Schwedter Adler ?

[Gwar]

I was looking at a local shops website and remembered seeing this after viewing Stonemint's thread today.. Very, very expensive items... But in near mint state.. G

[stonemint]

If real, that is one very rare cap--only a few people could have worn it.
My CTF has an overseas cap from this unit, but for an officer--what is neat about it is that there are machine-sewn holes to insert the eagles prongs into.
It is post # 21 in this thread:


Schwedter Adler Traditions-Badged WH Headgear

[Gwar]

Stonemint, here is the local site.. Belts, Buckles and Uniform Accessories

[TWS]

Saw that the other night when perusing Mike's site.

Stonemint is right. The wearer of that hat would be one of just a few TR Heer general officers who were former members of the units* that wore the Schwedter Adler traditions badge - not a large group of people.

I own one officer's Schirmmütze with the Schwedter Adler, but unfortunately it is un-named.

*From Angolia and Schlicht: "The dragoon eagle (Dragoneradier) commemorated the (Prussian) Brandenburgian Dragoon Regiment No. 2. It was also named "eagle of Schwedt" (Schwedter Adler) after the regiment's garisson town. The eagle was of the pattern worn on the Prussian dragoon helmets--a crowned eagle with upswung wings, clutching sword and septer, and with a scroll across its breast with the inscription "Mit Gott fur Konig und Vaterland" (With God for King and Fatherland). The scroll and the crown were dropped during the Weimar period and added again by an order dated 22 December 1933. The stamped metal measuring 2.6 x 2.6 cm was worn in the same manner as the previously mentioned skulls.

The original bearers of the tradition and right to wear the dragoon eagle were the 2nd and 4th troops of Cavalry Regiment No. 6. An order (HV 37, No. 721) dated 21 June 1937 transferred the tradition and eagle to Motorcycle Battalion (Kradschutzenbataillon) No. 3, and the members of the previous cavalry regiment were ordered to remove their traditional badges. Quite naturally, the cavalrymen strongly resented this "injustice." Sometime in late 1937 (possibly 16 October 1937) permission to resume wear of the badge was restored to the staff and 2ndand 4th troops of Cavalry Regiment No. 6 (but still retained by Motorcycle Battalion No. 3). Upon mobilization in 1939, reconnaissance battalions Nos. 33, 34, 36, and 179 were established from the disbanded cavalry regiment. Officers and NCOs of these battalions sporadically wore the commemorative eagle badge, probably as a carryover of former members of the cavalry regiment. There is even an example of an NCO of Reconnaissance Bn No. 33 wearing the dragoon eagle on the front of his pith helmet.

Cavalry Regiment "Center" (Mitte), constituted in mid-1943, assumed the wear of the eagle badge. As a result of the 27 August and 6 September 1944 orders, the 3rd Cavalry Brigade (of which Cavalry Regiment "Center" was part) was given authority to wear the commemorative badge and become the bearer of the tradition. When the brigade took on division sixe in early 1945, the newly constituted 3rd Cavalry Division continued to carry the tradition and wear the badge."