Robin Lumsden

This looks like the same skull.............it's facing in the same direction.

I wonder if this Reichswehr 35 Inf. Division was related to The Iron Division, after it was disbanded?

I'm watching the market daily.

Ich auch! :cheers:

But.............the black TK is still a mystery.

No anticipated 'third one' has turned up so far. :cheeky:

Robin, did you notice? Somebody tries to sell his SWJ collection

Ha!

There's a little antique shop under the arches at the Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof in Berlin that has dozens of these old SWJ TK items for sale.........crosses, medals, etc., all with original ribbons.

Did you see new interesting SWJ stuff in this year, Robin?

Now on eBay..............

Thoughts?

Yes............similar.

Difficult to say what that skull would have been used for, though.

Could be...... military........wehrwolf........masonic........even SWJ !! :cheeky:

Oops. Don't know what happened there.

Bulgarians in the postwar period:

Nice!

I wonder what unit they were in.

Postwar image of a flamethrower operator of Reichswehr-Brigade 15, who wears a nonofficial Totenkopf in the Sturmbataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr) position above the cuff. He wears a cloth cover on both his helmet and on the Wex flamethrower, and he carries a makeshift stick igniter or fuse (behelfmässigen Stockzünder) consisting of a board with a bundle of kerosene-soaked rags on the end. This was lit with matches and used to ignite large flamethrowers when the automatic igniter burned out.

Now...........THAT is beginning to look more like the sort of unit that might have worn the non-regulation black totenkopf that started this thread. :love:

There was an identical helmet for sale on eBay a while back. The designs on the sides are profile views of skulls facing backward. In that photo you're seeing the rounded back of the skull and the edge of the lower jaw.

Aha!

I see the profile now.

Thanks, Thomas. :cheers:

This is a well-known (probably the best known) Freikorps photo.............but does anyone know what the rest of the design on the sides and back of the helmet was supposed to represent? I don't.

Here's the Wehrwolf veteran's badge worn with SA uniform............in the same way as the Flammenwerfer badge, on the lower sleeve.

Robin,

What time frame are we looking at here?? 1919? These are amazing!

Hello Chris.

The Wehrwolf was set up in 1924............the shots with the steel helmets etc. date from around 1924-5.

It was absorbed into the NSDAP/SA after 1933.

Here's a photo of Wehrwolf veterans in the SA................

There must be a flag plaque on one of these, somewhere............... :cheeky:

..........and one of the finials, here on a variant Wehrwolf flag from a later date.

...........and one of the flag-bearer gorgets............

Here's one of the flags in use............

All I need now is a flag pole.

The gorget is the only one I know of worldwide.

The finial is one of only two I know of worldwide.

Half a dozen flags like this worldwide.

And a handful of flag plaques.

Anyone else have any?

Mackensen supposedly still fitted into his subaltern's uniform at this age.

And, according to the memoirs of Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, Mackensen put on some facial make-up before he went to meet Hitler in the 1930s!

Christian;

In the 1914 preuss./wuerttem. Rangliste there are, under von Gersdorff, four Hauptleute, one Rittmeister, five Leutnante, and one Amtsrat. Can you give us a bit of a clue, like a regiment, or an exact age, or a branch of the army; Infanterie, Artillerie, usw.? Or a hometown, which might indicate his regiment?

Welcome to the Club!

Bob Lembke

From the photo.........Reiter Regiment 5.

Unbelievably rare photo I got on eBay--and I was the only bidder!

/quote]

Well done! Another eBay success.

And here's a Freikorps man with two different styles of Totenkopf badges: one on the left sleeve, and one on the cap.

Freikorps Gerth, I believe.

Robin, here's a flamethrower pioneer of Sturmbataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr) with an unusually dark Totenkopf badge.

Thanks, Thomas!

That photo shows clearly that not all original FW sleeve TKs conformed to the official pattern............or colour.

The TK certainly looks much darker than the usual type..........and I don't think it's just trench dirt. :lol:

What a nice fantasy item.............

Korrekt! :speechless:

What a great thread this has turned out to be.

Thank you everyone for your contributions.

I have learned a lot here...............and I've never seen so many photos of FW TK sleeve badges, with all the subtle variations.

Here's a photo currently on eBay.................cuff badges just about visible.