Archive for March, 2018

“DACHAU” stamp on inside of overseas/side cap

:) I recently acquired an overseas cap with a late period ss black panzer trapazoid insignia machine stitched to the front. I researched the insignia and it is a mirror image of the same which I saw on reputable dealer’s sold website archive galleries. This version was the totenkolf two row of teeth version.

The cap itself was quite a challenge to id. I think I finally did and it is a legitimate cap. The dark green cap best matched the French WW1 "bonnet des Police style-1918 which also was the style adapted by the US Army in 1917 to replace the "tent" style campaign hat. The style hat as made terminated with an open split "V" design at the front. Some creative individual did almost a perfect stitching closing the "V" on both sides to now be a single stitched cap front to which the ss black panzer trapazoid was sewn correctly. Now when worn the cap forces a front peaking up of the insignia.

The cap is consistent with materials of the period; sweat formation and evaporation have caused the sweatband rear terminus stitch on the left side for maybe 1/2 inch to "curl" upward there and also on the left side outer stitched side for approximately an inch also to curl. The cap and insignia pass the black light test. The cap has one minor moth hole and the interior has no stamps and it totally was well sewn with a black satin type of material. The cap was well made and has no smell.

That fact that is a ww1 French overseas cap with a late war legitimate ss panzer insignia should end the discussion but I have one caveat. On the inside right seam of the sweatband is a black block lettered stamp "D A C H A U" at the top of a stylized national eagle facing left and attached to a below swatstika design.

Now excluding all the obvious mentioned time period conflicts I have a question.
The obvious simple answer is the stamp also is a fake. Is it really or are there documented examples of this stamp being used at DACHAU forced labor workshop either for documenting an item which was received for repair or has finished repair and ready for shipment back to the Wehrmacht or SS reissuing point. It may a separate issue not related to the above discussed modification.

Other than parroting posts of "fake" can anyone provide proof either way of validity of this "DACHAU. The "H A U" is the hardest letters to see. I have different attached tinted jpgs of the stamp because it is difficult to read because the sweatband has a slight rough texture, not smooth. There were several attempts at trying for a full stamp the last attempt being the most successful but it half resulted more in a light stamp.

To recap has anyone seen this "DACHAU" stamp on vet bring back items? If so has it been validated either way?

FYI I may have reached a maximum of pictures to load per post. I will attempt load the remaining ones in a future post.

John


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Vietnam war era dog tags ?

My first Vietnam war tags was fake, hopefully these are ok ? Can anyone please verify ?

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Question 30 Corps Medallion

Hi

New to forum and looking for information about the 30 corps medallion I brought as my first piece of militaria. Just curious when they were issued etc.

Any help much appreiciated.

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RAR Kragenspiegel Auflagen Panzer



EUR 5,00
End Date: 03. Apr. 18:59
Buy It Now for only: US EUR 5,00
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View full article…

Abbreviation help needed

Can someone please help me with these abbreviations ?

m.g.k.j.e.b ?

machinen gewehr…. ersatz betalliung?

k1.kw.ko1 ?

Kw - ambulance ?
Ko - corps ?

1184407


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3 Dywizja Strzelców Karpackich - Ignacy Franuszkiewicz MC No 4379

Good day folks

Another group I have just come across. Dog tags to Ignacy Franuszkiewicz with Monte Cassino Cross No 4379. Do they match and what is his unit? And do the medal ribbons belong?

I like the plastic 8 Army badge made from the materials from one of the accordion factories in Ancona.

thanks

James


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Strz Henryk Dornia

Good day folks

I came across this interesting group the other day. I have not been able to work out the unit.

The 2 armoured Div badge appears to have been field made. Not seen one like that before. The beret badges are black and small. Also several pictures of German soldiers so he may have been a German POW who was able to join 2 Korpus.

Picture of General Anders with a senior British officer.

Any help or thoughts most appreciated.

Many thanks

James


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for sale Six amazing German Diplomatic Buttons!!

Click here for details…

by: mariscal rommel

Description: This is a Six amazing German Diplomatic Buttons set.
Very, very rare and nice condiction. You pay only € 35 for each button. In online stores are sold more expensive and in worse condition
Payment by paypal (add 5%), paypal friends and family option or bank transference
Shipping is Free!!

War Relics Militaria sales

The Evolution of the Japanese Imperial Army Backpacks (1874-1945)

The Evolution of the Japanese Imperial Army Backpacks (1874-1945)

This article is being re-uploaded, as it was inadvertently erased during recent recovery work from bugs in the forum.

Foreword

Somehow I always held back a bit from military backpacks, compared to other smaller items of the soldier’s gear. I suppose, to a large extent, it was because they were so obviously “organic”, the fur covered flaps reminding me of a stuffed animal. That imagination puts me off, along with the collector nightmares of possible insect infestations, defoliating hair and dust accumulation that come with that territory, making them rather unwieldy as a collection piece. They were called an Affe (Ape) in German military slang, and they indeed literally become real “monkeys on one’s back” to collectors, who are neurotic about “artifact preservation”.

It was a bother for the IJA itself for the same reasons, but they simply couldn’t overcome the rain-proofing problem for a long time without using animal fur.

So the collector side of me had seen backpacks as a necessary evil, and frankly I have been putting this subject off. But undeniably packs did represent the soldier’s household possessions and means of sustenance in the field, so my field gear evolution series cannot possibly scoot around the topic anymore.


Part 1: Evolution of the IJA enlisted men’s backpack

Genesis

French military advisor’s like Albert Charles du Bousquet (1837-1882) were already in Japan from the last days of the Shogunate, so French style fur-covered packs were used from the inception of the IJA, but it is only from 1874 that archive documents start to discuss them.

Back then, the army did not yet have a central depot for equipment, but each Regional Army Garrison (Chindai) was responsible for procuring its own equipment and uniforms from local sources based on a sample provided by HQ in Tokyo. So there seem to be no technical illustrations of this first model IJA pack.

The reason these packs start to come up for discussions from 1874 has to do with the fact that continued self-sustenance in the field became a practical need from the 1874 War that sent IJA troops to Taiwan.

As a matter of fact, the IJA had regarded backpacks as something to issue only at times when the army needed to go out on long campaigns, basically the same way we pull suitcases out of closets for trips abroad. Thus though they already existed, the practice was that they were not actually being issued to soldiers during peacetime.

Anyway, with Taiwan in mind, they had to decide what to pack and what to leave to the transport troops. Thus listings like the one shown below dated 7th October 1874 started to appear during the Taiwan campaign defining what and how much in weight needed to be carried by individual soldiers in and on their backpacks at that time. An Infantry NCO needed to carry 13.34 kgs on his back while an enlisted man carried 13.14 kgs. These personal load studies were done for all branches and for various field situation scenarios, depending on how much of the load could be delegated to transport troops. Based on these parameters, they grasped how much marching mileage to expect per day, etc.

Already in these early days, the army was seeking alternatives other than fur for rain-proofing solutions and had been issuing lacquered leather and rubberized versions, since September 1874, on a trial basis, in addition to the standard fur-covered packs. However, this trial obviously failed and fur will continue to be used until the 1930s.


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Deutsche Wehrmacht armband

Hi Guys,

What do we think of this armband?

Thanks in advance!

Nick


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