Help identitfying uniform badges

[LizardKing]

Welcome to the forum Stefan!

[davidwillson]

Thanks for the welcome Stefan - I'm so new to this I can't even work out how to include/upload the photos I need help with - can you assist - cheers David

[davidwillson]

Guess I just worked it out - David

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hello David, and welcome to the forum.

Your father-in-law is pictured in the uniform of the Youth Labour Corps (Junackie Hufce Pracy), which was a Polish youth paramilitary organization formed in the late 1930’s. Both male and females aged 18-20 would volunteer their services and in exchange be given accommodation in camps, uniforms, meals and some pay.

The "Junaki” were placed in an environment similar to soldiers in active service which included disciplinary punishment and even jail for serious breach of duty. Service in the JHP typically lasted two years and was a stepping stone for military service or carrying on with civilian education and employment.

Here’s a better look at the badge that is visible on the hat your father-in-law is wearing:



Regards,
Tony

[davidwillson]

Andrew - my sincere thanks - not only have you solved a family riddle but provided some history as well - my gratitude - cheers David

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Tony here , and you're most welcome David.

[davidwillson]

oops! - sorry Tony - David

[davidwillson]

I'm probably in the wrong thread for this request for help as this is another photo of my father-in-law but I think the uniform this time is german. Can you help with any information. cheers David

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi David, I can give you some details.

He wear the M40 pattern tunic. He was an Army Mountain trooper or Gebirgsjäger, you can just see the Edelweiss insignia on his right sleeve. There is just the hint of a junior NCO's rank chevron on the other sleeve. He wear the Gebirgsjäger cap with short peak. There would have been a metal Edlewiess badge on the side, but this is hidden in shadow on the photo. He wear the ribbon of the 1939 EKII (Iron Cross, second class) in his button hole. Given only for bravery.

Many Poles who were considered Volksdeutche were co-opted into the German Army. My school friends Dad was. He served in Russia and Italy but deserted in Italy to join Free Polish Forces.

Cheers, Ade.

[StefanM]

Poles who were considered Volksdeutche were conscripted, however thousands of Poles were given no choice in either being clasiffied as Volksdeutche or then being conscripted into the German army.


According to Stefan Korboński (a Polish statesman and a leader of the underground resistance against the Germans in World War II) in 1942 all Poles of military age in the Polish western territories that had been incorporated into the Reich were rounded up and placed on the Volksliste and once on the Volksliste automatically drafted into the German Army. 90,000 of these essentially press-ganged Wehrmacht Polish conscripts later served with the Polish Forces.


WRF thread: Poles-Wehrmacht