bob wirtz

Horst Carganico, JG-5, 60 victories

Kurt Brändle, JG-3, 180 victories, Oakleaves

Anton Benning, JG-106/NJG-1/JG-301, 28 victories (18 4-motors)

Hans Beisswenger, Staffelkapitän, 6./JG-54, 152 victories, KIA in 1943, Oakleaves

Viktor Bauer

Horst Ademeit

Gerhard Barkhorn with 301 victories, Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords

And now back to our regularly scheduled program... Yes, I thought the thread was going off track so I brought it back to subject matter! I think you are right... it appears to be machine woven. Very nice picture. I do exhibits and have a Hauptgefreiter Radioman pea jacket and trousers and usually put an overseas cap on the head, but occasionally put the Schloffelmutze cap on to match the rate. Could I use your picture to go on my documentation when I'm showing this cap? I wouldn't use your name (unless you wanted) but just print it on the page with the documentation about the uniform and cap to show one in use during the war. Here is my exhibit last year (3-4 October 2009) at Brentsville (Virginia) at the historic district's first annual WW2 Living History Weekend. I used the overseas cap in the exhibit but brought the Schloffelmutze along to get photos of it with the jacket. Or you could crop your father out of the photo. Bob

And now back to our regularly scheduled program... Here is the only cap tally I have... still on the Schloffelmutze... Marinenachrichtenschule or Naval Signals School. Bob

Looks like this thread has been on vacation for a couple of years! Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, Generalfeldmarschall, Afrika, Stalingrad, Italy, Oakleaves

Hans Phillip, JG-54, 206 victories, KIA 8 October 1943, Swords

Eugen Meindl General der Fallschirmtruppe Born: 16 July 1892 in Donaueschingen, Baden-Baden Died: 24 January 1951 in München DKiG: 27 July 1942 RK: 14 June 1941 as Generalmajor and Kommandeur, Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment EL: 31 August 1944 (as 564) as General der Fallschirmtruppe and Kommandierender-General of II. Fallschirmkorps Schwerter: 8 May 1945 (as 155) as General der Fallschirmtruppe and Kommandierender-General of II. Fallschirmkorps. Meindl's recommendation for the Swords were submitted by General der Fallschirmtruppe Schlemm and endorsed by General Blaskowitz, Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe H, Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring, Oberbefehlshaber West and Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring. The recommendation was granted and approved by Großadmiral Dönitz. Eugen Meindl served with the artillery from 27 July 1912. In the First World War he commanded a platoon and later a battery and subsequently served as adjutant with Feld-Artillerie-Regiment 67 and with the Artillery Commander, LII. Korps. Meindl served with various artillery units in the Reichswehr. Promoted to Hauptmann on 1 August 1924, on 14 September 1926 he was assigned to the Reichswehr Ministry and spent 10 years there before being promoted to Major. On 10 November 1939 Oberstleutnant Meindl was named commander of Gebirgs-Artillerie-Regiment 112 in Graz. As an Oberst he led the "Meindl Group" and made his very first parachute jump at Narvik. His transfer to the Luftwaffe followed on 28 November 1940, even though he had been commander of "Sturm- Regiment-Meindl" of the parachute troops since 9 August. The airborne invasion of Crete saw Meindl jump near the Platanias Bridge, where he was shot through the chest, a very serious wound. Major Stentzler led the regiment until Oberst Ramcke arrived. On 26 February 1942 Generalmajor Meindl became commander of the newly-formed Luftwaffe Division Meindl in Russia and on 26 September took over XII. Fliegerkorps (later I. Luftwaffe-Feld-Korps). Meindl distinguished himself in the winter fighting in Russia, was named in the Wehrmacht communiqué and on 5 November 1943 was promoted to commanding general of II. Fallschirmkorps, which he led in the west on the invasion front and later at Cleve and in the Reichswald. Meindl's corps fought with distinction at Goch and in the Wesel bridgehead. Meindl was taken prisoner and held until 29 September 1947. Willrich color postcard autographed and dated 10 October 1942

Hermann-Friedrich Joppien, JG-51, 70 victories, Knight's Cross and Oakleaves, KIA 1941

