Fritz Darges died on Sunday, 25 October 2009 aged 96.
Shortly before he died, reporters of the German newspaper BILD met with him in his house in Celle (Lower Saxony). In an artictle entitled "Hitlers letzter Adjutant tot" they write that he lived alone, his wife, a medical doctor having passed away three years ago. His state of health had declined, he did not hear well, he did not see well.
His mind was alert. His memory was alive.
Until his last breath he did not say a bad word about Adolf Hitler.
When Fritz Darges was asked whether he would do everything again as he had done, he replied: "Ja. Unser Traum war doch ein großdeutsches Reich.“ ("Yes. Our dream, after all, was a Greater German Empire.")
Fritz Darges wrote down his memoirs. They shall be published now after his death.

Adolf Hitlers letzter Adjutant Fritz Darges ist tot - News - Bild.de

I met Fritz some years ago at the OdR JHV in Siegburg and have some wonderful memories and photos of that meeting , he told myself and a friend the famous " fly " story personally . During the meeting on the Friday afternoon Otto Gunsche arrived to see Darges and they had along conversation , oh to have been a fly on that wall !!!!

Darges won the Ritterkreuz whilst commanding SS Panzer Regt 5 Wiking in April 1945.

Here`s a whole bunch of teeny weeny tanks.

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Hi Guys,

I just wanted to show you my Carl Eickhorn HJ Knife that I restored (or something like that). In hindsight I probably should have left it alone for all I know it was a “war relic” but “what’s done is done” and I enjoy having it and what I learned from it. Besides the Knifemaker in me would eventually do it anyway!

I found it a flea market for $20.00. The emblem was missing, blade tip broken, it was badly pitted and handle was cracked. I took the whole thing apart and started cleaning it up. I used a very good epoxy to repair the cracks in the handle, reground and sharpened the blade. I found what I thought was a decent replica HJ pine re-cut the inlay and glued it in place. There was a gap between the ricasso and the guard so I removed the blade from the handle and refit it. I have since learned the gap was probably for a piece of leather that would protect the guard from the scabbard. I took a scabbard from a replica and resized it and beat it up a little. I have yet to attach a belt loop but I may just leave it go. I made and installed some “dummy” nickel silver pins in the handle that resembled the originals at lest some what.

The end result is what you see in the pictures. I wish I would have taken some photos of the process. I could have done a lot more but wanted to at least preserve some of its original character. I know it’s not a valuable piece but its serves its purpose for me and I only have about $30-40 dollars in the whole thing. I enjoyed doing this one and hopefully will get to do a few more may be even a SA dagger in the future.

Thanks for looking!

Kirby

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Hello,
Has anyone a sectioned drawing or picture of the French Mle 81mm mortar projectile?
I'm trying to find out if the body is correct, it measures 81mm in diameter but the case looks very thick. the propellant cartridge is also marked 81mm.
This plated ornamental piece arrived this morning and looks nice with a small bunch of flowers in it.
Glad for any help,
Cheers,
navyman.

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Hey guys

Been a while since I posted pictures of my diorama and it has continued growing.

It started with a bit of MDF screwed to a wooden frame. I then landscaped it with papier mache, chicken wire, bits of off cut wood and artificial grass and what not, (the kind that that model railwayers use). I placed a 1/35th Sherman at one end and an 88mm at the other and left it at that. Then I bought some buildings. Then various soldiers. Then a Churchill, and to even it up on the 'German' side, a Panzer IV. Then a Cromwell caught my eye so this was added, along with a Tiger and, about a week later, a Panther. Next came a Jeep and a German motorbike (whenever I bought something for one side, I had to get something for the other to even it up :D :D ).

Then I got really carried away and added a quad 20mm on top of the hill, an MG42 team at the base of the hill and a German field kitchen.

Then it got TOTALLY carried away and I added tank traps, bushes and telegraph poles and even strung wire between them !

Now it got EXTREMELY silly because I suddenly had a brain wave about how to manufacture my own 'to scale' barbed wire so made a load of it and made barb wire entanglements along the ridge.

And finally, or so I thought, about a month ago, I added an amphibious Jeep and a Kubelwagon.

Then things got totally off the scale when I added real brass scale models of 88mm and 75mm tank ammo and loads of small arms weapons :D :D :D

All in all it has taken 2 years to get to the stage it is currently at and it has totally taken over the garage :D

Every single item has been made from 1/35th kits (mainly Tamiya) and everything, even down to the brickwork on the buildings, has been painted, (very painstakingly in some cases), by me.

Hope you like it :D

Steve T

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Hi -

Here is a period 1943 photograph; my father is on the right - can you name the man in the center?

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This might be of interest:

Obersturmführer, RFS graduate:
Photoausstellung Maurer

Oberscharführer, GPB holder. Notice his Sturm's honor cufftitle "1 Faust":
Photoausstellung Maurer
Photoausstellung Maurer
Photoausstellung Maurer

As a matter of fact, the whole archive is well worth browsing through:
Photoausstellung Maurer
A vast collection of photographs from the archives of a photo studio showing citizens of the Passau area. Most of them are civilian, but they include quite a few uniform shots. (Police, RAD, SA, Wehrmacht etc.)

Hello Gentleman,

After some vigorous searching on the forum and some other web sites I am still not 100% if this Infanterie Sturm Abzeichen is correct.

Two things about it have me a bit suspicions but I have very little experience and would like to get some input from those that do.

My first concern is the hardware, mostly how it is attached. To me it looks like a sloppy solder job or may be it was just repaired?

The other thing that caught my attention is what looks like a burr that runs along the
rifle sling. I have not seen that on known good examples that I found on the web.

May be it’s just a different manufacture than those I have compared it to?

Iv been doing my best to learn what I can but I still don’t see how you guys ID some of these badges. I have some books on order and I keep searching the forums for info. Any help offered on this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kirby

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Here is my little KW complete with driver.

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Here`s a Zero model I put together.

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