Items from Italy

[Mark Poley]

These are some items sent home from Italy by my uncle to my dad. My uncle Ronald K. Poley was in Italy 11-1944 to 11-1945 as a medic with the U.S. 34th Div. 168th infantry. I don't know what the collar tabs are. I always assumed that they were from German infantry officers uniforms, again I assume two different ranks as they are not the same, but I have never been able to find anything on them. Also where would he have encountered Luftwaffe to have the breast eagle, flak battery?
I thought you would enjoy seeing these and thank you in advance for any information you can give me. I just found this site a few days ago and have enjoyed lurking around.
Thanks Again! Mark

[Mark Poley]

Well I'm not sure what happened to my pictures. I uploaded from photobucket and previewed my post before loading but there gone. Sorry about that, maybe someone here can tell me what I did wrong.
Thanks Mark

[Jerry B]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum. Sadly I can't see any pictures. Try using the forum picture uploader, which also means the pictures will always be here for people to look at. Pictures uploaded using photobucket etc are liable to be censored and also often vanish over time making peoples comments redundant and are not available for archive or research purposes.

After autumn 43 the Italians had left the war, except for some facists and most of the fighting in Italy was against German forces, including para, airforce and Luftwaffe ground troops including Flak.

[Horrido]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum. Sadly I can't see any pictures. Try using the forum picture uploader, which also means the pictures will always be here for people to look at. Pictures uploaded using photobucket etc are liable to be censored and also often vanish over time making peoples comments redundant and are not available for archive or research purposes.

After autumn 43 the Italians had left the war, except for some facists and most of the fighting in Italy was against German forces, including para, airforce and Luftwaffe ground troops including Flak.

After the 8th September 1943 Armistice The Italian AAFF faced a confusing period that saw part of the Armed Forces joining the Allies (Forze Cobelligeranti),another part fought alongside the Germans under the colors of the newly constituted Repubblica Sociale Italiana and a third, smaller part gave birth to several partisan units,that we'll conveniently call reds and Whites!The Italians fought until the end and didn't leave the War as you've said.In fact the RSI units bore the brunt of the fierce fightings in some areas near Anzio and Nettuno and in Central and Northern Italy,while the units of thev Regio Esercito which still had their equipment and weapns fought against the Germans,especially defending Rome and other cities.As odd as it may seem a few RSI units fought in Normandy as well encadred within German Units,in fact one of the most famous Italian actors,who was a RSI soldier,wore the German uniform and volunteered as an 88mm servant and later as an AA Machine Gunner during the Normandy Landings!
DOCUMENTARIO "D-DAY NOI ITALIANI C'ERAVAMO" - storiavivas jimdo page!
Cheers

[Mark Poley]

Trying the photos again, hope this works.
thanks for looking, Mark

[Horrido]

First item is a trap for the tropical shirt,the armband was worn by individuals working for the German Armed Forces...I cannot tell anything precise about the tabs and leave that to people who know better!
HTH
Horrido!