Mystery US/Soviet looking headgear

[Didier]

The above photo was most probably taken at Arromanches (Normandy) during the summer of 1944. To me, the soldier is dressed as a US serviceman but he seems to have added a star with some kind of hammer and sickle to his side cap. I would say the man looks Russian, but could it be that he was a former member of a German Osttruppen unit?

This is the only such picture in my collection of more than 500 summer of 1944 photos, so I would be interested to know your opinion.

Regards,

Didier

[Willmore]

Hello Didier, what an interesting photo, thank you for sharing it with us.

Now, this is a guess, but could the soldier actually be a Frenchman who is also a Communist. My understanding is that the United States gave vast amounts of uniforms and equipment to the Free French Forces which could explain the US uniform.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Didier]

Thank you for your reply, Will.

I hadn't thought about that possibility but my understanding is that Free French Forces, contrary to some French interior resistance movements, had no particular political awareness and, besides, being myself a Frenchman, the man on the photograph strikes me as being rather typically "un-French-looking".

The fact is that the hammer and sickle are kind of upside down, which would have been tantamout to blasphemy to hardcore Communists

Kind regards,

Didier

Here is a photo of a Free Frenchman:



This one does look French, I think!

[Willmore]

The Osttruppen theory is interesting. I would imagine that some of them would have offered their services to the Allies after capture.

The below image shows a captured Osttruppen speaking to Allied soldiers -



Wehrmacht Osttruppen Prisoner 1944 | A Military Photos & Video Website

Ha ha ha, very true about the hammer and sickle being upside down!

It is a very interesting picture and I hope the mystery can be solved.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Didier]

My own grandparents had to host a German Wehrmacht officer and his Osttruppen squad prior to June 1944 (they lived in Normandy but quite far from the coast at the time). One day, my grandmother noticed that the "German" soldiers were leaving in panic. When she asked one of them what was going on, he only replied "Tommy! Tommy!". This is how she learnt that the British were coming.

[Willmore]

That is a great family story Didier!

[Didier]

Not one without casualties, unfortunately: the Osttruppen soldiers got hold of my grandma's ducks and killed them all to feast upon them. When my grandma complained to the German officer, he told her that he would shoot them to atone for the slaughtering of her fowl. He was merely joking, of course.

[Didier]

I suppose you could call that fowl play ^^

[Witt]

I will throw out the possibility that he is in the Communist sector of the Resistance, the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans. I read about this group when I learned about the seacrh for executed German prisoners in Meymac. The whistle-blower so to speak, Edmond Réveil, was a member of the FTP. The Francs-tireurs et partisans – main-d'œuvre immigrée was multiple attachments of foreign fighters in the ranks. A majority were Hungarians and Romanians. Maybe he is ethnic from this region.