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Field/Subdued Offizierschuler 1-4 Studienjahr

Reverse - Note that the older one on the right is backed in a felt like material.

Field/Subdued Fahnrich to Stabsfahnrich

Field/Subdued Underleutnant to Hauptmann/Kapitanleutnant

Field/Subdued for all NVA branches - Major/Korvettenkapitan to Oberst/Kapitan zur See

I guess Paul and I hit the send button at about the same time!

Laurence - Here are some of the East German NVA branch colors off the top of my head. Kevin Green - Border Guard White - Infantry Pink - Armor Black - Engineers Hunter Green - Rear Services Gray - Air Defense Light Blue - Air Force Dark Blue - Navy Red - Artillery Blood Red - Stazi Yellow - Signal Orange - Para Olive Green - Construction Soldiers

Paul/Laurence - Thanks much for the + response. If I get time tonight I'll post a few more. Kevin

Ok, Here is the thread I started on DDR SBs: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3130&hl= Kevin

That's all I have scanned. I have much more and will scan an post if there is any interest in this thread. Kevin

Bausoldat (Construction Soldier) color and subdued boards. I'm still looking for the elusive color board with the metal shovel. [attachmentid=14504]

Air Force Stabsfahnrich, note the mix of old an new form stars which are slightly different in size. [attachmentid=14502]

Grenztruppen Major & Oberstleutnant. Note that the Major is the older form and the Oberstleutnant has two wider silver braids. The size of the rank stars changed over time, although the difference is hard to see unless you put the stars side by side. [attachmentid=14501]

Officer School Signal 3nd & 4th Years (Yellow) and Stasi 6th Year (Blood Red) note metal and woven variations. Some say that for most branches outside Medical & Legal (Rear Services) only had 4 year boards. And that 5th & 6th year boards were pumped out from 89-91 for collectors. [attachmentid=14500]

Soldat to Unteroffizer (also includes Unteroffizerschuler, black band) [attachmentid=14499]

Unterfeldwebel to Stabsfeldwebel [attachmentid=14498]

Fahnrich to Stabsoberfahnrich [attachmentid=14497]

Underleutnant to Hauptmann/Kapitanleutnant [attachmentid=14495]

Here are some black background boards which I believe the officer boards could be used either by Engineers or Volksmarine. I picked them all up before the fall of the wall. Here is a set from Major/Korvettenkapitan to Oberst/Kapitan zur See. I've shown the back of the Oberst/Kapitan zur See SB looks more like TR shoulder boards. All of these SBs are earlier as the each of the four silver braids are equal. In later DDR boards the the braids are not all equal.

Paul Reck and I had been having a discussion on East German shoulder boards in another forum in this club. I started getting more interested in them about a year ago and since then I've worked hard to fill out my collective. He suggested that I post a few of them. So here we go. Kevin

Ok Paul, I have quite a few but only a few scanned. I'll start a thread on DDR SBs in the Soviet & Eastern Block Militaria & Awards forum. The areas I'm still have major holes are in are Volksmarine, Warrant Officer School, General Officer field SBs, Artillery, Para, Rear Services and Air Defense. I've tried to stay away from civil stuff, but have quite a few VP SBs as a result of buying a trading. Kevin

Perhaps they are Engineers? Those are the only folks that would have had a ready supply of sticks of dynamite. But even that would have been a bit of a stretch. Kevin

Paul - I saw that thread, and was very very impressed. I did a small bit of collecting DDR when I was in Berlin and could have kicked myself for not picking up stuff that has risen greatly in price in the past couple of years, like daggers, binos, reference publications, and anything para. I have to echo Ed Hayes' remark from that thread, "I gave up uniforms due to storage space (= wife) problems." I've exceeded my spouse allowed closet space with DDR, Soviet and WWII U.S. uniforms, helmets, field gear, boots, ect... But DDR shoulder boards, collar tabs, medals and badges take up much less space so I've concentrated on them. Unfortunately much of what is on the market now is common and the lower quality stuff that was churned out in the last few years of the DDR. If you are intrested is selling or trading DDR shoulder boards, collar tabs or insignia, keep me in mind. Kevin

Paul - I used to have a small collection of TR shoulderboards, but sold them off. I currently collect East German insignia, to include shoulder boards. It is amazing how much shoulderboards remained the same in the East German Army. Here are a couple of examples. Kevin Engineer field grade, Major to Colonel. Note that they used more pips than TR SBs to denote rank. [attachmentid=14468]

The irony is that the Reichstag was more of a Soviet symbolic rather than purely military objective. It had stood unocuppied since the Reichstag fire of 1933. Kevin