Freiwillige

No.7 Wehrmacht Gefreiter, Ostfront veteran. 

No.6 Grenadier Josef Offenberger (1926, Oberhaselbach, Bavaria - 1944, Netherlands).

No.5 Lower rank from the Infanterie-Regiment 45. 

No.4 Just Flieger. 

No.3 Pionier or Baupionier/Bausoldat of Luftwaffe. 

No.2 Luftwaffe Gefreiter from one of the Flak regiments decorated by the EKII. 

Here I'd like to share with you some WW2 portraits from my collection that had been hand-colorized nearly 70 years ago. These are originals not colorized nowadays using modern PC programs. The technique used at that time looks a bit naive but it was a considerable step forward in bringing soldiers' memories back home to their loved ones.

No.1 Luftwaffe Fähnrich in the rank of Unterfeldwebel. Note the "KS" Latin letters on the shoulder boards that stand for Luftkriegsschulen.

No.21 Another member of Stahlhelmbund. According to the insignia this photo was made after September 1933.

No.5 What can be said about this soldier? Decorations: EK-2, Turkish Eiserner Halbmond fuer Mannschaften and Verwundetenabzeichen im Schwarz. 

Can you please let me know the exact detachment that soldier served with? What those three horizontal stripes stand for?

No.10 Another photo of Hindenburg taken by a professional photographer.

Many thanks for the identification!   

Close-up of that Reichswehr general. Unfortunately there are no captions on the backside of this postcard-sized photo. 

Please help to identify this general!

Fragment of the previous photo. Note the absence of the collar patches.

Many thanks for the information!

No 20. Students' meeting in 20s or early 30s. Note the Stahlhelmbund member at the far right and Reichwehr Gefreiter.

Thank you very much, Gordon, for the valuable info provided! I really appreciate any help regarding Stahlhelmbund insignia as all information I have is just collected together odds and ends from various sources. Could you please provide me with a Gau numerals? And secondly, could you please recommend any online resource where I could find as complete as possible info regarding Stahlhelmbund insignia?

I'll take a stab at the medals in #30.

Many thanks for the identification of the awards!

Freiwillige,

The badges on the side of the cap are usually commemorative badges.  Some were authorized to be worn there and some were not but were worn anyway.  I'll post some fotos of hats with badges on the side tomorrow when I can get better pictures of them.  These are really wonderful pictures of Stahlhelm men.  Thanks very much for posting them.

As for the colour of the uniforms, feldgrau covers a multitude of different colours of grey.

Regards, Gordon

Many thanks for the info and kind words, Gordon! By the way do you have any idea regarding that "3" device on the collar patches of that Stahlhelmbund member?

Any help with the identification of his awards is highly appreciated :rolleyes:

No.19 Another beautiful portrait of the Stahlhelmbund WW1 veteran member.

Could anyone help me with the photos No.1, 2 and 4?

No.9 High-quality period press-photo. The caption on the back of the photo states: "Deutsche Weihestunde des Deutschen Reichskriegerbundes "Kyffhäuser". Reichspräsident v.Hindenburg bei der Weihestunde" Presse-Photo G.m.b.H. Berlin".

Very nice photographs!

Thank you! Any comments on photos No.7 and No.8 regarding the identification of the high-ranking officers? 

I totally agree with Rick, The man is a Deckofficer and probably technical.

Thank you! Any ideas about the rest of the photos? Please help if you can!

Fragment of the previous photo.