Lets see your Polish Militaria Display!

[wadowicznic]

Fellows


Small addition to this display - a helmet i have had for years.
Hope You like it?
I am not sure about the pattern of the eagle- any thoughts.
A

[DaveC]

It appears that the shadow box I assembled for my father went over so well with him, he's asked me about the beret commonly worn by Polish Forces in WWII.

I have attached 2 pictures of my grandfather, taken in Italy. The cap badge is simple enoygh to identify, but I was hoping that someone would recognize the insignia below and to the right.

Any ideas?

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for sharing the pics. The badge to the left of the eagle is a pennon device that bears the colours denoting the unit he served in. Do you know what unit this was? These same badges were typically used on the BD and SD uniform collars, with the left side collar one finding double duty on the berets, GS and FS caps.

The stripe below the eagle denotes rank – in this case lance corporal (starszy szeregowy)

Regards,
Tony

[DaveC]

Lance Corporal? That's odd... According to his service record (the British MOD was kind enough to send a copy) he was honourably discharged as Senior Private. Would this be a result of the British assigning rank differently than the Poles?

As for the unit, the picture I included in the shadow box had collar tabs of 3 triangles: Yellow at the bottom, black on the left, red on the right. I'm told this is the Mechanical Repair Depot.

Does this make sense?

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi again Dave,

Senior private is the equivalent of lance corporal. In fact, the direct translation of the polish equivalent, starszy szregowiec, is older or senior private.

I looked at the photo in your display and can see that the pennons are correct for the unit you describe (as shown below). As far as the one mounted to the beret in the period pics, it could be a transitional pennon, or even that of another unit. Some more research is required.

Cheers,
Tony

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Coincidentally, these same pennons along with some other insignia from this unit just sold today on ebay. Check out the price . . . 970GBP!!! I tossed in a respectable bid, but even at that I was blown out of the water. Polish militaria values remain very strong. In fact, they are continuing to rise at a time when militaria collectible prices have been softening.

Polish Military Badges World War 2 on eBay (end time 21-Jul-09 19:33:26 BST)

T.

[wadowicznic]

Fellows
I propose we create New Thread
Polish Regimental Badges WW2

All invited to share the knowledge!
A

[A.J. Zawadzki]

How about starting an entire English language website / discussion forum be devoted to Polish militaria? There are sufficient collectors in this hobby to warrant such a site. Now to find someone with the time and energy to start one! Until then we’ll just need to keep carrying on with our discussions attached to German / Soviet discussion forums. Considering our history something just doesn’t sound quite right about that, does it?!

Regards,
T

[Zahigkeit]

Polish 1990s Air Force Plate via The Salvation Army! $2.00

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hello Zahigkeit,

Not my era of interest, but congratulations of finding an interesting item for a very nice price!

And while we’re on the topic of plates, here’s one from my era of interest - a pre-war one I picked up recently marked with the 68th Infantry Regiment insignia. Made by Ćmielow, the well known supplier of table wear to the pre-WW2 Polish military. Unfortunately I paid a wee bit more than $2 !

Regards,
Tony