PKeating

If it were in the prototype stage, the prototypes would probably have been bare badges with no pins or hooks. In other words, studio mock-ups like the prototypical Army Balloon Observer Badge mentioned by Dr Klietmann. PK

I keep hearing about "awards on paper" in relation to the Luftwaffe NKS, as well as the LW Tank Badge and the numbered Ground Assault Badges but I have yet to see credible evidence. There is a group currently for sale on Bill Shea's website - http://www.therupturedduck.com/WebPages/Documents/d196.htm - for $5,500.00 that includes what purport to be provisional award certificates for the PKA and the NKS. This group was discussed on several websites and while some people said that the documents were genuine, the collector who had purchased the group got rid of it quite fast once it became pretty clear that the documents were highly questionable. The price says it all. Put it this way: I have a group to a member of FAR1 that is better than a similar group sold recently for ?3,000.00. That's $4,400.00, more or less. It's a nice group to a Kretaspringer and so on but if it is worth almost four and a half grand in USD, then a genuine LW NKA and PKA group would easily be worth twice as much to a serious collector. I have spent time with quite a few men who would have qualified for the LW NKS and they were unaware of any awards of this badge before 9.5.1945. They knew it was in the pipeline, along with the other badges proposed by G?ring, but it is highly doubtful that any of the so-called "awards on paper" are genuine. No living veteran has ever stepped up to confirm such awards. End of story. PK

How's the weather in Romania? PK

It seems that he just missed Merkur, arriving at LLG1 on 24.5.1941. But they were based at various airfields around Athens until September 1941, flying supplies into Crete amongst other things, before being withdrawn to Hildesheim. He may have been involved in transporting the Ramckebrigade to North Africa. 12./LLG1 took part in the Gran Sasso mission while 8./LLG1 found itself in the Baltic and other places when not in provincial France on training duties. He might have transferred to KG200 out of extreme boredom! As you say, he missed four missions. I look forward to seeing a discusson about KG200. Interestingly, the paratroopers who jumped and airlanded on the Vercors plateau under the command of Jungwirth were part of KG200. Did your man almost get to go on that mission? Below, just for everyone's viewing pleasure even if a bit off-topic, is the recipient of the BSW badge I posted. I found the combat photo in the ECPA-D archives in Paris. Not many pilots wore glasses and he looked very familiar. When I checked, it was Otto Bracht, photographed in Southern Russia at the end of 1943. PK

M?l envoy?! Let's have a beer the next time you're in Paris! PK

Coming back to your man, Stijn, the suicide mission programme was quite controversial. But it is worth noting that had he stayed with III./LLG1, he would have participated in R?sselsprung in May 1944. And he would have received the EK2 or EK1, like all the glider pilots in that battle who did not already have an Iron Cross. PK

And the reverse, with the typical cracks you mentioned. The document for this example is dated December 1941. PK

Wonderful! Regarding your identification of BSW badges awarded in 1941, you will recognise this badge, I think! PK

Nah, Brian, Kevin was just being Kevin. The tone and attitude came through loud and clear. Here he is, as "ConnaughtRanger", weighing in with a bit of gratuitous prodnosing about our fairly harmless YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYoIK-Sn3Fk. But that's Kevin. That's what he does. No point in getting annoyed about it. It's like being cross with a dog for barking. PK

Ne t'inquietes pas, mec! Ce pauvre type est un peu con, c'est tout. Nous sommes bien heureux que vous ?tes l?. Quant au casque, c'est une merde et tu as ?t? tr?s poli. Amiti?s de Paris! PK

Sadly, it looks as if they were stolen to order for someone. It does not sound like a burglary carried out by moronic trash who will throw them in the river when they find out that they can't offload them. This sort of thing was rife in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the UK. A lot of regimental museums were targeted, as were national museums like the IWM and National Army Museum. And some of the UK's top dealers and brokers fenced the goods. The internet has made it harder for thefts-on-spec, as it were, but there is still scope for professionals stealing-to-order for collectors who will keep the stuff for private enjoyment for evermore, as they don't need the money. PK

