Kampfgruppen field jacket and trousers

[Mark K]

There really was not any place to post this so I thought I would squeeze it in here as it is post war German just from the other side of the wall my understanding of the Kampfgruppen is that it was formed on september 29 1953 and was a paramilitary organization in East Germany and it made its first public appearance at the annual may day demonstration on May 1, 1954 .It was intended to be the East German equivalant to the People's Militias of Czechoslovakia .The largest use of KdA troops was during the construction of the Berln wall in the summer and fall of 1961 .It is reported that over 8,000 KdA troops about 20% of all military units were involved in this effort. During the six week deployment of the KdA to the East -West Berlin sector boundary only eight members escaped to the West ,indicating a high state of morale and political reliability. The decision to disband the KdA was made by the East German Parliament (Volkskammer) in December of 1989 and by may of 1990 the disbandment of the KdA was complete . A friend and fellow collector in Germany offered me this nice early 1960,s Kampfgruppen field jacket and trousers I found it an intresting uniform and the history of the KdA intriguing and as I have a passion for early post war European uniforms and equipment .This will display nicely with my early East german helmet and field gear. any and all comments are welcome.

Regards Mark K

[zwerge]

Looks good Mark,I like the AK too.

[oradour]

Mark...nice items ! never seen these before (or heard of this organisation), my knowledge on DDR stuff is quite poor...thanks for showing.
Prost ! Steve.

[Mark K]

Truth be told Pete these are photos that my friend took and Emailed me I like the AK47 as well ,Steve when he offered me the uniform I had never heard of the organization before either I quickly did a little research and was quite suprised by the results. The uniform may not be that rare but it is the first one I have seen with that particular badge on the arm . As soon as i seen it I was

[GermanDotMilitaria]

Hi Mark, nothing wrong with this KdA uniform. Would not be too tricky to get the cap for it as well and make it complete. Cheers, Torsten.

wo045 - East German KG Kampfgruppen Ski Cap Peaked cap - size 57

[Commissar]

Hey, I was wondering if y'all could help tell me what the marks on my kampfgruppen mean in terms of date manufactured and anything else. Thanks for all help!

[Jonathan Wenberg]

Hi,

SG48 is the size, SG being very tall and 48 equivalent to around a 34 or 35 waist (some of these field trousers can be a little oversized sometimes to fit other uniforms underneath for cold weather). Mdl refers to the Ministry of the Interior, the DDR Ministry controlling the police, Kampfgruppen etc. 1879 is the factory code, I can't recall the location of that factory at the moment but I know 1859 is Berlin. 2/I refers to the date, being the second quarter of 1982 (take a look here for more date codes: Gowen Militaria - America's Original East German Specialists)

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Commissar]

Thank you so much for the help Jonathan! I really appreciate it!