Gordon Craig

Gents, I thought I would post some pictures of the VOPO motorcycle helmet and the communications device they wore with it. The the device can be added to a standard VOPO motorcycle helmet. First I'll post a picture of the helmet fitted with the device and next to it the device itself.

Gents, The Betreibswacht are factory guards. The Betriebshutz are the guys you will find guarding the gates. They came under the VOPO and could carry side arms in certain situations. The blue shield was worn by the TRAPO. Don't know that I have ever seen a brown one before. Cheers, Gordon

Charles, Thanks for the response. Have a good vacation. See you when you get back. Cheers, Gordon

Charles, I left the majority of my Russian books in storage but I can tell you what some of the things are on these two uniforms. The pin on the woman's uniform is probablya Komsomol badge. You may know this already but the man, from left to right as you are viewing him; 1-Order of the Red Star; 2-Can not remember this one; 3-Order of the Partriotic War. The woman appears to be wearing the standard issue Russian WWII uniform while the man looks as though he is wearing the 1945 "Parade" tunic. Hard to tell what unit they are in perhaps if I could see the postcard first hand I could do better. Cheers, Gordon

Charles, Can you tell us a little about the Hungarian school badges please. For example; How many schools are there for officers? What/which school would a man of this rank have attended? I'd appreciate a close up of the school badge so I can get one to match since we have uniforms belonging to that same man. I should have checked your post before I went to the City Market Flea Market this morning!!!!!!!!!!! I orgot to ask for a closeup shot of the crossed rifles on the lapels as well. Cheers, Gordon

Holger, I was unable to see the pictures of your Scharnhorst medal. It would be something I would like to see. Could you try posting it again our perhaps send me a couple of pictures via email. Regards, Gordon

Dan, Always good to have something like this for comparison. If I see a real set I'll let you know. The first VOPO generals tunic that I bought had boards like the ones you pictured and repro collar tabs, the wrong buttons etc. I was just learning then but knew eneough to take a lot of pictures before I returned the uniform. Regards, Gordon

Here are the special shoulderboards and rank stars worn on the Generals shirts. The boards are thinner and somewhat wider than on the tunic. The rank stars are also different in that they are flatter but of the same overall size. Both the shoulderboards and the stars are specially designed for wear with the jacket so it sits properly with the shopulderboards in place. Regards, Gordon

[attachmentid=57572][attachmentid=57573] Gents, On some posts made by Dan, we briefly talked about East German Generals shoulderboards and the length of ribbon bars worn on the shirt sleeve dress. I've decided to combine both these topics and post some pictures of an East German VOPO shirt sleeve order of dress that I have in my collection. I'll only post the shirt first and add the other parts later. The shirt shows the Academy badge on the right and the four place ribbon bar on the left side.

Dan, I susupect the one long service award was left off the four place ribbon bar because it was to be worn on a shirt. Ribbon bars are limited to four ribbons in length when worn in the short sleeve oreder. Regards, Gordon

Second picture didn't turn up the last time. Here goes again. Just can not seem to get the picture to show up here. Oh well, maybe some other time!!!!! Cheers, Gordon

Hunyadi, Nice tunic and hat. Extra nice to get it with the ribbon bar. I have a question. Do you have any mid 1970 era Border Guard uniforms? If so, can you post a picture of one for me. I bought a Border Guard tunic at the October Militaria show here in Budapest and I want to replace the collar devices and a ribbon bar but I can not find a picture to guide me in the correct direction. Ant help you can provide would be appreciated. Here are the only two pictures of this tunic that I have in my archives. Regards, Gordon

Dan, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there are a lot of things I do not like about these boards; 1-The kink at the buttonhole end. This would never happen with the correct type of braid; 2-The backing material is not wide enough. It should be clearly visible around the sides of the boards and is substantailly thick and firm. It is obviouslty wrapped around something to give it form and shape; 3-The shape of the tongue. It shopuld be round on the end and not pointed; 4-The tongue on all my uniform boards is machine sewn to the top of the board. Not hand sewn; 5-The length of the pins on the stars is too short. On all my boards they are much longer and fold over on the back of the board for a substantial distance; 6-The colour of the green underlay of the baords appears to be the wrong colour. This could be the photo itself but it looks to be too dark a green. I would never say something is a repro from a photo but if I were offered these boards I would not buy them. Regards, Gordon

