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I stuck this in the Western Allies History & Research with no comments so chancing it here as well ……:p

Most of us would know the famous ‘Battle of the Bulge’ photos taken at the Kaiserbaracke crossroads in Belgium on the 18th December 1944 and the iconic directions - Malmedy13km / St Vith 8km ….. but what about the other markings on that famous long gone signpost.

Known as I am for digging for the minutiae of history, the following is the background to those extra signs. While the ‘B’ and ‘Z’ signs remain a mystery - some long forgotten code? - the other two are researchable and provide an insight into the manic, adrenaline fueled days late in December during Hitlers final breakout attempt through the Ardennes forest.

Firstly the most readable is the top one - 202 ORD DEPOT FWD.
This denotes the forward depot / cache for the 202nd Ordnance company ( code named MISTLETOE ) This company was part of the 86th Ordnance supply Battalion based in Malmedy and had ( at the time ) over 600 tons of ordnance stockpiled there. As the Germans pushed on, something HAD to be done to prevent this falling into their hands.

Incidentally 10km to the southwest, drastic action was about to be taken at Stavelot, with the proposal to burn 400,000 fuel cans (2 million gallons ) that couldn’t be moved in time. The same couldn’t be allowed to happen at Malmedy - so on the 17th, a HUGE evacuation westward was done - the 72nd Ordnance group stationed at Verviers provided the lift, along with tank transporters of the 6th Battalion and trucks from the 310th main depot battalion and ALL was saved!

The second identifiable sign is the small one between the directional signs - 203 or 293 ORD MM
This is the code / abbreviation for a Medium Maintenance Company - equally as important to where to get your ammo from is where to get your gear repaired!! This company had been located toward St Vith ( I haven’t found where ) and probably moved southward, but the following is an interesting description of what these Maintenance Companies ACTUALLY did.

Lt. Fred Kent wrote this explanation sometime in 1944 or 1945.

Let me familiarize the reader with the status and function of a Medium Maintenance Ordnance Company such as ours in the hierarchy of the Army.

First of all, we were designated as Army troops, meaning that the orders delineating the chain of command to which we were to respond and the military units to which we were to provide ordnance service emanated from the headquarters of the Army to which we were assigned. For example, upon being sent to Great Britain as part of the European Theater of Operations, we were assigned to the 1st Army and then in turn, the 1st Army Ordnance Officer assigned us to the 84th Ordnance Battalion HQ for administration. He also specifically designated the military units in our area for which we were to provide ordnance maintenance. Then, on going into France as a part of the Invasion, we were reassigned to a different Battalion HQ for administration, and our responsibilities changed to providing back-up ordnance maintenance for the 2nd and the 29th Infantry Divisions (they had their own ordnance companies) and to other separate artillery and engineering battalions participating in the invasion.

Before describing the nature of our operations, let me explain the meaning of “Medium Maintenance” in the name of our Company. Medium Maintenance represents the level or echelon of maintenance that we perform. First and Second echelon maintenance are the simplest levels of ordnance maintenance, capable of being performed by the using troops. Third and Fourth echelon maintenance, or medium maintenance—the levels that we performed—represented repair by the more difficult tasks or assemblies, such as replacing an engine, transmission or differential, or recharging or replacing the recoil mechanism on an artillery piece. Fourth and Fifth echelon maintenance was performed by Ordnance Heavy Maintenance Companies and by Ordnance base shops, where they would completely rebuild the engines, transmissions and differentials.

In regard to function, it was our mission to provide ordnance maintenance and supply to the field troops that were assigned to us for operations. Our company comprised 7 officers, 1 warrant officer, and 168 enlisted men. It was made up of four platoons: The administrative platoon consisted of the company HQ, company supply, and the mess sections. The automotive platoon provided for the inspection and maintenance and replacement of jeeps, staff cars, trucks, and light and medium tanks in the hands of the combat troops. The armament platoon consisted of three sections: the small arms section inspected, maintained and reissued pistols, carbines, rifles, automatic rifles, sub-machine guns, machine guns, flare guns, and light mortars in the hands of the using troops; the artillery section inspected, maintained and reissued artillery from the 75mm mortar up to the 155mm gun, as well as artillery mounted on tanks; and the instrument section inspected, maintained and reissued watches, binoculars, and the artillery fire control instruments such as the various optical sights. Lastly, the ordnance supply platoon kept an inventory of spare parts for issue to the troops we served as well as to our own platoons.

So there dear friends ….. more trivia for us militaria tragics to digest!! ( and you thought it was ‘just’ a road sign, eh? )

Cheers all, Dan

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little tired

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Guys is this any good?
Thank you

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I don’t know if anyone else has seen this but it’s quite an interesting short report which appears to have come out of the archives reviewing the various styles of salute adopted by AH. I’ve thrown the text into a basic translation package as I don’t speak German – it seems to have done quite a good job – see below pics.

TRANSLATION (courtesy Mr Google!)

Response to initial contact

Gerti

Imagine my joy at receiving a letter from my favourite pupil – “pupil”?!…now you are a senior official – please forgive my rudeness. I was intrigued with your idea regarding the understanding of his salutes – I have since watched many newsreels and can agree that several different styles are adopted depending on his position and the event he is attending.
I will be glad to take up the challenge and report back to you. I understand that your request is for a short report and not one that would fill a Library shelf!

Please pass on my best regards to Lyz,

Professor Hienz Obermayer

__________________________________________________ __

Report covering memo

Herr Mueller,

I am pleased to enclose my findings. I trust you will find them informative and interesting. Please ask me any questions which may arise.

__________________________________________________ _________________

Report (inc. diagrams)

Observation sources:-

Press photographs (1,247 from 4 Agencies)
Newsreels (72 hours October 1938 – January 1944)

Findings

The subject matter has adopted a number of saluting styles during the period of review. It would have been natural to assume that certain styles were reserved for specific event types such as funerals, parades, visiting dignitaries and personal meetings but it is not possible to correlate any to specific event types. The responses of Der Fuhrer are unique and totally random in their nature although at the highest level there are effectively two styles, one involving a straight arm whilst the other is bent at the elbow. One interesting observation is that Herr Goering as adopted a similar bent arm approach when responding carrying his baton.

Following my review, it has been possible to categorise a number of styles and these are shown in rudimentary diagrams on the following page. The diagrams are numbered and explained in the following text.

1 The “Praetorian” - this is without doubt the most common and perhaps best known response and dominated the large scale events such as Party Day parades (73% of sample). There were three other straight-arm variants:-

1a The “Auto Salute” – this variant of the “Praetorian” was most often observed when the subject was situated in an automobile or similar and only slightly raised above others. I have undertaken studies to understand if this is directly relational to the height and type of the vehicle in use and whilst there was a slight correlation when using the large six wheeled car (the angle of decline was more significant) the sample was insufficient to prove a categoric relationship.

1b The “Reach” – this style also dominated when the subject was vehicle based (stationary) but it was only used on Parades and there proved to be a direct link between this style and the movement of military personnel in front of the subject. The key difference in adoption style was that the “Praetorian” dominated when the people were also stationary. It was interesting to observe that the “Reach” took priority at three events as soon as the attendees started to parade.

1c The “four o’clock” – this straight arm variant was almost always (31 / 39) adopted for Army parades. Six of the remaining occurrences were at Air Force events.

2 The “Swan Neck” – this is a rarely used variant of the “Praetorian” and appears to be restricted to only those events where the subject is most committed. The subject demonstrates an almost super human ability to present a concave curve to his arm presenting a slightly downward pointing hand. Whilst not within the sample period the best recorded example of this salute was in Munich, August, 1936 – this popular image clearly demonstrates the APPARENT curve of the arm.

These next examples demonstrate a clear break from the use of the straight-arm salute. This sub-style has been given the name “Crooked Arm” and appears in a small number of variants.

3 The “half bend” is the dominant salute of this sub-style. The arm is no longer straight but is raised from the elbow in an informal style with a slightly angled (reverse) hand. The subject adopts this style when meeting smaller groups or in one-to-one situations. In most occurrences (67 / 84) the events were less formal and were more tightly grouped. Three possible explanations for the employment of this salutation are:-

i) Speed – it is much quicker for the subject to raise his forearm several times in quick succession
ii) Safety – the impact dangers generated by a fully straightened arm in a restricted space are avoided
iii) Fatigue avoidance – the subject is able to avoid applying additional stress to his muscles in avoiding the bodily rigidity generated when deploying the “Praetorian”

3a This “full bend” again demonstrates an almost super human ability to create outlines which could not be undertaken by most others he meets. The arm is shaped as if the subject is to throw a medicine ball and proves extremely difficult for those meeting the subject to emulate. An additional benefit of the “full bend” is the ability to deliver them at speed although the “half bend” can be delivered 27% faster which facilitates nearly 3 salutes more per meeting (medium to large groups only)

3b This final style, the “Whatever” style is certainly reserved for the most informal of meetings and in 42 / 57 examples was adopted when the subject was either tired or meeting people for whom the subject had little respect or time.

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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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