Mystery Photo.

[Gordon Williamson]

This rather nice photo just arrived. It was mis-identified by the seller as being Feldgendarmerie troops from 125 Infanterie Division and was one of several on offer, others definitely being Feldgendarmerie (wearing Gorget etc).

[Gordon Williamson]

On closer inspection, it can be seen that the cuffband being worn is actually "Feldherrnhalle", as the lettering is in S?tterlin script not Fraktur, and the long "h" in "halle" can be seen.

[Gordon Williamson]

Not all bad news of course as photos of the Feldherrnhalle band being worn are rarer than Feldgendarmerie. Then a few things about the photo started to click. Firstly, they wear only belt order, no "y" straps, and have only a single set of ammo pouches, this being commonly used by Feldgendarmerie. The enlisted men wear shoulder straps which certainly don't seem to show the high contrast in colour between strap and piping that would be the case for Infantry white.

The NCO nearest the camera in the fron row wears a ribbon bar. Could the last ribbon be a solid colour (Blue ?) with a circular device (Police Long Service Medal ?). Several appear to be wearing DRL and or SA Sports Badges, something that crops up frequently on photos of Fg. (I suppose soldiers not necessarily right at the front who do not have the same opportunities to earn combat awards, were more likely to wear their sports badges rather than have a "bare" chest.)

So definitely not 125 Infanterie as claimed, but maybe, just maybe, still Fg from the period after use of the Fg sleeve eagle and cuffband was halted, or some other "second echelon" troops.

Either way, a nice photo of troops from FHH (interesting that not a single one wears the SA Kampfrune shoulder strap of this unit)