Laurence Strong

I recieved this trio in the mail today. This was a women's association the army and navy used to help the war effort. Japanese Patriotic Women's Association. 3rd class supplemental. I am not sure of what the different levels are, though I have 3 different one's. Case cover

here is the wraper and my cased medal for the 1931-34 Manchurian Incident. Some of the characters are similar!

Hi Darrell I have restricted my self to German, belgium, Yugoslavia, and Japan for medals.......at this point in time I have a couple more japanese ones on the way and then I will post what I have, quite a modest amount actually.

Thanks Rick I am in the procces of purchasing some reference books on Japanese medals

1931 - 34 Manchurian Incident war medal. Thanks for your help

I recived these the other day and was wondering if the wraper was part of a cased set, like the one Gordon posted or if they were done both ways? 2600th National Anniversary Commemerative medal w/ wraper

It's the only family you will ever have, how can you be prying, when it invovles your blood?

There are @Bill Nice tabs I see they made the little dots on those for the prop bolts

Here's the battalion layout in block form from the Tech manual, as you can see they had some recce and pio troops

Here's the unit enblems for the Heer sPzAbt's. yeah I would not want to face those with a Piat or a 2" bazzoka. They would have had TigerI's till relpaced with Tiger II's

Actually it's a Battalion, I know us Commonwealth types think along the lines of Regiments Here's the TO&E for an independent Heavy Panzer Bn, it's from "Handbook on German Military Forces" US War Dept Tech Manual 15 March 1945 TM-E 30-451 As for infantry, at best they might have had an integral Pioneer Plt, as they were Army or Corps level units any infantry would come from the units they were sent to support. Only 3 Plt's to a Pz Coy 3X4 + 2 HQ = 14

Thanks for that

Found a little more: After the end of the kursk offensive 1. SSPzGdr. Div. LAH was sent to Italy for refitting. All the vehicles were left in Russia and used to resupply Das Reich and Totenkopf. As previously stated Das Reich used the temporary Kursk divisional sign until the following winter, and also retained the White gnome company symbol. The Tiger's were then painted with new turret numbers as the 8th company, using the standard 3 number system. The tanks carried these number's until the company was detatched from Das Reich to form the cadre for sSSPzAbt 102 in March 1944. I found somewhere that the 9th company of sSSPzAbt 102 used the White gnome and am trying to track down proof. Later

Ok here you go: 2SS PzGdr. Div. Das Reich recived 14 Tiger ausf E's and organized them into the 8th company of the Pz Rgt. The Tigers of Das Reich were Dark yellow with Red Brown and Olive Green oversprayed in soft edged patches. The turret numbers were painted in White outline. The numbering system used an S for schwere (heavy) followed by a two digit tank number. This identified the platoon and vehicle (S11 - S14, S21 - S24, and S31- S34). S01 and S02 were the company staff vehicles. A unique company symbol was a White gnome, stenciled onto the turret sides. Das Reich used the divisional wolfsangel symbol in Yellow Ocher, and then for the Kursk offensive, used the temporary division sign, painted in White, on the front and rear of it's Tiger ausf E's. This marking was still in use several months later.

Hi Do I call you "Big", "jar of", or "wasps" . Here's a little more about the battalion. It has been plagerised in total from squadron/signals publications Panzer Colors III. Sorry about taking so long getting back to you, I will post some photo's in the next day or so. "sPzAbt. 503 was formed in mid - 1942 and first saw action in southern Russia, during the Don campaign and the withdrawal from Stalingrad. During this period, the Tiger's of sPzAbt. 503 were overall Dark Yellow. The three digit turret numbers followed the standard system, and were painted in White with a fine Black outline. For the CITADEL offensive at Kursk, sPzAbt. 503 Tigers were repainted with spray camouflage. The turret numbers were painted with Red centers and White borders. sPzAbt. 503 was an Army Group South (Heeresgruppe Sud) independent unit and represented half of all the Tiger I tanks that participated in the Kursk offensive. In late 1943, sPzAbt. 503 was made part of Panzer Regiment "Bake", a special battle group which fought in several fierce engagements in the Dneiper sector near Cherkassy. During this period, sPzAbt. 503 again changed it's turret numbering system, to a single digit, probably denoting the company. The number was Red with a fairly wide White border. This may have resulted from the transfer to PzRgt. "Bake". The sPzAbt. 503 remained in PzRgt. "Bake" until April 1944, then was withdrawn and sent to the West for refitting. In mid - 1944 sPzAbt. 503 was in France in preparation for the expected Allied landings on the European continent. The battalion staff and 1st company had been re-equipped with Tiger II B's, but the 2nd and 3rd companies retained the Tiger I E. All these vehicles had a near textbook application of the three color camouflage system. Turret numbers once again followed the standard system (company, platoon, vehicle), and were Red with White borders. Many tanks in the battalion carried heavy foliage camouflage because of the danger of Allied air attacks. sPzAbt. 503 fought through the Normandy campaign. The 3rd company was caught in a bombing attack in July 1944 and all it's Tigers were damaged or destroyed. It was re-equipped with new Tiger II B's in August. By the end of September sPzAbt. 503 was completely equipt with 45 new Tiger ausf B's and transferred to Hungary and committed to the defense of Budapest. In January 1945 sPzAbt. 503 was renamed sPzAbt. Feldherrenhalle and attached to PzGdrDiv. Feldherrenhalle. This division was eventually annihilated in the defense of Budapest. Out of 50,000 troops in the city only a few hundred were able to escape." I recogni

Hi I think you are talking about sPz-Abt. 503 (Heavy Panzer Battalion 503). Here's a little history about the Bn: Held open Rostov gap for retreat Caucaus forces, winter '42-'43. On S axis Kursk offensive, 7.43. fighting withdrawl over Dneiper, winter '43. To "Pz.Regt.Bake", 1.-3.44. Refitted with King Tigers, France: into action against the British E of Caen, 7.44. Inflicted heavy losses British attack Bourgeubus Ridge, but heavy casualties from air attack, 18.7.44. Heavy losses at Amiens. Reffited 9.44: to Hungary 10.44: defensive fighting -5.45. As to the color it looks like a Czech Brown, but that was used frequently at the end of the war as paint stocks ran out or were disrupted. As to the application, I don't know if there were unit norms I do know that they were applied in the field by spray painter, brushes, and what ever else came to hand, and dilution of the paint probably varied from tank to tank. Hope this helps. I will post some more in the AM. Nice model by the way

The kanji on my 8th class case is different from Gordons, can someone tell me why, was it for a different era?

The lapel pin. Thanks for looking and please post yours also

The medal

My last one at this time is a Mens Silver Red Cross made out of Aluminium, as Silver was needed for the war effort.

The Medal

On to the mens. WW2 Silver Mens Red Cross with rosette in case.

The reverse

Continuing with the womens , WW2 with rosette, can someone explaine the difference or reason for the rosette.

The reverse