Gordon Craig

Bobfebder, Nice uniform and medals. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Gordon

Joch, Thanks for taking the time (and the pain) to give me an over view of what these books contain. Some very nice pictures of the early BW and the BGS. Very much appreciated. Regards, Gordon

Jock, I'd be interested to see what is inside some of these books. Regards, Gordon

Westfale, Thanks for the information on the number. I suspected that it was the issue number but didn't know for sure. Regards, Gordon

I went to the local Spring Militaria Show a couple of weeks ago and this is one of my acquisitions at the show. A cased West German Red Cross Service Medal 2nd Class (silver), 1953-1990. This cross comes with the ribbon suspension for a woman. It was made by Steihauer ü Lück. Only the case is marked with the makers name. The cross is not maker marked. It does have "220" stamped into the end of one of the cross pieces. I do not know what this marking indicates. The second cased 2nd Class Service medal in my collection came case and made by Steihauer ü Lück as well. This one came with a picture of the award being presented and a newspaper article about the person receiving the award. The West German Red Cross was recognized by the International Red Cross as the DRK BRD in 1951. The East German Red Cross was recognized by the International Red Cross as the DRK DDR in 1952. In 199I the two organizations were joined to form the DRK. Regards, Gordon

IrishGunner, Nice looking award and interesting history about it. Regards, Gordon

Jock, Yes it is. I couldn't find a picture of this award in your early case but here is a later issue one where they used a stick pin instead of a ribbon bar. It will give you an idea of what the miniature should look. Regards, Gordon

Jock, Why not indeed. I should be so lucky! A very good price for an early example of this award with a well marked case. If you wanted to finish off the set the ribbon bar won't be hard to find. Regards, Gordon

As each state controlled police forces within their border a number of different ways of carrying a pistol existed. Some states carried the holster on a belt of shoulder strap inside the tunic. The holster was suspended outside the tunic through a slit inside the flap of the right hip pocket of the four pocket tunic. The picture below shows the over the should belt used with this type of holster. Regards, Gordon

Next up some police holsters. This white holster, available from Militaria-Agent.com, is marked as being issued with the Sauer and Son P6. The stamp inside the holster appears to be from the city of Munich.

There was also a holster issued in camouflage cloth.

Another holster for this pistol was one designed specifically for wear by tank crews. This holster was made of very soft pliable leather and buttoned inside the tankers coveralls.

When the BW began to issue its own weapons one of the first was the P1. Basically a copy of the WWII P38. It was carried in a black leather holster of almost identical design to the P38 holster.

Gentlemen, Been a while since I have done a post so time to get back to it with some short notes on holsters used in the BRD. I'd like to start with the first holster used by the BW. The BGS, police (in the American sector) and BW in its early days, were issued American surplus firearms. Most common in the BW was the M1911 colt handgun. They came with the brown leather holster used by American forces during WWII. Some pictures of the type, and markings that could be found on this type of holster. The soldiers in the photo wear the first issue camouflage uniforms and the early issue boots.

mul781, I didn't see this post last year. It just popped up when I was researching Austrian uniforms. Two things; 1- as a first time poster you should be aware that we have a forum for selling artifacts and it is against the GMIC regulations to sell things in the discussion forums. As a moderator on this forum I should have made you aware of that sooner. Sorry for that. 2-re the uniform sale-I'll pm you on that. Regards, Gordon

John, I agree with your thoughts on page 155. Definitely early BGS camo. I've posted a close up picture of this camo in wear plus helmets of the period. It is dated 30 June 1957. Early BGS wore reworked M35 and M42 Wehrmacht helmets even after the M53 helmet started to be issued. As for the two books by Dan Peterson, I have both and they are a good place to start in researching these types of camo. You can find much deeper research on this type of camo on the BRD sub Forum of the WAF which I moderate. I have an early BGS shelter quarter and they are totally white on one side. There are a number of variations of BGS camo as well as similar stuff that was worn by the Berlin Bereitschaft Polizei. Lots of room for research here. Regards, Gordon

Badge for the Commander of a combat vessel of the people's Navy On February 1, 1989, the Minister of national defence issued command no. 07/89 on the introduction and awarding of a badge for the Commander of a combat vessel of the people's Navy. The purpose of the creation of the badge was to signify the importance of the position of serving as Commander of a people's Navy combat ship and to highlight this service position by making it physically visible. The badge was awarded from 1 March,1989 in the people's Navy for the Commander of a combat vessel. On the orders of the Chief of the Federation, this badge could be awarded to those officers of the seafaring career. They must be in the position of serving as; Commander of a; Combat ship; a vessel of special securing, or coast guard vessels; and were in possession of the authorization for navigation and the use of arms. Permission to wear the badge ended when the officer was no longer in command as stated above. The badge could also be awarded to members of the 6th Border Guard Brigade coast. The badge was worn on the right breast of the uniform. The gold-coloured badges is made from non-ferrous metals and is 65.3 mm wide by 20.5 mm high. It has the shape of a Küstenschtutzschiffes of the people's Navy, whose hull is a coloured and lacquered Kommandatenwimpel for battle ships and boats.

John, Re The History of the German Steel Helmet 1916-1945 by Ludwig Baer This English language book is a compilation of Baer's three volumes on German helmets in German. The majority of the information on post war helmets was left out of the English edition. Both BRD and DDR. I refer to the three volume German language edition often. I rarely look at the English edition. The post war helmet information is primarily confined to volume two. I am just going through Uniforms of the German Soldier again because it has sat in my book shelf for some time without being opened. There are much better, and more recent books, for the study of BRD and DDR uniforms although this book is worth having because it shows uniforms in period wear. It is too bad so many of the photos are in black and white. Regards, Gordon

Michael, Thanks for identifying the castle for me. At first I thought it might help me identify the unit as well but this castle appears on many other breast badges as well. I'll give it another try though and this time perhaps I will have some success. Regards, Gordon

Michael, Thanks for the info. This would go well with my thread on the coat I own from the 1964 Mexican Olympics. Regards, Gordon

Steve, Very nice tunic to have in your collection. I'd certainly like to add one like it to my collection. Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen. Soldiers from the 101 Logistics Battalion. Note the sleeve badge on the right sleeve, the blue arm of serve on the shoulders and the cord for der Speiss. Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen, Well I was able to find one field/camo uniform with embroidered badges although not the ones we were discussion here, but worth posting anyway. You can tell from the pictures that he wears an embroidered Tatigabzeichen and a sports badge plus a pin on unit breast badge. I haven't been able to identify the breast badge but from the symbols on the badge it would appear to be for a Logistics Battalion attached to a Jaeger regiment. Since all of the cloth badges match the wear on the tunic itself I am confident that they were worn this way in the BW. Regards, Gordon

Steve, Happy New Year to you and yours and good collecting in 2014. Regards, Gordon

Jonas, It was probably silent approval from the CO to have these badges worn. It is clearly stated in the Regs for the metal breast badges that they are not to be worn in cloth form. However, as a "civilian" armed force many things were allowed to take place which under other circumstances would not have been allowed. I am going through a large reorganization of my uniforms and can not find my tunic with the cloth breast breast and sleeve badges. Perhaps they will turn up sometime soon and I can post pictures. I also have a tunic with the U.S. marksman's award worn as a cloth badge on the right breast pocket. Regards, Gordon