Strange BW markings?

[HPL2008]

Is this a Bundeswehr picture or a Bundesheer picture....? It is a trick.

The trick being that it is neither. It's a general of the Bundesgrenzschutz, more specifically Brigadegeneral Alfred Samlowski, Inspector General of the BGS from 1961 to 1963.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The trick being that it is neither. It's a general of the Bundesgrenzschutz, more specifically Brigadegeneral Alfred Samlowski, Inspector General of the BGS from 1961 to 1963.

Bravo. In my early life in West Germany, the BGS was a noteworthy presence, now gone, since it has been transformed and robbed of its regalia that made it so appealing to me.

[HPL2008]

Bravo. In my early life in West Germany, the BGS was a noteworthy presence, now gone, since it has been transformed and robbed of its regalia that made it so appealing to me.

I was rather fond of their traditional shoulder boards and collar Litzen as well.

Living close to a railway station and travelling much by train, these changes are always illustrated to me by the changing appearance of the security presence there.

The blue-uniformed Bahnpolizei was absorbed by the green-uniformed Bundesgrenzschutz with its unique insignia, which were in turn replaced by generic state police-style badges when the BGS became the Bundespolizei, which has now made the changeover to the "European-standard" dark blue uniforms.