Heer What is this patch

[Harvey]

Great photo of a Nazi "Zug mit Zugfuhrer" in Paris.

Can someone identify the patches on the two men in the front row - on the left sleeve, just above the swastika armband.

-Dave

[Harvey]

Here's a better closeup:

Edited March 22, 2007 by Harvey

[Ulsterman]

Looks like an RAD unit patch.

[Guest Rick Research]

For some reason R.A.D. troops employed at the front circa 1940 usually seem to have had their insignia peeled off-- probably to make them less visible to the enemy. They've just slipped their armbands back on, but have discarded the unit insignia.

I've got a really bad group photo of R.A.D. in the field in 1940 with insignias removed and a couple wearing "Deutsche Wehrmacht" armbands instead of the flashy Party ones.

[Harvey]

Can someone post a picture of an RAD patch? I've no clue what that is or what it looks like.

Thanks!

-Dave

[Guest Rick Research]

They are shovels with the unit numbers on them:

[Harvey]

Ahhh...

I wonder what unit they belonged to?

For that matter, maybe someone can translate the writing on the back:

I can make out what looks like "I Zug mit Zugfuhrer," or "1st Platoon with Platoon Commander," but that's about it.

[Harvey]

BTW, I picked this up at a flohmarkt in Boblingen (outside of Stuttgart) for a few Euros. Looked to be part of a photo album - there were several others of the same guy - looked like the NCO 5th from the right in the earlier photo.

I should've bought the one that had him holding up a sign that said "Fr?hliche Weihnachten - Warsaw 1939"

[Guest Rick Research]

Rather eccentric handwriting mixing modern with the old style but written, I'd say, at the time and not postwar

I. Zug mit Zugf?hrer

Obfm. Rosenkranz

Gut Aufheben m?chte es (?)

Oberfeldmeister was an Oberleutnant equivalent.

Now what has the R.A.D. got to do with the ARMY in 1940?

Here's a photo of the 3. Zug 2/Baubatl 171 taken to commemorate completion of their 6 months service on the Western Front 1939/40:

Like the National Labor Service members in your photo, their insignia has mostly been removed. This was the same period when SS-VT units took off their collar patches too.

But here's this same blurry overexposed photo in a bit closer:

While the officers and senior NCOs retain their tabs and R.A.D. caps, all of the enlisted men in this photo are wearing ARMY overseas caps with what appears to be black Waffenfarbe soutache. Note the "Deutsche Wehrmacht" armbands.

[Harvey]

The last three words look like "zur allen lassen" or something like that. No idea what that means, tho.

[Gerd Becker]

The last three words look like "zur allen lassen" or something like that. No idea what that means, tho.

"Gut aufheben, m?chte es einrahmen lassen" ("...would like to have it framed")

Gerd