Yugoslavia Possible Soviet made Yugoslav hat badge?

[GC*]

Good afternoon to everybody dear fellow collectors.

Once more I submit to you a possible Yugoslav partisan WWII-post war cockade, this time a star.

I bought the star that you can see in this message (first two images) some times ago, believing it was a Soviet WWII one. Given the big amount of- "non-textbook" stars I just thought this was the umpteenth atypical Soviet star I found.

But since that moment many collectors questioned the origin of the star and some said they were quite sure it was actually not Soviet, or, to be more precise, it was not in use in the RKKA.

Then a friend told me he saw a similar star on sale as "Yugoslav partisan star". Since I know, if I am not mistaken, that in the last 40s the USSR supplied Yugoslavia with various types of military gears..the topic started to interest me a lot!

I finally found an ebay auction where a similas star is on sale as Yugoslav.

What is your opinion about that?

The first two photos show my star, the third one the one listed on ebay.

Thanks and regards,

GC*

[GC*]

The color of the pictures of my cockade is actually different than the one showed by the first two photos. My star's color looks exactly like the one of the other one, showed in the thirs picture.

I am sorry, but I just noticed this difference now.

Regards

GC

[Emanuel]

Greetings CG,

no luck this time, this should be a World War II Yugoslavian Partisan badge,pins are not correct, this is a modern replica of the badge you show next to it.

No offense I believe, it happens to all of us...

Regards

Emanuel

Edited February 19, 2012 by Emanuel

[GC*]

Thank you Emanuel for your very precious comment!

I am not an expert of Yugoslav hat badges although I own some. I just started to get very interested after I bought the other badge you commented about and some elements brought me to think that also this could have been a WWII Yugoslav badge.

But no, as you said..no luck this time!

One last question, any idea about the period-nature of this replica?

I know many Yugoslav partisan movies and I saw a very interesting documentary (Cinema Komunisto - http://www.cinemakomunisto.com/ ) about the Yugoslav war cinema..as far as I know huge lots of materials were prepared for these movies and this cockade might be one of them.

Is this option plausible or you think that the star is a modern replica made for..inexperienced buyers?

Luckily this star was part of a big lot that I got for cheap and before my recent researches I was unsure about what that star was..so no (excessive) sadness.

Thank you

Regards,

GC

[Valter]

I think this is a soviet other rank's combat star - but I'm not sure if WW2 period or later (the same tipe as WW2 was used a few years after the war too). As far as I know, Soviets didn't make any "special" stars for Yugoslavia (the oval cocardes are different thing), but they did deliver to partisans the same stars as used in Red army. Partisans used soviet made red army type stars both enammeled and painted, probably also olive-green painted combat ones (I have to research some sources). Soviet WW2 type stars, especially painted and enammeled ones, are often offered for sale as "yugoslav parisan" stars, but without rock solid proof for that very star (period photo of partisan with star with some distinctive damage, for instance) it is impossible to say if the star was used by red army, partisans or it's from old soviet stock of unissued WW2-type stars (these stocks are quite big, I think). In yugoslav literature is quoted one letter from Tito to soviet authorities about the delivery of hat stars, and Tito writes that although painted stars are easier to produce, they do not look as nice as enammeled ones. Tito cared alot about the appearance of his army and himself, they claim he shaved every day even during offensives. ;-)

In early post-ww2 period Yugoslav army used all kinds of stars and cocardes - oval ones, soviet made ones, and yugoslav made ones. Even uniforms, weapons and equipment was very mixed in first years, due to great shortage of material.

[GC*]

Thank you Valter for your comment.

Effectively it is always so difficult (often impossible) to determin if a star sold as Yugoslav was effectively used by yugoslav forces or not..

Very interesting topic anyway!

Regards,

GC

[Valter]

Totally agree with you, GC.

I checked a couple of books and there's no mention of olive-painted stars in Yugoslav partisan use. Only red-painted or enammeled. But it would be quite possible they used some if they got them in areas where Yugoslav army operated together with Soviet troops.