SS gebirgsjager officer cap

[davejb]

Thanks Ben, just had another closer look with magnifying glass, there is a small square , inside its printed HBA 1960, nearly as old as me lol

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Ben or FB, i have an old cap which i believe is 1st bundeswehr design, its a dark grey all over with a fibre black peak and the orange underside, there is a hard celophane sweat protector to the inside , the logo is a man with a cap smoking a pipe, the lettering says LITTO KAPPE WEIN. there is a paper name tag inside the celophane which reads Ing SCHUSTER Hermann Hptm/tD d Res 1, any ideas gents, regards Dave

You mean, Wien, of course, which makes it an Austrian cap of some kind. The Austrian army of the 1950s was and is the Bundesheer.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

HBA= Heeresbekleidungsamt, which in this case is the Austrian variant, I think.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

But the Bundeswehr was established in 1955, that's a decade of various other uniforms being worn.

Of the federal and Laender police, or municipal police and federal customs service, among many. The FRG was founded in 1949, though there were uniformed organizations associated with the occupying western forces, i.e. the Labor Service of the USAREUR and the like. Your image of who ever wearing a III. Reich peaked cap minus the badges probably signifies the fate of a large fraction of peaked caps that evaded destruction at war's end. And in the years 1946 and 1947, at which time starvation haunted the western zones of occupation as well as cold, I guess a lot of them got used as fuel.
When I started living in Germany in the early 1970s, such items were still considered junk by the average person, and the circle of collectors was a small one of those who remained loyal to unser seliger Adolf.

[davejb]

thanks for that FB, although its not wartime period it does have that rakish look about it, high crown, swept back and very well formed all round plus the heavy wool , it looks typical of a Waffen SS type cap in the way they used to wear it slightly to the rear of the head

[Friedrich-Berthold]

These are Austrian Bundesheer Blackhawk pilots of the here and now. I wish they were my friends. I like woman pilots, especially this kind.

[BenVK]

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that there is a period in time, between 1945 and the 1950's that most people assume was a wilderness and devoid of any established German organisations on the West side and the wearing of uniforms that's simple not true. The images from the Bundesarchive show this not to be the case and logic dictates that their uniforms were not made during the period because the infastructure had been smashed so surplus stocks from the war period might be the logical answer.

[Dean]

1946. Surely a lot if not all these caps and uniforms were of wartime manufacture. I'm straying off the subject but this is the period that no one wants to discuss because it throws up so many questions and unknowns. I'm completely in love with the young lady on the far left who is trying not to laugh! Assuming these are black uniforms, how many of these caps are now in collections and assumed to be period Pz M43's?

I believe I have one such hat mentioned above.I think you've seen it.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

thanks for that FB, although its not wartime period it does have that rakish look about it, high crown, swept back and very well formed all round plus the heavy wool , it looks typical of a Waffen SS type cap in the way they used to wear it slightly to the rear of the head

The FRG caps through the 1970s were saddle form caps with a high crown. It is rakish and attractive. SS caps are such a source of endless frustration and heart break, truth be told, especially the grey ones.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that there is a period in time, between 1945 and the 1950's that most people assume was a wilderness and devoid of any established German organisations on the West side and the wearing of uniforms that's simple not true.

Yes, indeed. I knew people who had been through the black market era with chocolate and cigarettes who cleaned up big time in said hour zero. I myself bought the NVA regalia at the Brandenburg Gate in a more recent era, but in which now the winds of time have blown away so many remnants of said regime. What other symbols of power and state will vanish and become derelict in the decades to come?
But I would rather examine at closer range these two modern day soldiers, who also likely make good Topfenpalatschinken.