Oops. Dunno what's happening there. Anyway, above is Martin K?hne's EK2 document for Moerdijk in 1940. classic Fall Gelb document, issued in the Hague and signed by Generalmajor Putzier, who took temporary command of 7. Fliegerkorps after Student took a bullet in the head from a nervous SS-VT soldier. K?hne won his EK2 for leading a successful assault on a heavily defended bunker, an action in which he was quite badly wounded. Born in 1918, K?hne enlisted into the Luftwaffe in 1937, serving with a flak unit before volunteering for the Fallschirmtruppe in 1939. Qualifying as a paratrooper at Wittstock, he was commissioned and by April 1940 was a Zugf?hrer with 2./Fallsch.-Jager-Erg. Btl.1 in Stendal. At Moerdijk, he was a platoon commander with 15./Fallschirmj?ger-Rgt 1 and was quite badly wounded there. K?hne jumped on the Corinth Canal in 1941 and was recommended for the Ritterkreuz for storming an enemy anti-aircraft battery and taking numerous prisoners. He received the EK1 instead. He also jumped on Crete, where he was again badly wounded. After service in Russia in 1942, K?hne was sent to North Africa where he took part in the Ramckebrigade?s extraordinary two-hundred mile trek from El Alamein back to German lines in November 1942, for which he received the DKiG. After the evacuation to Italy, K?hne was promoted to Hauptmann and given command of I/FJR2, which he led in the airborne assault on and capture of the Greek island of Leros in November 1943. K?hne's personal courage in leading his men and the paratroopers of the Brandenburg's 15. (Fallschirm) Kompanie in assaults on heavily-defended enemy positions on Monte Meroviglia brought him the RK. K?hne also fought at Anzio-Nettuno, Monte Cassino and in numerous actions during the retreat through Italy. He ended the was as Major und RKT in command of I./FJR10. Martin K?hne, who died in 2002, reportedly received a formal award document for the RK, which was quite rare by February 1944. He held the RK, DKiG, Ehrenpokal, EK1, EK2 and VWA in Silber. The K?hne family are apparently still in possession of Major K?hne's awards and documents and have no intention of parting with them. This document was given to Klaus Peters by K?hne and is now in my collection. PK

Double Post.

It shares no die characteristics with any cross by an authorised maker of the period. Authorised makers include C E Juncker Steinhauer & L?ck Klein & Quenzer C F Zimmermann Gebr?der Godet Deschler und Sohn Otto Schickle Other firms did make the Ritterkreuz early in the war. before the regulations regarding the retail supply of Germany's highest award for valour were tightened up but the cross you are asking about it certainly not one of them. It is a well-known type of fake that is encountered with various makers' marks and probably first came out of Eastern Europe about five to eight years ago. L/21 was the LDO code for Foerster & Barth, who were not authorised manufacturers. 21 by itself would be the PKA code for Godet but no original crosses from this maker are known bearing marks on the frame reverse , as they appear on the ribbon loop. In any case, Godet's crosses appear to have been made by Zimmermann. L/11 was the code for Deumer, which was not an authorised maker either. If in the market for a genuine Ritterkreuz, you would be well advised to but a good reference book, like Gordon Williamson's The IRON CROSS of 1939. If looking for a good collection filler or museum quality copy, there are various options available to you but paying between a third and two thirds of the market price for a fake from some bandit operating through an internet auction site is not an option. What is the vendor of this cross asking for it? $2,000? $3,000? $2,499.99?? The asking price is often the first indication that you're not going to see an genuine item. PK

The legionnaires wore Spanish-made uniforms in Spain although some officers had privately tailored outfits. When the Legion returned to Germany, as I said, they were issued with RAD uniforms, which resembled the uniforms they had worn in Spain, for the victory parades and other events. German manufacturers did not produce uniforms for the Legion Condor as such. PK

