Bob Lyons

They are not badges of war, they are works of art! Bob

Hi Paul, I am home now, and have volume 1 of B. L. Davis Luftwaffe book in front of me, page 223 states: "Until November 1940, the Luftaffe version of the national emblem, the breast eagle, had not been part of the Blouse as worn by NCO's and other ranks. It is probable that the outbreak of the Second World War precipitated the need for Luftwaffe personnel to be readily identifiable and so it was that the insignia was added to this garment." Bob

and I should add, that the photo you show of the troops not wearing the breast eagles is an early shot, not the others! Bob

Great photos Paul, the lack of breast eagles in one of your photos is simply because they are early photos, the first fliegerbluses worn didn't have breast eagles, they were ordered on to the bluses some time in 1940, I am at work at the moment and can't remember the exact date for breast eagles to be sewn on to the fleigerbluses, the dates are mentioned in the reference books. Prosper, as always your photo archives are very impressive! Cheers Bob

And I agree !! Bob

Hi Gordon, could the badge itself be wartime made, with a postwar pin assembly added ?? Bob

Great looking buckle Rob, thanks for showing it! Cheers Bob

Hmm, these two wouldn't load up a couple of minutes back, here is the last for now, crest for HMAS Warramunga. Cheers Bob

HMAS Tobruk communications crew patch....

Navy chopper patch....

Dug out a few more patches, so here goes... This one is for 107 Field Battery Royal Australian Artillery.

Hi Paul, Yes I did have a lot of makers plates from Japanese aircraft, a couple of tanks and trucks that were knocked out on the road up to Mount Satelberg, and some Japanese helmets, unfortunately all are gone now, we lost everything we owned in a massive flood in Brisbane when we moved to Sydney on posting in 1973, and everything we had was stored in a warehouse in Brisbane for a short period, and it was over that period that Brisbane had a huge flood, and everything went down the Brisbane River! We had some photo albums and my basic kit in the car so that survived, nothing else unfortunately. (even my brand new TV that I had watched three times decided to go aquatic!!) Bob

And I should add that you have a nice rare set of boards to the 100th Mountain Infantry Regiment too Laurence! (Part of the 5th Mountain Division under Julius Ringel), and they were part of the relief of Maleme airfield during the Crete campaign. Bob

Yes Laurence and Paul are correct for the reservist Hauptmann. A quote from 'Hitler's Legions' by Samuel W. Mitcham : - Wehrkreis XIII. This district consisted of most of Franconia, Lower Bavaria, the Upper Palatinate, and small sections of southern Thuringia, northern Baden, Wuertemberg and Swabia. In 1938 it annexed part of Czechoslovakia. The Wehrkreis, which had its headquarters in Nurmeberg, had an area of 49,900 square kilometers and a population of 4,771,000. When the war started, the XIII established Replacement Division staffs 173 and 193 to control its replacement training units. In the fall of 1943 the 173rd was redisgnated a reserve division, transferred to eastern Croatia with most of the Wehrkreis' training units, and placed directly under the control of the Home Army. The 193rd Replacement Division, which was now in Bohemia, remained under Wehrkreis control with some of the training units. Replacement Division staff 413 was created at Nuremberg in 1943 to assume command of the replacment units left behind by the 173rd. The District's motorized and panzer training units were assigned to the 273rd Reserve Panzer Division in late 1943 and lost to the Wehrkreis. By the spring of 1944, both the 173rd Reserve and 273rd Reserve Panzer Divisions had been dissolved, and the Wehrkreis regained all the training responsiblities it had lost the year before. To meet these responsiblities, the Wehrkreis enlarged its existing replacement regiments, which continued operating until the end of the war. In 1945, the eastern parts of the Wehrkreis were overrun by the Soviets, and the western sections were captured by the Americans and the French. The following field divisions were affiliated with Wehrkreis XIII: 1st Ski Jaeger, 4th Panzer, 7th Mountain, 10th Infantry, 10th Panzer Grenadier, 17th Infantry, 46th Infantry, 73rd Infantry, 98th Infantry, 99th Jaeger, 113th Infantry, 183rd Infantry, 231st Infantry, 343rd Infantry, 565th Infantry and 713th Infantry. Bob

Me again Rob, Thanks for the comments, yes the star has been on it for an awful long time, I think it is correct for the period. Bob

Hi Rob Glad you like it, the tan 79 is the Luftwaffe aircraft RLM code for the camouflage colours, and the aircraft tan paint was number 79 in their colour code chart, this buckle matches the tan exactly. It is a very pinky hued tan colour peculiar to the Luftwaffe. Bob (and I look forward to seeing your example too.....)

Yeah that's my guess Paul... Bob

And a couple more helmets with a couple of the guys clowning around, some helmets still had the liners in them, but most were starting to rust away. Bob

Hi all, A couple of photos from my time in the army, these 2 shots were taken at Igham Barrracks in Lae (PNG) after several weeks in the jungles near Finschaafen and the Mount Sattelberg areas, the Woodpecker was taken out of a cave and brought back to Lae in a Huey, the helmets were still lying about on the different tracks we were on, along with other assorted equipment, this time frame was about mid 1972. Probably not a lot lying about over there any more, would have all rusted away by now. The skinny guy with the MG is me when I was a lot skinnier! Bob

Last one, a photo from the back. Hope they are of some interest. best wishes Bob

and a bit closer....

The European example....

and again....

A closer view of the DAK example, complete with a bit of battle damage.....

And a couple that I have in my collection, a European example and another from the desert campaign. Here they are together...