Post pictures of your favorite piece of militaria on this thread and let's see what interesting things show up...

Bob

Okay I'll start it off... here is a pair of SS-Scharfuhrer of Veterinarian shoulder straps...

Still my favourite piece of militaria....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

do I dare........... ? anyway Panzerschreck 54/1 ater war Finnish green, shield in Wehrmacht Feldgrau during the war. Interesting piece .... yes ?

another item found by my uncles unit in central Germany 1945. an old ammo barn about ready to blow sky high, and the guys in his unit besides himself climbed up to the top while the roof was on fire and removed the standard and the ferrule

What is this Erich... are you upping the caliber on poor old Martin... he shows a gun and you show a cannon? Nice stuff guys. I really like the flag Erich... especially since you have that kind of provenance with it... can't beat a relative bringing it back. And it's in really nice condition too...

Thanks guys... trying to get this forum going...

Bob

Here is a Waffen-SS Infantry Officer Overseas Cap with the white soutache (inverted "V" in white to represent infantry, although for the Waffen-SS it really represented Panzergrenadier since they didn't have pure infantry units and never adopted the Army's green color for Panzergrenadier). This cap has aluminum flat wire insignia.

Bob, great W-SS cap ! no not trying to steal martin's thunder only that great looking Sturmg 44

heres a fun a rare little piece i acquired some years ago. Mauser G 43/40 # 7654 945 1940. In excellent condition and with an interesting metal butt plate

what every guy/gal needs to keep the opposition in check: a German Heer map case picked up by a good WW 2 US vet friend in Germany, forward observer snagged a dispatch rider on his BMW motorcycle and relieved him of many important things. Oddly enough my friend Ed kept the map case and inerds and used the case with US maps as they pushed deeper within the Reich in 45.

Neat stuff Erich. I never got into the guns but I did have a Gewehr 98K which had mis-matched numbers and SS markings. I also had a short-rail side-mounted sniper scope with "SS-Dienstglas" on the side with the little Totenkopf. But I sold them off for better uniform items. I have a really nice toy MP-40 with original sling that I use on my mannequin displays -- when I used to do some exhibiting. I used to dress up one upper torso mannequin in my SS-Sturmmann of Feldgendarmerie tunic from the Totenkopf Division and put on most of the field gear and one MP-40 pouch and the gorget. Then I would put the MP-40 on him -- looked awesome. Found the pix...



Bob

Hey guys, I've been really busy with school lately, so I haven't had much time to be online. I forgot how interesting it was just browsing this forum.

Very Very nice stuff everyone!!!

Bob, I had no idea that they really had Veterinarians in the SS. I guess it was mostly or all for the dogs/"German Shepards"?

As an animal lover I am very curious about this... anymore information would be appreciated!

Thanks,

DB

Nice to see you're still with us, DB ! [img]graemlins/salute.gif[/img]

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

And here's something nasty-looking, but another of my favourite pieces ; -




A large chunk of Rolls-Royce Merlin ( partially melted ) from Hurricane P2793 shot down over Kent on 11th September 1940. This was 18-victory Battle of Britain ace 'Ginger' Lacey's aircraft in which he shot down the 'Buckingham Palace' Heinkel HeIII, only to be shot down in turn by return fire.

'Ginger' baled out OK, and the Hurricane crashed in flames into a copse on private farmland.

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

an excellent artifact Martin ! and besides of your many trips to RAF/US airfields of old and all the small trinkets found.......you lucky guy. Have about zilch room in the office or green room for the aircraft parts sadly but will try to scan some in soon, how about over 1100 books on numerous ww2 subjects ?

Hello DB.

SS Veterinarians were assigned to many of the early SS-VT and Waffen-SS units to tend to HORSES because even though the Waffen-SS prided itself on being motorized, it still had a lot of horse-powered vehicles in the beginning. And of course there were the SS-Cavalry-Standarten during the days of the Allgemeine-SS. Both Hermann and his brother Waldamar Fegelein were in these units and helped put together the SS-Cavalry-Division, which over the years transitioned into the Florian Geyer, as well as the 22nd and 37th Kavallerie Divisions. So there were SS Veterinarians. I suspect that they might have been used on occasion to assist the medical staffs for people when taking heavy casualties. And of course they would take care of the puppies!

Bob

Thanks a lot Martin! Does that STG Work? Man, if it does I bet that's fun!

It's probably my favorite weapon of WWII, allthough I know there weren't very many issued. Do you have any history on it?

Bob, Thanks for the info. You know, horses didn't even cross my mind. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I am using the terms you gave me to research right now. Pretty interesting stuff... about the "8th SS Cavalry Division" being named after "Florian Geyer" and about the "Black Company" etc... I will continue to look at this info.

To help me, can you tell me the german spelling/pronunciation for Veterinarian.

Thanks.

.DB.

[ 01. April 2006, 10:07 PM: Message edited by: David Barton (DB) Mathis ]

Going to have to disappoint you, DB - the StG44 is a deact ( of course ! This is the UK [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img] ) but is an early one so it hasn't been 'welded up' - the action functions fully.

It's complete and original and has all its markings with no Russki overstamps etc - it emerged from behind the Iron Curtain after the wall came down so I'm guessing it's probably ex-East German. Other than that, no history I'm afraid except that it's a 1944-built one....

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

very neat, so what if id doesent work....when you say you own one, its a very cool thing

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"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." -Winston Churchill

DB,

Veterinarian, or Veterinarian Service is Veterinärdienste.

Bob

Well, here is the artifact that just came in this weekend. It's different than what I normally collect but I couldn't resist it -- just like the Luftwaffe officer dress jacket. This is a WWII United States Admirals Service Cap with the aviation green cover and pre-WWII naval coat of arms, all in bullion. The name STONE is inside. At first we thought it might have belonged to Everett Stone, who was the executive officer on the battleship California during the Pearl Habor attack and then later as captain was the first commanding officer of the battleship Wisconsin. However, Everett Stone was a cruiser and battleship officer and not an aviator, so either this is his cap and somebody replaced the white or khaki cover with this aviation green cover, or this belonged to another Stone, an aviation admiral, but still WWII... and now the research begins.







Any ideas, let me know... Bob

Nice stuff, Gents!
This is as exciting as my own collection gets-my old man's Battledress insignia:


That's L. of C. sigs., Royal Corps of Signals, 78th (Battleaxe) Infantry Div.

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Regards,

Gordon
http://www.freewebs.com/thehistoryvault/
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Historian/

good morning

heres a small Luftwaffe tidbit run by the Fünker for bombers, reecon and night fighters. the equivalent of the modern day air-compass



the reverse side:

Nice stuff guys. Erich... now I'm lost for sure...

How about an SS-Gruppenfuhrer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS tunic... upping the ante guys...

That's amazing !

In stark contrast, my collection of inert WWII aircraft ammunition which has taken years to put together : -

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson