockades have just one prong left..but since I made it to buy all of them for quite cheap prices, at least for the moment I will not try to replace them with other ones intact. In general however the condition of all of them is quite good!

Good morning everybody dear fellow collectors! Now that I finally found the time to organize a bit my collection I would like to start to show it, to get your impressions and comments. I collect military hat badges and cockades from the former Soviet bloc (USSR + Warsaw Pact) and I am starting to deal in these months with Arab socialist countries militaria. DDR hat badges are one of my biggest passions (mostly early period ones and aviation ones). Let's start with some KVP and early black-red-yellow pieces. In addition to that, my only Kampfgruppen cockade. I just bought another black-red-yellow round cockade (the version with the external golden ring), but it still did not arrive. I will add pictures of it as soon as I will receive it! Regards, GC

Here the reverse.

Good morning everybody dear fellow collectors! Today I would like to show you one of my "crown jewels": this 1920's Soviet glass-star for civil use. I am a collector of Soviet military hat badges and cockades, but I could honestly not resist to this star, as I find it is one of the most beautiful cockades ever produced in the USSR. Regards, GC

Here a ukrainian medal for the the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of Ukraine from Fascist Invaders. Interesting is the fact that the year reported is 1944, not 1945, as this medal celebrates the liberation of the Ukrainian territory from Nazi troops, not the 1945 victory of the Soviet Union. Other medals (practically copies of the Russian ones) were issued for the celebration of the Victory Day, 9th of May (the ones for the 60th and 65th anniversary have red and orange-black ribbons [the last two colors are the St. George ones] and are based on typical Soviet symbology i.e. the orders of Victory and Glory).

Good morning Troy Tempest, the badge you bought is certainly original. Interesting badge, even if not rare. Ukraine then went on producing medals (not badges anymore) for celebrating the liberation of Ukraine and its veterans. Here attached you find a medal for war veterans. The monument on the medal is the famous "Rodina Mat" of Kiev, part of one of the biggest war memorial complexes in the whole former USSR.

Thanks Valter for the details about the book. It looks really interesting..and my compliments to you and Luka, really wonderful cockades! Regards, GC

Thank you so much Emanuel for these wonderful scans! I was definitely not familiar with many of these variations and I find this new source I can add to my database absolutely crucial! I actually saw some times ago a white cockade like the one on the top-right of the first page you scanned on the German ebay. It was sold for 190 euro.. Thank you very much again! Regards GC