Fallschirmjager with a Heer buckle

**rickyodicky** · 05-23-2009, 02:44 AM

I agree. I thought maybe he just liked the motto....but I think he must know by now Gott doesn't give a damn about the soldier in the trenches. Photo caption states" A paratrooper in Russia poses for a photographic portrait in summer 1942. Mid-1942 saw many men of 7th Air Division sent back to France to lick their wounds after a hard and bloody winter of fighting".

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 05-23-2009 02:44 AM

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**rickyodicky** · 05-23-2009, 02:52 AM

by Adrian Stevenson

Early Paratroop formations were part of the Heer and later transfered to the Luftwaffe.

Heer Paratroop units, such as the Brandenburgers, were wartime raised units and wore Heer insignia.

This is an early photo. Early grey/green smock, blue ammo bandoleer, early spanner bolt helmet, etc.

Cheers, Ade.

Ade, by the way, this is why you're a genius and the rest of us are numbskulls. You are definitely right, the coloring of the bandoleer is certainly different from the smock. Spanner bolt barely noticeable, but there. And all this from a black and white photo! Remarkable, but don't tell me he had eggs for breakfast: yolk on upper lip, else I 'll really know you're something mystical.

**JPhilip** · 05-26-2009, 10:50 PM

Hello,
This is a nice photo
One of the best photo of the same kind i know is a Heer Eastern volunteer who wears a Waffen SS buckle.
Thanks

**Reibert** · 06-23-2009, 07:31 PM

by JPhilip

...One of the best photo of the same kind i know is a Heer Eastern volunteer who wears a Waffen SS buckle.
...

Here´s a Soldier of the Wehrmacht-Luftwaffe, wearing an SS-belt, (or is this a Soldier of the SS, wearing a Luftwaffe Uniform ? ...

).

**packin9** · 06-24-2009, 12:45 AM

May well be, anything to hold yer pants up. I'm quite sure there was such a miss mash of what ever anyone could lay their mitts on that it could be kind of hard to say positively what branch one belonged to. And I doubt as the war went on, attrition had a hand in it.

**DUJAILAH** · 06-24-2009, 10:59 AM

It looks like men captured from a mixed Luftwaffe/SS "Kampfe Gruppe". Formed near the end of the war out of remnants of units to make a battle strength unit. Cheers, Richard.

**lach470** · 06-24-2009, 11:59 AM

Yes, I recognize the man standing behind him, with the bandage on his head. He's in a famous picture where he's holding his coat open while being searched by an American soldier. You all must have seen that shot....I just don't have it handy to post. Very interesting shot. I agree: this late in the war - they probably used whatever they could. I'm sure uniform protocol was out the window and whatever supplies they were getting were probably not uniform related.

Cheers!

Rob

**Reibert** · 06-24-2009, 03:55 PM

by lach470

Yes, I recognize the man standing behind him, with the bandage on his head. He's in a famous picture where he's holding his coat open while being searched by an American soldier. You all must have seen that shot....I just don't have it handy to post. Very interesting shot. ...

Hi, Rob !

You mean this one, right ?

**lach470** · 06-25-2009, 01:35 AM

Yes sir! That's the one! Thanks for posting that pic! Hey - any way of knowing what his rank was? Obviously an officer by the brocade he is wearing. I've always wondered! Are those Leutnant boards?
Cheers!
Rob