Kampfgruppen

[James C]

Slowly putting together a few pieces ,the uniform set is used but not abused and dated 1981 missing the all important patch on the feldjacke but have sourced a replacement ,what i did find of interest was the pistol pocket was also to be found on these

[Gunny Hartmann]

I've got a jacket lurking around somewhere. A pity yours was missing the patch but they are common and dirt cheap.

[James C]

Thanks Paul this set was very economical on the wallet ,i guess the patch was removed prior to sending to the surplus market ,i need to now sew on the replacement patch to complete ,my main surprise was the pistol pouch as i always believed pistols were worn with holsters on the belt and more so by officers ,maybe other units within the Kampfgruppen utilised this pocket more but not certain

[Watchdog]

Thanks Paul this set was very economical on the wallet ,i guess the patch was removed prior to sending to the surplus market ,i need to now sew on the replacement patch to complete ,my main surprise was the pistol pouch as i always believed pistols were worn with holsters on the belt and more so by officers ,maybe other units within the Kampfgruppen utilised this pocket more but not certain

Yes James, it was more usual for the pistol when carried to be in a leather holster on a waist belt. To be honest as one who carried a pistol (Browing Hi-power and Walther PK) for many years I can't imagine the pistol pocket being a great idea in any way. The DDR Makarov is very similar to the PK in weight and shape/dimension and to carry it in a pocket is totally inappropriate never mind trying to get it out even slowly from a "buttoned up" jacket.

Such pockets are / were a common feature in DDR non-parade uniforms and seem to me to be directly influenced by Soviet equivalents. In short it is a totally rubbish idea and nobody who considered himself likely to have need of the pistol would have ever used the pocket in my opinion. Now, sarnies would be a different matter

Do you have a KG cap badge? They have a freakish "Disney" look



Regards

Mark
PS I should have added that the badge I show was officially used 1958-60 but in practice was worn until the end of the '60s

[reneblacky]

Great set James, here's mine '83 I think? is 80's due to the blue buttons, can't remember if I ever got the trousers?

[HARRY THE MOLE]

A nice set James. The only Kampfgruppen uniform item I have is a 1965 dated schiffchen.

Cheers,
Steve

[James C]

Mark thanks for your comments regarding the pistol pocket and as i wasn't too clued up on these Citizen soldier uniforms so it was a bit of a surprise to find the pocket once i opened up the feldjacke. I notice aside from the pistol being worn on the belt the earlier reference pictures show WW2 period weaponry in use such as the soviet ppsh smg with drum mag pouch. Your earlier badge is of interest so will look into the earlier types a little further now .
Rene' nice example you have there and great for comparison ,my pebbled pocket buttons are also blue but can i ask what colour your centre line front buttons are to close up the jacket as mine are brown
Steve thank you for adding your very nice garrison cap to the thread ,the cockade is the most striking feature and nice to see the embroidered type compared to the enamelled badge Mark kindly shared early, i imagine these early schiffchen are becoming quite rare to find in such good condition

[reneblacky]

Hey James Mate, you can see the blue button I mean in my third pic to the right.

[Watchdog]

Mark thanks for your comments regarding the pistol pocket and as i wasn't too clued up on these Citizen soldier uniforms so it was a bit of a surprise to find the pocket once i opened up the feldjacke. I notice aside from the pistol being worn on the belt the earlier reference pictures show WW2 period weaponry in use such as the soviet ppsh smg with drum mag pouch. Your earlier badge is of interest so will look into the earlier types a little further now .

No bother James! Yes the PPSh (Pistolet Pulemyot Shpagina) aka "papasha" was the main personal weapon of the KGA for quite some time after the AK series was introduced into other GDR armed forces. Unlike Western forces well, certainly the British anyway, where the pistol is nearly always a primary personal weapon for certain roles/appointments it seems to have been almost an "extra" in DDR units but certainly the sub-machine gun or assault rifle were always in greatest evidence.
As you see from Steves' Schiffchen the KGA emblem was used in embroidered form as well as metal. The metal one is of pretty much identical construction as the later DDR Staatswappen type and was worn on both the ski-muetze and pelz-muetze. There were also differences in the red/yellow/black bands. Some were thick glossy paint and others were a thin lacquer with pebbling visible underneath.
Until recently they seemed to be readily available but I just had a quick look around and couldn't see any. There's a chance I might have a spare somewhere so if I find it I'll give you a shout.

Regards

Mark

[Kateri]

I've enjoyed this thread.
May I ask,is a Kampfgruppen uniform only distinguished by the insignia?