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    Posted

    I think the German kingdoms had a lot more interaction between their armies than was previously thought, particularly when it came to elite, specialist units.

    :cheers:

    Posted (edited)

    Could these be related ................ ??????

    Black skulls ................

    Red and black ...............

    Wuerttemberg cockade ........

    Wuerttemberg 'XIII' .........

    :whistle:

    Edited by Robin Lumsden
    Posted (edited)

    "Speaking of the "St." abbreviation"

    I know that the concept of Stammkompanie was used by the Germans during WWII. I am away from my books to check the use of the term during WWI.

    However, you'd be surprised to see a skull being worn on a cap of a Stamm unit. What we don't know, is if the moment whe the skull was added to the cap. Freikorps could then be a possibility. It's a rather uncommon skull pattern.

    Regards

    Gilles

    Edited by Gilles
    Posted

    "Speaking of the "St." abbreviation"

    I know that the concept of Stammkompanie was used by the Germans during WWII. I am away from my books to check the use of the term during WWI.

    However, you'd be surprised to see a skull being worn on a cap of a Stamm unit. What we don't know, is if the moment whe the skull was added to the cap. Freikorps could then be a possibility. It's a rather uncommon skull pattern.

    Regards

    Gilles

    Gilles,

    I make no claims that this is a Sturm Bataillon cap. I'm not sure what the markings mean. It's all just speculation. I'm putting it out there for comment and hopefully some information with arise. As you say, there is no telling when the skull was added. It could just as well be a Freikorps thing too.

    Chip

    Posted

    but everything comes to he who waits!

    Yes, sometimes you have to wait. And sometimes you have to wait for a second chance.

    I gave this badge to another collector in past. I have never seen another one.

    Now he decided to sell his collection and I got it back! :D

    Posted

    Another variation of the flamethrower Totenkopf sleeve badge. The badge on the left has no lower jaw. Compare it to the inset photo of the standard sleeve badge. I can't enlarge the jawless badge any more, because it loses definition. The photo depicts a platoon of flamethrower pioneers that includes at least three members of Sturmbataillon No. 5 (Rohr), so this jawless variation may have been an early Rohr badge that was later discontinued.

    Posted

    Here's a slightly bigger scan of the badge, together with the two standard badges Robin posted before.

    You can see that there's no "chin" below the white line of teeth at the bottom of the skull on the left. Too bad the quality of the photo isn't better.

    Posted

    ......... while the 'jawless' variation reminds me of the busby skull.

    Of course, none of the Prussian TKs had a jaw. The top row of 'teeth' was meant to represent the cavities into which the actual teeth fitted.

    Posted

    Flamethrower in action at 8.46 here ...............

    I have a pen-pal who's a recently retired major in the Russian army. He worked in the chemical-warfare branch, so he's very knowledgeable about Russian flamethrowers. I contacted him through his Web site when I was researching my last book.

    He's a great guy, but when the topic turns to Germany, he becomes one of the scariest, most extremist people on the planet. His approach is "Nuke them all and let God sort them out." His father and father-in-law both fought in the Great Patriotic War. The memories of what the Nazis did to Russia are still very fresh.

    Posted

    ........ but when the topic turns to Germany, he becomes one of the scariest, most extremist people on the planet. His approach is "Nuke them all and let God sort them out." His father and father-in-law both fought in the Great Patriotic War. The memories of what the Nazis did to Russia are still very fresh.

    Not surprising. I think that movie is probably pretty realistic as regards the activities of the Einsatzgruppen.

    Most of them pi$$ed out of their skulls and totally merciless.

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