Heer "British" Feldgendarmerie

[Gordon Williamson]

Here is an interesting piece. Worn in the immediate postwar months by German military police operating under British control in Northern Germany. British Military Police forces were stretched to their limits coping with vast numbers of surrendered German troops being demobilised, plus huge numbers of DPs, traffic control etc etc. The British were quick to put former Wehrmacht Military Police back to good use.

[perce]

Hi Gordon

Nice interesting piece-must have impressed the ex-Wehrmacht members to see the kettenhund back out on their beats!!!

Cheers

Perce

[Paul R]

Hi Gordon

Nice interesting piece-must have impressed the ex-Wehrmacht members to see the kettenhund back out on their beats!!!

Cheers

Perce

This is the first such armband I have seen!! You come up with some real treasures!

Paul

[Gordon Williamson]

Hi Paul,

Yes this one is a real rarity. I was aware of the existence of these but had never encountered an example before seeing this one. These troops were raised by the British VIII Corps and eventually reached approximately regimental strength, so there were quite a few of them.

One of their main tasks was control of movement, discipline etc amongst German troops being processed through the huge demobilisation centre at Meldorf in Schleswig-Holstein. The Imperial War Museum has a few photos of these guys undergoing instruction from the British trainers.

The US Army did the same sort of thing the attached photo ( U.S. Signal Corps photo) shows a Feldgendarm with US MPs. Note he is still in full uniform and his insignia does not appear to have been denazified.

[Ulsterman]

Very interesting!

I have seen many photos of the German MPs at check points after the war.

In Band of Brothers the final episode recounts how a drunken soldier shot one and one of the original men one night.

[Guest Rick Research]

It is my understanding that removal of swastika'd insignia (but at that point NOT swastika'd awards) was to indicate that the person de-eagled was a Former Combatant (I forget the exact term used) and allowed to wander around loose, whereas Wehrmacht members still fully insignia'd were understood to be continuing an official function.

The U.S. miltary had a badge or patch called "the ruptured duck" to indicate American demobilized personnel still in uniform (for lack of civilian attire) but who could no longer be screamed at for not saluting officers and so on.

Around September 1945 or so (working from memory) ALL swastikas were ordered removed, as was rank insignia. That's why the Nuremburg defendants are seen in photos wearing stripped uniforms.

[Chris Boonzaier]

I had a German/English MP Ausweis for a Feldgendarme just at the end of hostilities,had both German and Brit stamps.

Also had a Luftwaffe helmet with a period big "MP" painted in white on the front.

Best

Chris

[Langemark]

Dear Gordon,

Did you manage to decipher the round stamp on your armband ?

On mine, the stamping is barely readable.

The only characters I can read is "Wehrm***".

The question is to know why the word "Wehrmacht" is still printed on this post-war armband like on many wartime German armbands showing various stamps ?

Thank you for giving me your thoughts,

Marc

Edited May 30, 2011 by Langemark