BGS Thread

[James C]

well i finally picked up some west german lightweight Y straps ,i can at least now remove the bundesheer y straps i was using as a temporary stop gap,i feel these are quite unusual as they dont have any bgs stamps but instead 9/GSG1 is stamped onto the wearers left handside shoulder strap ,the right handside does'nt but instead has a hand written G.S,9 h d t ,the maker is FRIEDR.BECKER&CO.KG BERLIN SW68 below this is 54 its interesting to see the buckles are the war time manufacturer oLc i know the Border Protection Group 9 were first formed in the early 70's so as you can imagine im slighty confussed to these stamps ,any help to clarify will be great guys

[oradour]

James, indeed GSG9 was formed 17th April 1973......however the 9./GSG1 markings may of been put on after that date.....It is not uncommon for further markings at a future date to be applied to equipment......I am unsure as to mark 9./GSG9 it may be a coincidence that it resembles the elite groups nomenclature...or indeed it may well be part of their inventory, lets see if anyone else knows, I have seen these straps marked for BGS and Police....These straps are now getting harder to find, a nice set !
As for OLC like many makers of Wehrmacht equipment, they went on to manufacture equipment/parts for equipment for the West German Government in the post war years, such as BW belt buckles, equipment clasps/buckles etc......
Prost ! Steve.

[HPL2008]

Sorry, no GSG 9 connection:

The stamped "9./GSG 1" marking stands for the 9. Hundertschaft of the GSG 1. The handwritten marking, too, refers to a 9. Hundertschaft, here abbreviated as "9. Hdt."

GSG 1 was subordinate to Grenzschutzkommando Süd [South].

[James C]

well what can i say many thanks for clearing that up guys ,you have explained all the detailing perfectly ,i thought i had found something special for a while there ,your help has truly been appreciated

[Gunny Hartmann]

Another nice find James!...

[James C]

just a quick follow up question which i should of asked at the time ,are these dated 1968 and what does the 54 denote please

[HPL2008]

just a quick follow up question which i should of asked at the time ,are these dated 1968 and what does the 54 denote please

No 1968 connection: The "SW 68" is the postal code for the Berlin-based manufacturer. These (now obsolete) postal codes identified the destination post office; in this case the post office at the Linden-/Ecke Ritterstraße in the Kreuzberg district.

Where does it say "54"? (Sorry; I'm looking at this on my mobile phone right now.)

[James C]

many thanks once again hpl i thought it might be the date stamp ,the 54 is just below the berlin sw68 stamp ,the pictures are not the clearest i know ,would it be possible to give a rough time period of manufacture on these straps please

[HPL2008]

many thanks once again hpl i thought it might be the date stamp ,the 54 is just below the berlin sw68 stamp ,the pictures are not the clearest i know ,would it be possible to give a rough time period of manufacture on these straps please

Ah, there it is. (I'm home now and looking at the image on a decent monitor.)

Sorry; I can't give you a definitve answer. It could be that "54" is actually the year of manufacture (1954); but this is just a guess on my part.

By the way, getting back to post # 82... As Steve mentioned, the OLC maker's mark is not unusual on post-WW 2 items at all. Have a look here for some more examples: Post War Berlin Police

[James C]

a small addition that im hoping to add to my Sumpftarn field jacket ,this set of shoulder boards,my inquistive mind has noticed on the underside two small raised marks and two small holes on the top side which i reckon might well indicate some extra rank ,ive looked at the shoulder board link steve provided and its states hauptmeister but as these two extra rank pips are missing it is just now ranked as meister