Hey guys, I was visiting my grandmother this week and she had found a picture with some of my grandfather's, (DB's) things.

I know that a lot of you here are far more familer with different WWII dress and uniforms for different countries in different theaters than I. So I would like to see if anyone can help me with this picture. It would have been North Afrika some time in 1942 or 43.

As you can see there are three gents with hats on, my grandmother said she thought the leftmost fellow with the hat was my grandfather, and he does look a LOT like him but I am not sure. My dad said he thought he remembered my grandfather telling him one time that he took that pic of some german pow's.

The things that stand out to me are:

1) Take a look at the man with the hat that is inbetween the other two. is that a German hat? Luftwaffe maybe? The insignia looks like the Luftwaffe or maybe Heer Eagle and Cockade. What do you guys think?

2) I didn't think that american soldiers were ever issued shorts. Am I wrong in this?

3) The rest of the uniforms don't look much like american attire to me either.

The last pic is a pic of the Luftwaffe Eagle and Cockade I was speaking of.

Any help is VERY much appreciated!

I would reckon they're German, David. The hat is what was called (I think!) an Einheitzfeldmutze ("replacement cap"); originally in tan cotton for the Afrika Korps (the M40), the style was copied in wool later in the war. I have a replica of a Luftwaffe M43 one at home-great for hillwalking! It has fold-up earflaps which button at the front, under the national cockade.
The uniforms pic look Butternut Brown, which was one of the German tropical dyes.
The insignia looks like the Lutwaffe version of what was called BeVo style, or very much simplified insignia to save material.
Some of the other guys might well correct me though.

__________________
Regards,

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

Gordon, Thank a bunch! My Dad said he thought my grandfather had given them some beer or wine or something. Wich sounds like a "Mathis". And they do look happy don't they?

I wonder if there were many specific places/camps the allies held pow's in North Afrika? I guess it could have been a temporary camp or anything. And do you know, did the allies remove most insignia from the uniforms of pows or did the Germans just not have much in the way of insignia late in Afrika?

David,
There would have been holding camps for POWs in North Africa. From there, they would be shipped to Britain, classified White, Grey or Black according to how hard-core Nazi they were, and usually shipped out to camps in America and Canada.
Don't think insignia was deliberately removed, but after reaching Britain, POWs were usually issued with British battledress dyed dark Brown with white(?) stripes on the legs, and "POW" across the back.
By D-Day, the British authorities had realised that the vast numbers of POWs could be used to alleviate manpower shortages in agriculture and various other sectors, and they stayed in Britain.
Can't name any camps in Africa, unfortunately, although I have lists of those in Britain.

__________________
Regards,

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