Kriegsmarine Japanese style Auxiliary Cruiser

[John R]

Are there any photos of the Japanese style Auxiliary Cruiser in wear? John

[Gordon Williamson]

Unlike the case with the U-Boat Badge where there are many visual differences between makers which are significant enough to show up on wartime photos, the Aux Cruiser badges are all pretty much the same. I doubt that it would be possible to determine the characteristics of any of the Japanese made awards (EK1, DK, RK, Aux Cruiser etc) from a photo. Love to be proved wrong though.

[Monsun]

Hello John, hello Gordon.

yes Gordon, you are wrong

Here is a photo from my collection with an Japanese style "Sterling silver" Auxiliary Cruiser Badge in wear. It shows a crewmember of the Auxiliary Cruiser "Michel". He came later back to europe on board of U 532 Junker.

It?s the first time I show this photo, exclusive here on GMIC!

You can see the difference?

Comments are very welcome!

Regards,

Monsun

Edited August 22, 2007 by Monsun

[nesredep]

Hi

Monsun

Great and interesting photo.

Regards

Nesredep

[nesredep]

Hi

I found this photo on the internet.Is this a Japanese style?

Regards

Nesredep

[John R]

Thanks Monsun for that very important photo. Puts to rest some debate about the badge and is quite a contibution to the research of this badge.

The badge above is indeed the accepted Japanese version of this war badge, stamped "sterling". I am not sure why a Japanese jeweler would mark it "sterling" but that was over 60 years ago and might have been a standard stamp worldwide for all sterling silver pieces explaining why there are no Japanese characters.

In any case, there are just too many badges with very good provenance that look like that to not accept them as original in my opinion. However, they are very expensive to obtain.

John

Edited August 23, 2007 by John Robinson

[Gordon Williamson]

Hello John, hello Gordon.

yes Gordon, you are wrong

Here is a photo from my collection with an Japanese style "Sterling silver" Auxiliary Cruiser Badge in wear. It shows a crewmember of the Auxiliary Cruiser "Michel". He came later back to europe on board of U 532 Junker.

It?s the first time I show this photo, exclusive here on GMIC!

You can see the difference?

Comments are very welcome!

Regards,

Monsun

Wonderful photo and I am very pleased to be proved wrong. For sure this is the Japanese made version, the details of the globe are quite apparent. Many, many thanks for showing this one !! I should have guessed that if anyone would have photos of this badge, it would be you !!

[Monsun]

Thank you Gordon for the friendly words,

here are two japanese style auxiliary cruiser badges from my collection. The left one is from an member of the "Doggerbank", the right one I get from an "Oberbootsmaat" from the "Michel".

[Gordon Williamson]

My God ! You have TWO of these super rare badges, and with provenance from actual crew members. Such things most people can only dream about !

[nesredep]

Hi

Fantastic variant and a rare find.

Regards

Nesredep

[Monsun]

A photo of six german crew member of the auxiliary cruiser "Thor" in front of the "Fuji" in Hakone/Japan, at the end of october or november 1942. It?s also possible that the soldier on the right wears such an japanese auxiliary cruiser badge, but the photo was not good enough to be sure.

[Martin W]

SUPERB!!!!!

Thanks for showing.As John mentioned it certainly puts to rest any debate on the authenticity of these badges.Wonderful photographs too.

Regards,Martin.

Edited August 27, 2007 by mwestley

[Stan]

Monsun,

That is very interesting information indeed! I had become very sceptical of these badges so this is very important evidence that they did indeed exist pre-1945.

Stan

[Monsun]

Hello,

here is another photo from my collection, please look at the photographer stemp!

I dont know the name of the soldier, but it must be an member of the "Thor" or "Michel".

What do you think, another jap. made auxiliary cruiser badge?

Regards,

Monsun

[Gordon Williamson]

Hello,

here is another photo from my collection, please look at the photographer stemp!

I dont know the name of the soldier, but it must be an member of the "Thor" or "Michel".

What do you think, another jap. made auxiliary cruiser badge?

Regards,

Monsun

Very interesting. I have a copy of this same photo from the U-Boot Archiv, but don't have a note of which U-Boat's photo album it came from. Do you have any information about this sailor - did he serve on U-Boats after being on a Hilfskreuzer ?

[Monsun]

Hello Gordon,

no, sorry. I also didnt know the name of this sailor or if he served later on a u-boat. But its possible, because in the years 1943-44 some members of U 511 and from the auxiliary cruisers Thor and Michel are commanded to the formerly italian u-boats UIT 23, UIT 24 and UIT 25 in Singapore.

But the only sure information about this photo is the "Yokohama" photographer stemp.

What do you mean about the badge?

Edited August 28, 2007 by Monsun

[Monsun]

A german newspaper from October 1943 with the title "german soldiers in Singapur". The german officer with the german cross in gold was Korvettenkapit?n Hille from the auxiliary cruiser Thor. Inside was an article about an sightseeing tour from members of the "Thor" in Singapor and at the palast of the sultan of Johore.

[Ibrahim Ahmad]

A photo of six german crew member of the auxiliary cruiser "Thor" in front of the "Fuji" in Hakone/Japan, at the end of october or november 1942. It?s also possible that the soldier on the right wears such an japanese auxiliary cruiser badge, but the photo was not good enough to be sure.

Hi Monsun,

What a coincidence, you mentioning Lake Hakone...

As you know im currently making a website about the Monsun U-Boats.And as part of the introduction, i'll be writing something about the Kriegsmarine in Japan.

Please see here for more pics and a short summary about them http://www.singapore-ww2-militaria.com/mon...at_history.html

As always i'll always be updating the webpage as time goes by, so please check it out

BTW:- Gordon, i used one of your pic for that section i wrote ( ive watermarked it with your name), hope you are ok with it, else i'll remove it.

Cheers,

Ibrahim,

Singapore.

[Gensui]

Gents,

Do you have any information about the maker of these (Japanese made?) Aux badge?

BR, Chris

[Martin W]

Hi Chris,

to this point we have no idea who made these badges.They were commisioned by Admiral Paul Wenneker the German Naval Attache in Japan and are beleived to have been made by an "unknown" jeweler in Yokohama.

The badges were made in both sterling silver and tombak.

Here is a rather worn example that i have in tombak.

Regards,Martin.

[Martin W]

As Hakone was mentioned in an earlier post,here are a couple of photo's that i have that show THOR crewmen in front of the Hakone Hotel.

Some of the crew were billeted here after the THOR was destroyed by a fire in Yokohama Harbour.

Regards,Martin.

[Gensui]

Hi Martin,

A beautiful item - for sure!

Do you know any sources, e.g. who's saying the story about the jeweller in Yokohama? Intersting point might be the question, what about the Japanese made Iron Cross and the commemorative medal for the u-boat members (e.g. the so-called Monsum-boats).

BR, Chris

[Martin W]

Hi Martin,

A beautiful item - for sure!

Do you know any sources, e.g. who's saying the story about the jeweller in Yokohama? Intersting point might be the question, what about the Japanese made Iron Cross and the commemorative medal for the u-boat members (e.g. the so-called Monsum-boats).

BR, Chris

No positive sources really,although it is mentioned in Gordon's book "War Badges of the Kriegmarine" that "the German Naval Attache in Tokyo,Admiral Wennecker,commissioned the manufacture of a number of specimens,reputedly from a Japanese Jeweler in Yokohama".

I am also not sure if there is any link between these HK awards and the awards made for the U-Boat men?

Is it possible that the U-Boat awards could have been made in Singapore ?

Here is an award document i have for the Hilfskreuzer badge to a crewman from the THOR.It is signed in Yokohama by the Commander of the THOR,Gunther Gumprich.

Regards,Martin.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Martin W

[Gensui]

Hi Martin,

Please find attached a similar medal,
which my contact received (in deed!) in Singapore, and not in Japan.

This medal was shown at the WAF (http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=420435&page=2) – courtesy of user “Collani”

The Japanese writing on the back-side mentioned (from right to left) “INDO YOU”
(Japanese for Pacific Ocean).

I remember a couple of years ago, the German military dealer Weitze offered a similar medal
for approx. 2,000 Euro / 1,700 brit. Pound.

BR, Chris

[Martin W]

Hi Chris,

i have seen a couple of these awards before and they are quite fascinating.

I still have no idea as to where they were made,Singapore or Japan ??

"Collani" has some great and rare items in his collection.On this forum he goes by the the name of "Monsun",and his wonderful HK awards and photo's from Japan can be seen in this thread.

I do admit it would be nice to find out "who" was the maker of these Japanese HK awards,but where to start ??

Regards,Martin.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Martin W