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    Need help identifying German insignia


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    I have some insignia here from a WWII German uniform that I need some clarification on. Included are:

    1. Shoulder strap with red piping, white and gold braid, one pip and the numeral 9. Some information I have shows it may be that of an first sergeant.

    2. Sleeve insignia (may denote artillery)

    3. Collar tabs (also may denote artillery NCO)

    4. The photograph of the front of the jacket shows a breast eagle and, the part I'm wondering about, the ribbons in the German flag colors that are looped through what looks like an extra button hole and sewn to the inside of the jacket. I've never seen an arrangement quite like this.

    I work in a museum and we like to have these things identified for visitors.

    Any and all help will be appreciated.

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    Guest Rick Research

    Yes but the correct rank title for a Feldwebel in the artillery was Wachtmeister. The flaming shell sleeve insignia is for a Richtkanonier-- a gun-aimer. That is the Model 1941 tunic-- collar same color as the tunic itself, with pleated pockets, still using earlier dark green based insignia.

    Field Artillery Regiment 9 was garrisoned at Siegen. It was part of 9th Infantry Division in the IXth Army Corps. It held part of the Westwall aka Siegfried Line over the winter of 1939/40, then invaded France as part of Panzer Group von Kleist. It served on the southern sectors of the Russian Front from 1941 to 1944-- invading the Ukraine, the Crimea, and getting as far as the Caucasus before being pushed back all the way it had come. The 9th Infantry Division was largely battered to pieces in the Soviet invasion of Romania in the summer of 1944. What was left was recreated in Denmark out of bits and pieces of other remnant units, and flung against the Americans during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. There was nothing much left of it by 1945.

    Chances are this senior sergeant had fallen somewhere along the way, and his effects were sent home to his family. To have SURVIVED all of the above is almost unthinkable.

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    Thanks!! I would love to see closeups reverse of the collar, where the tabs are sewn and one closer of the eagle!! Very nice! Are there any award loops?

    Regards

    Paul

    Sure. I'll get the tabs' reverse and the eagle, but I'm new to the terminology here, so what's an award loop?

    The uniform was not well stored for a few decades, and apparently moths found it. Also, there seems to be a lot of patches on the inside.

    Edited by hammack51
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