Pre-war Polish Officers Belts - My Wz.36 Officer's Belt ?

[justin1939]

Hello,

Is this a 100% original pre-war Wz.36 Polish Officer's belt, please ?

I have attached the photos.

Please reply as soon as possible as I have won it and want to have complete faith in its originality.

Thank You

Justin

jacquetta44@yahoo.com

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Looks good to me Justin. Too bad no 'koalicyjka' (cross strap) though. The white metal / silvered components are in keeping with wz.36 regulations. Sam Browne's are typically found with brass fittings, so this is strong evidence for this being a pre-war Polish piece. Are there any marks anywhere, such as the underside of the buckle?

Regards,
Tony

[48ppsk]

Greetings,

I have not seen many of these and I think that I only own two (that I can find). Mine are both brass fittings and neither of them have the big hook. The only references that I can find showing diagrams do not show the hook also. Maybe someone else can comment on the belts that they have.

Mike

[A.J. Zawadzki]

This belt has been given a thumbs down on another thread where it and the other items it was sold with were being discussed. To me it remains a bit of a puzzle. The silver coloured metal fittings are classic wz.36. I don’t know if ‘white metal’ fittings were used in the Sam Browne’s used by the armed forces other others nations. The stumbling block is the pouch slides (“hooks”). These were found in earlier incarnations of the belt used in the Polish military but appear to have been phased out with the introduction of the wz.36 regulation..

Posted below are illustrations of the wz.19 and a wz.36 belts taken from the “Polish Army Uniform” book by Henryk Wielecki.

Also pictured is a wz.36 belt. Sorry the pics are weak as I took them in the fading light earlier this evening. This one is marked on the reverse of the buckle with the letters BM (biały metal = white metal) found on many of the various metal items produced for use by the Polish military in the latter half of the 1930’s. There is also a makers mark “DM” circumscribed by an ellipse. I do not know the name of the maker.

Regards,
Tony

[48ppsk]

Greetings,

That is a good point Tony. The Brtish and French pattern 'Sam Brown" belts that I have seen and the ones that I have used brass fittings, not white metal or silvered fittings. I certainly do not know much about French uniforms however and have not seen many examples, however have never seen a British one with other than brass.

The bialy metal was certainly used on some Polish ones.

I also saw in Wielecki's book that the wz. 1924 belt also has the hook on the belt. I guess that I didn't go far back enough. Focusing too much on the wz36 and had the blinders on.

Interesting point.

Mike

[pat15567]

Hello, in my opinion it is not a polish belt. Every detail doesn't fit ... buckle, d-rings ... for 100% it's not a wz.36 pattern and i am almost sure that it's not even polish ...

[48ppsk]

Greetings pat15567,

thanks for further input. It seems as if this discussion has moved over to the section Polish Uniforms, etc pre-39, so I will be following over there.

Thanks again,

Mike

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hello, in my opinion it is not a polish belt. Every detail doesn't fit ... buckle, d-rings ... for 100% it's not a wz.36 pattern and i am almost sure that it's not even polish ...

Hi pat15567, and welcome to the forum.

There’s no denying that this is not a belt that meets the wz.36 specifications. The lingering questions: could it have been adapted for use by replacing the brass parts with white metal? How stringently were wz.36 requirements applied when it came to belt wear? (Asked previously): Were white metal fittings ever used on Sam Brown belts in Britain, France, elsewhere?

Anyway, Mike mentioned that this topic is also being discussed on the Polish Uniforms thread, so hopefully here or there we’ll get some answers.

Cheers,
Tony

PS great looking avatar image

[Orkan]

This should dispel doubts. The same model of belt with date 1940, found on another auction.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Many thanks Orkan. That should settle the issue, although i would like to know more about this particular belt (i.e. place of origin).

Regards,
Tony