Heer Shoulder Board Help!

[Rod]

I am trying to make a display around a hauptmann's engraved EK1.

He was a member of Unit Stab 111./Artillerie Regiment 186./ 86. Infantrie Division.

So far this is the only should board I have been able to find. I have no idea what the X111 stands for. I think the pips are good for a hauptmann and there is a red edging which I again think is for artillery.

Would someone please comment on how close I am to the proper shoulder boards I need?

Can you suggest a source?

Rod

[Laurence Strong]

Hi Rod

You have the branch colour and rank correct, however those boards would be for a Secondary Reserve officer (Grey nebenfarbe - secondary colour) of, I believe. XIII Korps (Nurnberg). You want a set with just the Red waffenfarbe, or ideally a set with "186" in metal letters. I am not sure if there were "Staff" devices, someone else may be able to comment on that.

Sort of like the numbers on this Leutnant Gebirgsjager set.

Hope this helps

[Rod]

Hello Laurence

Thanks so much for the reply.

I guess "nebenfarbe" mean the main body of the board and "waffenfarbe" the edge? Obviously I know nothing about shoulder boards.

I am hoping to run into a collector that specializes in shoulder boards. Perhaps that is too much to ask.

I would really like to make a trade even if it is lop sided not in my favor (my boards + $$).

Rod

Edited March 5, 2007 by Rod

[Laurence Strong]

Waffenfarbe is the Trade or primary color.

Nnebenfarbe is the secondary color

In the case of most of the boards it's always waffen followed by nebenfarbe going from the top down, beamte Officials are the exact opposite.

[Paul R]

The bottom layer looks gray? Can you please do a scan of the backside?

If they are gray, they are for a reservist in the Heer(army).

[Bob Lyons]

Yes Laurence and Paul are correct for the reservist Hauptmann.

A quote from 'Hitler's Legions' by Samuel W. Mitcham : -

Wehrkreis XIII.

This district consisted of most of Franconia, Lower Bavaria, the Upper Palatinate, and small sections of southern Thuringia, northern Baden, Wuertemberg and Swabia. In 1938 it annexed part of Czechoslovakia. The Wehrkreis, which had its headquarters in Nurmeberg, had an area of 49,900 square kilometers and a population of 4,771,000.

When the war started, the XIII established Replacement Division staffs 173 and 193 to control its replacement training units. In the fall of 1943 the 173rd was redisgnated a reserve division, transferred to eastern Croatia with most of the Wehrkreis' training units, and placed directly under the control of the Home Army. The 193rd Replacement Division, which was now in Bohemia, remained under Wehrkreis control with some of the training units. Replacement Division staff 413 was created at Nuremberg in 1943 to assume command of the replacment units left behind by the 173rd. The District's motorized and panzer training units were assigned to the 273rd Reserve Panzer Division in late 1943 and lost to the Wehrkreis.

By the spring of 1944, both the 173rd Reserve and 273rd Reserve Panzer Divisions had been dissolved, and the Wehrkreis regained all the training responsiblities it had lost the year before. To meet these responsiblities, the Wehrkreis enlarged its existing replacement regiments, which continued operating until the end of the war.

In 1945, the eastern parts of the Wehrkreis were overrun by the Soviets, and the western sections were captured by the Americans and the French.

The following field divisions were affiliated with Wehrkreis XIII: 1st Ski Jaeger, 4th Panzer, 7th Mountain, 10th Infantry, 10th Panzer Grenadier, 17th Infantry, 46th Infantry, 73rd Infantry, 98th Infantry, 99th Jaeger, 113th Infantry, 183rd Infantry, 231st Infantry, 343rd Infantry, 565th Infantry and 713th Infantry.

Bob

[Bob Lyons]

And I should add that you have a nice rare set of boards to the 100th Mountain Infantry Regiment too Laurence! (Part of the 5th Mountain Division under Julius Ringel), and they were part of the relief of Maleme airfield during the Crete campaign.

Bob

Edited March 6, 2007 by Bob Lyons

[Rod]

The bottom layer looks gray? Can you please do a scan of the backside?

If they are gray, they are for a reservist in the Heer(army).

Yep, the backside is gray ... so definitely a reservist!

Thanks,

Rod