Help South African MKII Helmet Used by Dutch in Indonesia

[joaobr]

Hello gentlemen,

I recently obtained this lot from a Dutch veteran of the Indonesian conflict 1945-1949. Basically it is British material from World War II that was reused in Indonesia from 1946 onwards.

The use of a South African helmet with sand paint and repainted dark green with the emblem of the "5th Regiment Stoottroepen" painted on it is curious.
In this case, I don't know if this painting and emblem were painted by the veteran after the war or during.
I appreciate opinions.


It has a patch of the 5th Regiment Stoottroepen and two with the Dutch lion. It seems to me that the emblem of the 5th Regiment Stoottroepen was removed from this type of beret that also came with the batch.
There is a Patch with 3 red bars, not exactly what they mean, it looks like an overseas bar.
And there is also a blue cloth shoulder patch with a metallic bomb emblem and a red bar, I know it's Dutch. But not exactly what kind of rank it indicates, I believe it is corporal.


The lot came with a set of 3 dogtags that appear to be made from a very thick paper/fiber. Very similar to the English model, there are several inscriptions on them and they are very difficult to read as they are dimmed. Here's what I managed to read from them:

dog tag 1: I V RS (or R5)
625594 (or 625894)

Dog tag 2: A. Jeanty
230200004
I - VII - RS (or R5)
SEAG . RNA (or SEAC. RNA)

Dog tag 3: A. Jeanty
230200004
V - IX - RS (or R5)
SEAG . RNA (or SEAC. RNA)

Other items are: some metal badges for uniforms. I couldn't identify one of the Pins, the green shield with some letters inscribed on it.


The lot came with a leather holster, but I don't know if it originally belonged to the set...


Finally, there are two pieces that I couldn't identify exactly: a tin box that looks like a lunch box. But I didn't find that manufacturer and model.

And, finally, a red cross pin with inscriptions in Chinese. I couldn't find what period it was from and what its purpose was.


I thought it was a very curious set, all these pieces were together. These pieces made me study a little about this conflict in Indonesia.

If anyone can give me more information and opinions about the pieces, I'd be happy.

Thanks

[earlymb]

VERY nice find!

The beret is either an Australian jungle beret or a US dress cap cover used as beret, commonly used by the Stoottroepen. It is quite possible the black Stoottroepen-patch was worn on the beret, as this was quite common in the Stoottroepen.

The 'Nederland' shoulder patches are British-made, as indicated by the black nails. In the 1947 the 'Nederland' in the scroll was changed to 'Je Maintiendrai', but the older patches continued to be worn till used up. The blue patch with the silver flaming bomb was (and still is) the insignia of the Koninklijke Marechaussee, the Royal Netherlands Military Police. I'm not sure about the rank.

RS = Regiment Stoottroepen
SEAC = South East Asia Command
RNA = Royal Netherlands Army

I have a British kitbag with these markings in my collection.

The black and yellow 'OVW'-pin stands for 'Oorlogsvrijwilliger', which means 'War Volunteer' so not conscripted. The metal lions are beret/cap insignia, I don't know the other 2 pins.

[joaobr]

Hello colleague,

Thank you very much for the clarifications! These are the first items from the Netherlands. I found it very interesting that it has a backpack with the same markings.

Some information about lion and metal emblems I had found on some Dutch websites. But your collaboration helped a lot to confirm what I had already researched.

Regarding the shoulder emblem, I had no idea what it was and now I can classify it in my collection. Thanks! Would it be possible to say, perhaps, that this soldier was from the "Koninklijke Marechaussee" within the Stoottroepen regiment?

One thing that caught my attention about dogtags is that there are several of them. Almost the same things are written on them. But in all of them there is a different number before the acronym RS (Regiment Stoottroepen). What do they indicate?

Another thing: looking at the size of the emblem with a black background and the ghost left on the beret, they don't match. The one on the beret was a slightly smaller patch.

Today I was in contact with the same person who gave me this batch, and there was also an American HBT uniform. Apparent of the same veteran.
An interesting mix of Dutch, English and American material

They are still trying to better identify the meaning of other pieces. However, I was really happy with your help and comments!

Kind regards

[earlymb]

The dogtags always state the 'mother regiment', so this veteran was not a member of the KMar. The red band indicates a Marechaussee 3e Klasse, or a pvt 3th class.

The various numbers probably indicate he was transferred to various battalions within the Regiment Stoottroepen, which still exists and nowadays is part of the RNA's AirMobile force. It was raised in 1944 with the goal of forming members of the armed Resistance into a military unit after parts of The Netherlands were liberated in september 1944. By the time the Regiment went to the NEI they also got conscripts and regular volunteers assigned to them.

A mix of Commonwealth and US items is very common, troops that went overseas were issued with whatever was at hand. While equipment and weapons were usually Commonwealth, the camouflaged US M1942 Jungle Suit was issued in large numbers along with green HBT clothing. The KNIL (Koninklijk Indisch-Nederlands Leger, the colonial army) was also issued US equipment and weapons. The most common cap worn was the HBT US M1941 cap, although the jungle beret was the favorite within the RS.

Check this pic, it's a wild mix of uniforms and equipment

[joaobr]

I'm going to research now which Stoottropen battalions were operating in the area and try to make a match with the dogtags.

An item that I found very curious are the 3 overseas bars in red, which are very reminiscent of WWI models. I didn't find much about them but I'll keep researching.

Thanks for helping with shoulder patch identification as well! It came in the lot, but in this case the veteran must have just brought it as a souvenir, or it belonged to him at another time.

I always find it very interesting how at times armies mix materials from different origins.
Here in Brazil it was and still is very common. During World War II, we used uniforms and some personal equipment made in Brazil mixed with US equipment. It is very common to see Brazilian soldiers in Italy with their national uniforms and American cold coats.

[earlymb]

In Dutch, but it might help:

https://www.indie-1945-1950.nl/web/zoek/zoek.htm

[joaobr]

Hello again,

The information you provided is helping me a lot to understand this conflict better, but I have one more question:

The dog tags say, for example, "I - V - RS"
"RS" would be "Regiment Stoottroepen". Do the numbers "I - V" correspond to the company and battalion respectively?
example: 1 company of the V Stoottroepen battalion

[earlymb]

Hello again,

The information you provided is helping me a lot to understand this conflict better, but I have one more question:

The dog tags say, for example, "I - V - RS"
"RS" would be "Regiment Stoottroepen". Do the numbers "I - V" correspond to the company and battalion respectively?
example: 1 company of the V Stoottroepen battalion

Yes it does.