Comparisons WW2 to current badges/equipment

[tailor marc]

We all know Germans for how well they make everything not just WW2 items but the WW2 daggers, swords, clothing, badges, weapons etc were the some of the best quality i have ever seen.

Does this follow through after ww2 to current. Does the German army still have daggers and if so are they to the same workmanship and class that they were back then? Are the badges flawless like back in WW2?

Any info is muchly appreciated and i mean no offence and DO NOT mean to say German army is anything like back then just interested to see if the quality is still there today.

Any images of post ww2 items muchly appreciated

[Adrian]

I know there are some members here who could answer your question and you could take a look through the Bundeswehr forum.

Bear in mind though that some German TR era badges, daggers and clothing were not always the best quality, some makers produced bloody awful end products.

That said, I know what you mean and for the most part, especially in the early part of the war the items you mention were superbly executed.

However nowadays, if I want quality I would look to buy German made products or things made under German licence.
I drive a Japanese pick up truck but would buy the German equivalent if it had been available when I was looking. My binoculars are German, the sights on my rifle are German, my rifle is Austrian (but that's close enough), if I need a pair of quality boots for work or leisure I buy German boots.

Put simply, if I need something that requires quality and longevity I would always look for German brands as in my opinion, they are better.




The only exception are my David Hasselhoff albums but that's another story........

[HPL2008]

What Adrian said; do have a look through the Bundeswehr section. You should find material of interest there.

As for daggers: No, the BW does not have them and never did.

(Fighting knives, pocket knives and other utilitarian blades are, of course, in use, but no edged weapons of the "dress" kind.)

The East German National People's Army (NVA) had both daggers and swords, though.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The uniforms of the Bw are well described on the official website.

bundeswehr.de: Dienstgrade und Uniformen der Bundeswehr

[Friedrich-Berthold]

ab-portrait.jpg6265415465_e140114fc1_z.jpgThese ones here do not need a dagger to do their job.

[sandgroper]

ab-portrait.jpg6265415465_e140114fc1_z.jpgThese ones here do not need a dagger to do their job.

I have so many comments running through my mind right now, any one of them would get me banned if I put them into print!

[HPL2008]

The uniforms of the Bw are well described on the official website.

bundeswehr.de: Dienstgrade und Uniformen der Bundeswehr

Allow me to add direct links to the dowloadable .pdf-flyers on Bundeswehr uniforms/insignia and decorations:

http://www.bundeswehr.de/resource/re...TERNET_neu.pdf

http://www.bundeswehr.de/resource/re...zmedaillen.pdf

Obviously not directly related to the Bundeswehr, but perhaps still of interest is this official 40-page publication on the Bundesverdienstorden [Federal Order of Merit]:

http://www.bundespraesident.de/Share...ublicationFile

(All of the above are in German.)

[Friedrich-Berthold]

If one has a hankering for daggers of Germany after 1945, the NVA ones are there. I saw these at the time of unification, and they looked as if made in far less blessed circumstances than Solingen and such.
Perhaps I do someone an injustice in this statement.
The leadership of the Bw made a conscious decision to downplay the things rendered fetish objects in National Socialism, which was a function of the decade of the 1950s. Some here might find hard to understand but , Andreas can recommend a good book to read on the subject actually. Of course, books are obsolete nowadays.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

467474_1_detail_8291941.jpgbundeswehr_frauen_ullstein_00479104_2.jpgFrau-frauen-Muenchen-Soldaten-Bundeswehr-Emanzipation-Luftwaffe.jpgNo daggers or other gee gaws for these ones, either, which is ok by me.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I bought my pyjamas in that Kaufhof there on the Marienplatzerl, but would have rather done it the company of maybe three of these nice people.