Werner Husemann, second from left, NJG-1/NJG-3, 32 night victories

Bruno Oswald Bräuer General der Fallschirmtruppe Born: 4 February 1893 in Willmannsdorf, Krs. Jauer (Silesia) Executed: 20 May 1947 together with General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller* in the Schaidari Barracks in Athens, Greece under military law DKiG: 13 April 1942 RK: 24 May 1940 as Oberst and Kommandeur, Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1, 7. Luft-Division * General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller was Kommandierender-General LXVIII. Armeekorps at the end of the war and a recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. Bruno Bräuer served as a cadet in the Annaberg District, Halle from 27 April 1905. He successfully passed a number of courses. When the First World War began Bräuer was a member of 7./West-Prussian-Infanterie-Regiment No. 155. He won both Iron Crosses and when the war was over was taken into the Reichswehr. On 7 August 1919 he became a Leutnant. On 1 January 1920 Bräuer joined the police. When the Wecke State Police Group was founded on 25 February 1933 he became a member, commanding the unit's 1st Company. As a Police Major from 1 January 1938 and Oberleutnant he led the General Göring Regiment's I. Battalion. On 23 November 1938, he became commander of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 1 and 1 January 1939 saw him promoted to Oberst. In the Polish Campaign Bräuer received the Spange to the Iron Crosses, First and Second Class. In the airborne operation against Fortress Holland he led his regiment to the Dordrecht and Tweede Tool areas. There he received the Knight's Cross for "heroic personal actions in the employment and command of his regiment." Bräuer led the East Group in the airborne invasion of Crete. There too he demonstrated his leadership qualities.

Thank you, Paul. I'll pass that along. Some super nice enlisted service caps all marked. Bob

Thank you. I probably shouldn't have posted the Kriegmarine cap on this Luftwaffe thread... oops!!! Sorry, moderator!!! But I didn't want to post the same pictures I already have on a specific thread with my collectibles. Willi and I did an email conference to discuss what we'd like to exhibit this year (now 2010) at the four shows we did last year. So far it looks like Chantilly will be all Luftwaffe (Willi's contribution will be his Display Shield), Richmond will be Luftwaffe and Brentsville will be WW2 German and U.S. Navy. Willi will be busy this year with the Wilson History & Research Center of Little Rock, AR. They sent a couple up from Florida and Robby Wilson came up from Arkansas to see his collection. They'll be sending up their curator and a photographer early this year to shoot his collection. The WHRC is primarily interested in all military headgear of the 20th century, but are also starting a "Collectors" section a collector and his collection. So when that comes online you're going to want to visit that. Actually you can visit now: http://www.militaryheadgear.com/. Willi has also been contacted by an author to help on a book by Schiffer about Army, Waffen-SS and Hermann Goring panzer and assault gun uniforms. Let me know if anybody out there has HG panzer/StuG stuff. It's got to be 100% authentic and original, no restorations. I'll be glad to pass the info to Willi. So he's going to be somewhat busy. I'm going to miss him at the Richmond show. He'll come by at the Chantilly and Brentsville shows, and will probably put up his own exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Military Vehicles (VMMV) towards the end of October. Seems so far ahead but as these years pass faster and faster, it won't be that long. Cheers Mates and Happy New Year and Happy Collecting. Hope to see you out at one of my/our exhibits this year. Bob

Paul, I've already been posting some of my stuff on this forum. Check this out: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=39255 That has some of my Wehrmacht uniforms on it. I've got five Luftwaffe, including a major general named to Johannes Schleich (which I'm still paying on), 5 Kriegsmarine (of which one is a Konteradmiral and service cap, which I will start paying on in June 2010 and finish in October 2010), and two Heer, including on Oberfeldwebel black panzer uniform (3 piece) with M38 overseas cap with pink soutache. Bob

#3: Close up on U-391 unit pin. These three pictures: Bill Shea Bob

#2

People think I'm an SS collector because I comment on it most of the time. For many years Willi Schumacher was my mentor and taught me a lot about Waffen-SS, but I could never really afford to collect it, so I collect Wehrmacht (Armed Forces): Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine. In fact just today I picked up a package from Bill Shea with a beautiful Kriegsmarine enlisted overseas cap with the emblem on the side for U-391, which was sunk with all hands in the Bay of Biscay in 1943 while returning from its first patrol. It was attacked and sunk by an RAF bomber on anti-submarine patrol. Here is a picture of the cap: Bob

Gary, All along I thought you were a SERIOUS WW2 German militaria collector!!! Nice stuff, really. Happy New Year! Bob

My concern is the Berolina stencil inside. This is not the original pre-1945 stencil (style and font) that Berolina used to mark their manufactured goods. Berolina was a trade name for G. A. Hoffmann in Berlin. A friend of mine owns a beautiful "Berolina" Waffen-SS officer service cap. The backing on the eagle (blue) doesn't look right either. This cap doesn't do it for me. Personally, I would pass... ball is in your court. Bob

His waffenfarben is dark... could be artillery or pioneer. Bob

Will do early next year. I'm scheduled to go up there and visit him during the first week in January. I have a business trip so I'll see him, but it may not be convenient to photograph at that time. We will be planning our 2010 exhibit schedule! Bob