Dan, Sounds like a plan. I'll do my best to help here by comparing them with my own. One thing to look for on the boards is that repros often have a looser twist to the cords than the real thing. Problem here is that you need a guaranteed good pair to hold in your hands to compare. Went to my first Hungarian Militaria Show today. Very interesting. Small venue but packed with vendors and buyers. Came home with a nice early (in silver) second class Waffenbruderschaft medal. Also bought all three classes of the Hungarian Waffenbruderschaft medal. I've been looking for the Hungarian ones for some time. Cheers, Gordon

Dan, Not that I want to through cold water on your enthusiasm, but both the shoulderboards and the collar tabs have been heavily repro'd so be cautious in what you buy. Regards, Gordon

Kane, What you have is the cap badge for the East German air force. It goes on the cap band of the peaked cap or on the flont flpa of the fake fur winter cap. I should add that this is last style worn. IE the all metal one. Cheers, Gordon (quote name='Kane' date='Oct 5 2006, 04:43 ' post='112905'] Bought this from a street side store in Berlin the other week along with another three, so it's in good supply. It contains the German flag and what appears to be a sextant on the front. Does anyone have any idea what it could be? Possibly a Sea Readiness Badge? Cheers, Kane

Nice Swallowsnest. I would also like to add a complete musicians tunic to my collection but they are very rare. I see them from time time advertised as being musians tunics but this usually not correct. They are most often just someones idea of what the real thing should look like. The nests you say look like Grenzer may be that. Hard to tell from the colour on the scan. VOPO would or Bereitschaft would be a lighter green I think. Here is the photo of a Miners musicians tunic which was sold a day ago. Cheers, Gordon

Dan, The position of the star on your boards is ok. For some reason the VOPO generals put the single star in the centre of the baords while the NVA generalmajor officers always had there star at the outer edge of the shoulderboard. All my VOPO generalmajor uniforms have the star in the centre including the shirt sleeve order. Here is a phot of the boards on one of my tunics. Regards, Gordon (quote name='Hauptman' date='Sep 30 2006, 12:42 ' post='111573'] Hi Paul, Haven't received yet but will check when they come in. Dan

Dan, Sorry, but I can not give you an idea of the price for a medal award to a collective. I only saw the one for sale and don't remember what it went for. They are very much sought after and will go for whoever has the most to spend. Hard to say what something this rare will go for. As for eight place ribbon bar, are you looking for anything specific or just a bar with lot of awards? If you let me know what you want I can keep an eye open for you. When I said the uniform would be hard to get it was because of the date of the award. While you see a lot of uniforms for sale on the net you rarely see those dated in the 60's, one 60's date tunic just sold for over 300.00 euros, and you never see them dated for the 50's. Virtually nonexistant. Also, I said the medal was doable. I didn't say it would be easy and it would need to be of the type issued at the same time as the Urkunde. Once you have research the right type of medal then it is time to start searching for one. Good hunting. Cheers, Gordon

Dan, Getting the medal should be doable. Getting the uniform will be almost impossible. Good luck in trying. I ment to mention previously the , like you, I was impressed by the way the Collective presenatation cases for medals were set up. I have only seen one complete set for sale in all my years of collecting and I missed it because I gave the other guy 20 seconds to bid and he beat me by a Euro. Some you win and some you lose. Cheers, Gordon

[attachmentid=54881] And the cuffband.

[attachmentid=54880]Some more pictures of this uniform.

[attachmentid=54879]Gents, We had a post a week or so ago re BW uniforms with bullion accessories. I think we need one on Bundeswehr uniforms with cuffbands. Here is the only one I have with me at the moment. It is for a colonel in the Geschwader Steinhoff . This uniform captured my interest for two reasons. 1- It has a really nice bullion cuffband and 2-Geschwader Steinhoff flew the MiG 29s the Bundesluftwaffe took over from the East German air force. Anyone else have tunics with BW cuffbands to post? Cheers, Gordon

[attachmentid=54877] I agree with the post above that the bar is what could be called a "salesman's sample". Here is a picture of one from my collection. It came in a small box, the lid of which was long lost when I acquired the ribbon bar. Cheers, Gordon

Dan, Unterkommissar was the lowest grade of officer. His shoulderboards would have looked almost exactly like a Leutnant in the Third Reich Wehrmacht. Very nice early Urkunde in a Mappe that matches the time frame. Cheers, Gordon