Gilles

Hi Klaus, To your picture posted on November 30, 2022: According to me, the black shoulder board is only the shadow of a feldgrau shoulder board because due to the position of the arms holding the field-glasses. Best regards Gilles

Isn't he wearing the same pattern (or a very similar?) as a tiepin? Look at his collar. If he happened to wear twice Olbernhau's coat of arms, this could maybe identify him as a civil servant? Have you got a date on the back of the picture, any emboss or stamping of the photograph?

Wouldn't silver have a mark?

We wish you good luck in this very interesting but, as already said, very tricky collecting topic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-305

"Small is beautiful"...

Brian, I agree with the black backing for the FK and provisional RW but I would have thought that the badge was just private purchased. A very nice picture of a member of the III. Abteilung!

I have a ring of the officers pattern but as it doesn't have LIR in it, I wasn't quite sure. Does yours have the marking? Regards

Yes, it's the Austrian tinnie of the 21st. Korps 1916

Could be Freikorps, compare with the badge of the "Freie Nachrichten-Truppen" shown in Ingo Haarcke's reference book #621.1 page 106

An astonishing flag that would be a reason to move to an "Altbau Wohnung" with high ceilings! I agree with Don, as a matter of luck, many a summit is being fortunately hidden... by a lower summit!

Of all the pictures with the patch shown in this long thread, only the posts #1780 and #1785 do show the sleeve badge being just pinned or maybe lain on the sleeve (for the time of the picture?). Both have in common that they were shot in a studio, not in the field. Maybe they just show two pioneers that have been given the badge and were eager to show off and went to the photographs's, before having it properly sewn on. Regards G.

Thomas, a seldom view indeed! The picture is from the Revolution time, when soldiers started to take liberties with uniform regulations. If they were only given one example, maybe they were given the possibility to buy another one? Regards

Ok, I first thought it was yours

It could be the sleeve insignia of the Freikorps Elisabeth. A German dealer offers it: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Freikorps-Totenkopf-Armelabzeichen-Berlin-1919-Original-/201278855199?pt=Militaria&hash=item2edd27981f What surprises me is that both your insignias show the very same conditions and stains (check several places) Did he just use your pictures? Regards Gilles

Chris I'd say IR 90 (Mecklenburg) Does the belt buckle confirm this? Regards Gilles

I'd be very surprised, when you consider the density of the collectors & dealers in this very city that no information on a specific Hamburg distinction ever trickled to one of them (Weitze, Patzwall, Niemann, Hüsken, Blass & many others) and then to the net. To my opinion, this document of this arm award that has the form of a breast award is not trustworthy. G.

What surprises me is that I may, just like Jock, still have plenty to see, but the supposedly most efficient search engine of the internet doesn't have a clue either. Hakenkreuz-Ärmelabzeichen (with or without 27.1.1934) doesn't give any (reasonable) result. It makes me somewhat suspicious but, of course, I'd be very pleased to change my mind. Regards G.

Thomas, you write: Badge in the middle of the sleeve cuff, flamethrower operators. Badge below the left elbow, flamethrower operators of Sturmbataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr). Badge at the top of the sleeve cuff, machine gunner. And badge overlapping the cuff and sewn halfway on the sleeve, grenade-launcher crew. If I take from your interesting theory of the four skull positions the one exemple of the Sturmbataillon Rohr, how do you then explain the period picture shown on #482750? Regards Gilles #482750

I'm afraid not: http://www.dpma.de/amt/aufgaben/auskunftsstellenundrecherchesaele/historischepatenteberlin/index.html

Chris, at least no AOK 18, as Andreas checked it: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/61055-reichswehr-insignia/ G.

Hi Chip, The ottoman theory doesn't sound credible anymore? G.

Stefan, How heavy is the skull, due to the metal thread? Can reducing the patch to more or less its metall part have given it a greater stability? Would otherwise have a heavy skull been "floating" on a larger cloth patch? On other badges (imperial shooting prizes, Freikorps patches...) you usually find or may find a counter-plate that gives the badge stability. Otherwise, they may have just found it more elegant... Some enlisted men seem to have done it as well. Gilles