Source: BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/...ails_2006.shtml I am surprised that Ed Haynes does not seem to know that the British garrisons in Egypt in the early 1950s were subject to terrorist activity including organised terrorist attacks on camps and vehicle convoys, sniping, abductions, murder and sabotage. I would like to see him walk into a bar full of some of the veterans I have known and describe the pressure for a clasp to the GSM to recognise the service of professional and national service soldiers in the Canal Zone as "whining" . A classic piece of MOD doublespeak... I'll round it off with another comment from Captain Peter Boxall (Ret'd), whom I knew when he was the Pay Master of 10 PARA. It's from the same BBC website. It's more about the Suez jump in '56 but Peter Boxall, who also served in the Canal Zone from 1952-1954, makes a couple of pertinent remarks about GSM clasps. PK

Thank you very much to everyone who responded. And a thank you to Andy Hopkins for explaining it in a clear way. So this PH is to the Eddie M Thompson listed as WIA in Korea. Regards, PK

Taking uninformed chances when buying high end fakes of Third Reich militaria is a waste of time and money, in my opinion. I remember one notable dealer throwing a temper tantrum when a punter who had read an article by Eric Queen and myself about Army Parachutist Badges demanded a refund. The dealer sent him an e-mail offering a vastly reduced amount in return for the badge because of his questions about it on the Wehrmacht Awards Forums had "killed the value"! By the way, the dealer to whose website I linked states that these repros are die-struck. I have been looking at my reference files to see if any maker produced a Heeres-Flakartillerieabzeichen that so closely resembled the early Tombak badges by C E Juncker but I haven't found one so far. Not that I am an authority on these badges. The badge that started this discussion might be an original. But it looks remarkably like the die-struck repro offered for $25.00 on that website. PK

It reminds me vaguely of the early tombak type by C E Juncker. PK

http://www.hessenantique.com/Army_Flak_Badge_p/haga018.htm PK

There was probably never any reason, as such. PK

I might be confusing you with someone else. I was selling 1st and 2nd Class Olympics decorations. Probably not you. No biggie. Rgds, PK

All of the Type 1 aluminium badges made in 1937 bore the C E Juncker hallmark. A few Type 2 aluminium badges from 1937/38 with the same hallmark are known but the majority are unmarked. Nobody has ever seen a Type 3 feinzink example from 1943/44 with a mark. Someone advanced the theory that the hallmarked Type 2s were sent for retail and, indeed, two of the known badges belonged to veterans who stated that they bought them as replacements. However, I don't think any inference should be drawn from this as the Type 1 issue badges in aluminium were hallmarked while the Type 1 and 3 badges in 800 silver which were strictly private purchases items bore no Juncker mark at all. The 1943/44 issue were probably all supplied directly to the OKH. Had any been supplied to retail outlets, they would doubtless have borne the firm's LDO L/12 code or, at that stage, perhaps even the PKA numerical code "2". Regarding production figures, Eric Queen and I based our conjecture upon research that indicated limited availability of doubles and replacements to recipients at the time. The COA, by the way, has no value in itself other than as a curiosity piece attached to the badge. PK

I am afraid that Hamburg dealers are hardly the yardstick by which one should judge originality, Phil. This badge does not conform in a number of ways to any known originals I have seen. The hinge is worrying but the Wehrmachtadler's head is even more troublng. I hope Vince did not pay too much for it. There again, as an object to dress a tunic mannequin, it is perfectly OK. Vince, didn't we do business before once? Were you not the guy who responded to some ads of mine, agreed a sale and then evaporated? Or am I confusing you with someone else? PK

A grim aspect of the Great War indeed. Why do the guys in Rick's photograph remind me of modern-day Rentokil operatives? Imagine them in white vans with pest control equipment and baseball caps... PK