Polish Collar Insignia

**LostDutchman** · 10-07-2016, 04:32 PM

Hello friends! A couple of years ago I purchased 9 boards from the family of a US 9th Armored truck driver. The boards had many items attached to them both cloth and metal. The condition of the boards was very bad and they were deteriorating. I removed all of these collar tabs from the boards. Also in my images you will find a note from the GI that souvineered the boards. Can anyone please help me ID these tabs... I know very little about polish collar devices. From my research I think there may be some good ones here, but I'm not sure which is why I'm asking. Thank you!

**A.J. Zawadzki** · 10-07-2016, 05:24 PM

Hi again,

Weren’t these parts of the group items previously said to have been found in a German beer hall?

Regards,
Tony

**LostDutchman** · 10-07-2016, 05:54 PM

Hello, Yes that is correct. Unfortunately due to the poor storage of the boards in the years before I got them they continued to deteriorate. After a lot of thought I made the decision to take them apart. I thought it best to try to preserve as much as possible from the boards before any further damage was done to the items on them. The boards were a thin sheet of wood with a cloth covering. The interior wood was basically rotting due to poor storage. It was a tough call. I was going through some boxes of items and happened to stumble across this bag of pieces from my dissection of the board, which gets us here.

**A.J. Zawadzki** · 10-07-2016, 06:29 PM

Thanks. Sorry, but I’m still missing something. How does the Hitler connection fit with the beer hall origin of these display boards?

Regards,
Tony

**LostDutchman** · 10-07-2016, 06:45 PM

by A.J. Zawadzki

Thanks. Sorry, but I’m still missing something. How does the Hitler connection fit with the beer hall origin of these display boards?

Regards,
Tony

In all honesty... I do not know. The GI who brought them home had already passed when I came across them. The story relayed to me by his daughters was that these were on display in the Bürgerbräukeller and that their father had thrown them in his truck to eventually bring home. The typed note from the GI was a neat piece that tied him to the story, but why these were on display in the hall and who put them there is unknown to me. Could be a bit of an embellishment by the Gi to make his story sound better... it could be the truth as he understood it... I'm not sure.

There are 2 things I'm sure of from buying all the souvenirs that this GI brought home. #1 He brought home many, many things. #2 He really, really liked to label things. Nearly every photograph and item I purchased was labeled with some sort of information about it.

**A.J. Zawadzki** · 10-07-2016, 07:22 PM

Thanks again. Yes, methinks it would be a stretch to think that Hitler had a private Polish militaria collection of souvenirs from Operation Fall Weiss. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting find. I recall that you posted some photos of the backing boards in another thread. If you have any more please do post them here for us. It would be very interesting to see them, no matter the condition.

Cheers,
Tony