Odulf

This is a modern tunic of a Guardsman (thus no rank).

Another, marked as: R.V.6 PFORZHEIM

Thank you WTH for this very useful link! This is by far the most useful and comprehensive outline I have ever seen, about this complex matter (to my opinion). Still I would advice, for a deeper insight, the source I have mentioned above, because it adds dates and other relevant background information, if the book is still available...

How's about this for a Memento Mori? An albumen print (c. 1885) by G.Incapora, with the dressed up remains of Roman Catholic prelates on exhibition (about 25 x 19 cm)

This may be of interest to you Robin... One of my collections comprises information about German culture, inclusive weihnachten. In one of the magazines of the DJ I found the swastika badge

What an interesting perspective Taras, and thank you all others for contributing to it!

I had this set, rescued from a moth infested jacket (Gehobene Dienst)

The standard book "Die Deutsche Wehrmacht - Uniformierung und Ausrüstung" Band I - Das Heer, by Adolf Schicht & John R. Angolia, on page 343 says: Beamte des mittleren Dienstes im Offizierrang: They collar tabs identical to those of Beamter des gehobenen Dienstes. To distinguish these two, per Vfg.v. 10.4.1940 (HV 40B, Nr.269) new collar tabs were introduced: hand embroidered and identical but significantly more narrow. Beamte im Unteroffizierrang: collar tabs of woven fabric, and greyish white or grey.

Heeresbeamter auf Kriegsdauer, Left to right: Höheren Dienst - Gehobene Dienst - Mittleren Dienst

Left to right: Höheren Dienst - Gehobene Dienst - Mittleren Dienst

File Name: Uniformtafeln Deutsches Reich bis 1918 File Submitter: Odulf File Submitted: 24 May 2012 File Category: Germany German Imperial uniforms and shoulderboards for identification. Click here to download this file

Another example of "Sprüche" regarding the bond with the soil; a wall painting in a HJ Landjahr building, around Christmas: "Schwert wird Sichel / Sichel wird Schwert / beider Ernte die Heimat ernährt" (Sword becomes sickle / sickle becomes sword / the harvest of both feeds the homeland)

Thanx for letting us know, I've just ordered my copy.

Check out this image: http://gmic.co.uk/in...oatswains-mate/

The German word "Scholle" is used in the connotation of native soil, and the symbol used is the Odal Rune. Thus the phrase "Ehret die Scholle die uns ernährt" (honour the patch of native soil which feeds us) has a double meaning: 1- Show respect for the ancesteral soil from which we originate and which feeds us in a spiritual sense; 2- Respect our native fields, crops and land labour from which we gain our bread. In the late 19th and early 20th Century romantic minds glorified the pure farmers' life as the heirs of the unspoiled basic Germanic heritage, as it was before industrialistion and modern (corrupted) large scale city life. The Nazis picked this up and mixed it with their Blut und Boden ideas. That is, for instance, why the HJ was employed in the Landjahr as farm hands, and why the (female) RAD helped out the farmers whose regular workers had been drawn into the military forces. Young people had to connect with the basic land life and respect the origines of food and toil to provide food for the nation, to gain a sense of the annual cycle of sow and harvest, breed and death. Simple life, simple food, home grown and not imported was to be preferred above all complicated, processed and imported foodstuffs. Bread, in the Western world, is the most basic food, and what is better than to bake bread from your own harvest. It is an understatement which applied strongly to the adeptors of the New Order. In many NSDAP-songs the words Bread, Soil, Work are repeatedly used as the highest achievements of the ideal nation. The future elite of the Thousend Year Empire had to go through that school to gain respect for the national heritage and to become rooted. I enclose a photo from a Landjahr camp, with an entry gate exposing this intention.

Hi Mervyn, It is a very nice bunch all together, indeed and no question about that. I am however critical about some conclusions. He was never a Chief Petty Officer, as you can see on his framed conformation of the MID, but rated as a Leading Seaman (thus wearing square rig, and not the fore and aft rig with buttons and a peaked cap such as worn by CPOs). A Leading Seaman is not a Chief Petty Officer, equally a Corporal is not a Sergeant-Major. It is just a matter of definitions. Nice to see in the monk shot, framed with the tally HMS Shropshire, that he wears the cap tallt HMML instead of the official tally HMS. The listing of "places visited" on the reverse of the blue jean collar is a charming custom, sometimes these lists can be found also written on the canvas kit bag.

Thank you for this suggestion, it is an interesting idea, raising the question if any of the RAD top-dogs matches with this decoration. I have also been pondering about an Asian Order (like Persian or Japanese). Judging from the photo he wears one star on his shoulder (Oberarbeitsführer, Obergeneralarbeitsführer Honorary-Obergeneralarbeitsführer)

I hope this is big enough (luckily these German cameras were of astonishing quality, as the original picture measures only 8 x 5 cm)

And here is the whole picture

Thanks a lot Freiherr Can you also confirm that this is Schinnerer?

He is obviously of Dutch decent, literally his name is translated as Lee Shore, the least fortunable place for a sailor to be. Despite of his name, he gained an admirable group of medals.

HMML 352 was a Motor Launch, a minor craft for inshore and off the coast duties and all sorts of odd jobs.

Hi Mervyn, I don't intend to kill your entousiasm, but I have some remarks: This is a blazer badge, not to be worn on the Naval uniform. it may have been worn by a Merchant Navy man or by a DEMS gunner or by some one not being a member of a larger craft for which a larger number of badgers were embroidered; these had to be bought at their own expenses. The Bosun's Call may have been obtained by all means, for any reason, only Bosun's Mates and Acting Bosun's Mates would carry such a call (it was also a token of authority). As pay was so poor, the vast majority never thought of buying a silver one....

Who can identify the RAD (General) Arbeitsführer on the left? The phicture was taken on Sylt; on the right, the Arbeitsführer commanding Arbeitsgruppe 70; could the man with the streched hand be the Generalarbeitsführer Otto Triebel (AG VII)?

So I was told