Gendarmerie Schirmmütze

[Gordon Williamson]

A nice Gendarmerie NCO Visor Cap just arrived from Peter von Lukacs.

One of the biggest caps I've come across at 60.5 ! They even had to insert an extra section into the sweatband to make it big enough.

Couple of minor moth nips but overall a very nice cap .

[Gordon Williamson]

It's of interest to me because the Gendarmerie provided the very first personnel to the Military Police for major troop movements starting with the Anschluss with Austria in 1938, the year this cap was made. At that time they continued to wear their Gendarmerie uniform but with the special Feld=Gendarmerie armband.

[joe campbell]

nice chapeau!

do you have an example of the armband?

joe

[W.Unland]

Very nice. Never seen an acceptance stamp like that before.

Regards,

Bill Unland

[Gordon Williamson]

nice chapeau!

do you have an example of the armband?

joe

Joe,

Here it is with the typical insignia it would be worn with by a member of the Motorisierte Gendarmerie at that time ( circa 1938).

Later ( around the outbreak of war,) they would typically wear the same original Police uniform but often with the Police shoulder straps replaced by Heer types and with a Heer breast eagle added. If serving outside the Reich ( i.e. during the invasion of Poland, they would wear a black on yellow Deutsche Wehrmacht armband in addition to the Feld=Gendarmerie armband, one of the few occasions two armbands were worn at the same time.

[Gordon Williamson]

Very nice. Never seen an acceptance stamp like that before.

Regards,

Bill Unland

Thanks Bill,

Not being that well versed on civil police headgear, I assumed it was a common stamping. Just out of interest, here is the maker, and a shot of the sweatband showing the insert for the extra-large size.

[W.Unland]

Hello,

I'm sure the acceptance stamp is good, just never seen one on a NS-Zeit cap. Usually they are stamped "Po" with a date. Pre-war it was common to see branch specific stamps. This one is "nicer" than the normal in my opinion. Nice maker address too. next to the Hofbrauhaus!

Here is a heavily field worn MG tunic that would have been worn when they provided FG services at the beginning of the war.

Regards,

Bill Unland

Edited July 2, 2010 by W.Unland

[Gordon Williamson]

Beautiful tunic Bill !

I have never seen a priod photo of an MG Officer in Feldgendarmerie service. Of course they existed, but given the tiny number involved - (the Feldgendarmerie itself was very small at this stage so the number of officers would have barely exceeded double figures) - that isn't suprising.

The chap centre background in this 1939 dated "L:ife" photo can be seen to be a Gendarme wearing the green "Feld=Gendarmerie" armband.

[joe campbell]

thanks for the great pictures gordon and all!

interesting and unique thread.

joe

[W.Unland]

Dear Gordon,

Nice photo. The young Major the RF is talking to is also a Gendarmerie officer as you can see his orange piped boards and collar trim. He is probably the MG commander in the field. I think this photo was taken early in the Polish campaign when the Army FG had not yet been deployed.

Regards,

Bill Unland

[Gordon Williamson]

Dear Gordon,

Nice photo. The young Major the RF is talking to is also a Gendarmerie officer as you can see his orange piped boards and collar trim. He is probably the MG commander in the field. I think this photo was taken early in the Polish campaign when the Army FG had not yet been deployed.

Regards,

Bill Unland

Hi Bill,

You are absolutely right ! My eyes were drawn to the armband and I didn't even notice what was staring me in the face in the foreground. He is indeed almost certainly the commander of the MG troops acting as Feldgendarmerie.

I have a sneaking suspicion that, like the Gorget, the armband may only have been worn by NCOs on duty, and that the MG officers may not have had any particular additional badges over and above their regular MG insignia.

By the way, I am not sure if you ever noticed this image when I posted it some time back in another sub-Forum here on GMIC.

It shows a senior NCO of Army Feldgendarmerie whose heart obviously still belonged to the Police rather than the Army. Note that the dress tunic he wears for his wedding day is his converted Polizei tunic with dark brown cuffs, but with full Army insignia. He carries the Police Sword too, and notice that the cuffband is the embroidered type on the same brown wool base as the MG cuffband rather than the Army style machine woven rayon cuffband.

I am convinced that this is the earliest style Feldgendarmerie cuffband made around 1939 in this period when these guys were being transferred over from the MG and before the Army really began fielding its own MPs. By the invasion of France this all seems to be gone and regular Army gear is being worn. This "transitional" period which I find so fascinating was really short lived and only seems to have extended from the Anschluss in 1938 until the end of the Polish campaign.

The photo itself must date from no earlier than 1942 (he has the ribbon of the East Front medal) so well after the "transitional" period, but he was obviously proud of his Gendarmerie roots.