Souvenir haul on last day of 2022!

[Kohima]

As the title says, I was lucky enough to acquire a large collection of a Veteran’s souvenirs yesterday. Some really nice things, though most of the metal insignia is missing fixing pins - perhaps testament to some unceremonious removal from various PoW caps! On the plus side, it does make these badges easier to frame!

First up, the items I shall be keeping:

A nice eastern front award for Italian troops:

[Kohima]

Assorted cloth insignia.
I am not sure what all of these pieces are, so would appreciate any help you can give in identifying them; particularly some of the Adler insignia (I think the top one, with dark green backing, may be forestry. A couple are Kriegsmarine (one coastal artillery), but the short-winged type eludes me). The brown-backed rank badge, lower left, puts me in mind of RAD, simply due to the colours used, but is a strange construction.

I think the black-backed Polizei badges may be Reichsbahn; I love the quality of the green Polizei badges, and assume that the required district name would be embroidered in the space above, as required.

A selection of Kriegsmarine trade badges - the small, oval badge with crossed guns is unfamiliar to me, and I have no idea what the strange insigne top right represents.. or the red one, centre right, denotes (radar?).

[Kohima]

And now, the metalwork:
I am particularly intrigued by the two smaller cockades, with simple oak wreaths, and wonder if they are of Reichsheer period. Any advice welcomed.


A nice Assmann marked Heer summer-weight tunic adler; JFS 40 Kriegsmarine adler, and RZM Army-style adler, marked M1/13. I assume this to be a political insigne, rather than Heer, due to the RZM markings (?).


Maker’s mark 155/36 for Assmann:


Another Assmann, but 155/42


I look forward to your thoughts and comments.
Wishing you all a successful collecting new year!
Rob

[SHEMP H]

Wow, nice score !

[Rakkasan187]

Rob,

Happy New Year..

A very nice selection of insignia and other items.

The Blue round Kriegsmarine rating in the upper right (Draftsman's Compass) is a Carpenter Rate for Privates, known as Career Insignia.

The Oval Crossed Cannons in the Center is a Career Insignia for Officers and is Ordnance

The last insignia (Red with two arrows pointing inward) is the Weapons Control Foreman (unit training) (Waffenleitvormann Truppenausbildung). This was known as a Sleeve Badge of Specialists

Best regards

Smitty

[MAP]

Nice way to finish out the year! Great Vet group find!

[Kohima]

Many thanks, gentlemen.
I was thinking this year was pretty much a washout (as far as ‘real world’ collecting went - though I did pretty well online), but then all this came my way at the eleventh hour! Sadly, the family were unwilling, or unable, to furnish any information whatsoever about the veteran - his unit, service, or even his name - so that is yet another lost to history.
From all the navy related items, I wonder if he was at one of the coastal installations or bases at the end of the war; Bremerhaven, Kiel, or the like, or perhaps simply retrieved them from a manufacturer that happened to provide these to the Kriegsmarine. We shall never know.

Many thanks for the help with ID, Smitty! I think I may have misdirected you in my description ‘top right’, though I had assumed the compasses to be for a cartographer. Many thanks for the correction!
The one that still eludes me is the strange design, upper far right (above the signaller), with wheel and vaguely triangular box thing. A peculiar shape that doesn’t suggest anything to me (I even took a 50/50 guess on its orientation)!

It’s good to know there is still a fair bit out there, waiting to be found. None of this has been in a collection since its original gathering by the veteran.
Yet another reason to be grateful to him.

[Rakkasan187]

Rob,

Now I see which rate you are referring to.

This is the career insignia for privates and the rate is Sperrmechaniker (Blocking Weapons Mechanic). Flip yours 180 degrees and that will be the proper position.

Smitty

[Kohima]

Cheers Smitty!
I had a 50% chance of getting it right! A blocking weapons mechanic.. I’m not getting the connection with that design - even the right way up! Bizarre. But then, a lot of these insignia have obscure forms (a goodly number of Luftwaffe insignia are equally mysterious), which make you wonder what the designer was thinking or looking at.

Kriegsmarine is a field I have (fairly) successfully avoided getting sucked into, thus far, and consequently have only limited references. That said, I’ve always had a hankering for a sample rating’s uniform..
There’s that slippery slope again!

Thanks again for your great help and all the very best,
Rob

[Rakkasan187]

Rob,

My pleasure.. Ironically some of the first insignia that I collected were the kriegsmarine rates due to their low costs, (I think I was purchasing them at 5-8 dollars each back many years ago due to the amount of them available).

They can still be found for decent prices but not for what I was getting them for.

You picked up some really great pieces.

Best regards my friend,

Stay Safe

Smitty