Just ordered my first Deutscher Volkssturm Wehrmacht armband

[RailwayEagle]

Hey guys. Some of you probably remember me asking too many annoying questions about Volkssturm armbands. Well after a couple weeks of searching and thinking, I decided to purchase this one from John at germanwarbooty.com. I feel pretty safe buying from him, seems like he can tell the difference between originals and repros. Also I wanted an armband that was actually worn during the war. "Salty" as you call it . I have a specific interest in Volkssturm stuff, and since I definitely can't afford any period Volkssturm weapons or anything yet I settled with an armband

Paid $75 + $5 shipping. About $15 or $20 higher than I actually wanted to pay, but heck...what's an extra $20 spent on something I plan to keep for the next 20~ years. Most of the other ones I've seen out there are mint unissued.

Thank you all for helping me out, my Third Reich collection is slowly but certainly growing. My next purchase will be an NSDAP armband, wool with the RZM tag attached. John had a couple for $50 I had my eye on, but I waited to long and they sold.

[harryamb2]

looks ok,not to salty.

[Glenn66]

I think you'll be lucky to get a decent NSDAP kampfbinde in wool with tag for $50...good luck though!

[RailwayEagle]

I think you'll be lucky to get a decent NSDAP kampfbinde in wool with tag for $50...good luck though!

Agreed. When I realized the two germanwarbooty sold when I went to buy them I cried a little!

[Erno]

It looks nice!

Be patient, and you may be able to get a kampfbinde for that price. As Glenn says, it may take a while. I prefer buying from private individuals rather than dealers, because the prices are better. But when you do that, you have to be patient or take what comes along, because it can take a long time for something you really want to come up for sale.

[jimm]

Nice item mate , i'm after one of these aswell , good luck on the NSDAP armband too. I definitely prefer a piece that has been worn rather than an unissued one. At least you can say it has been there and you always wonder about the person that wore it .

[RailwayEagle]

It looks nice!

Be patient, and you may be able to get a kampfbinde for that price. As Glenn says, it may take a while. I prefer buying from private individuals rather than dealers, because the prices are better. But when you do that, you have to be patient or take what comes along, because it can take a long time for something you really want to come up for sale.

Oh yes, I'd prefer purchasing from individuals as well. I figured though even an individual was asking $60 - $70 for a Volkssturm armband.

I got lucky when I got my NSDAP banner from an individual. Dealers just love to ask hundreds upon hundreds of dollars for any Nazi party flag or banner.

[RailwayEagle]

Nice item mate , i'm after one of these aswell , good luck on the NSDAP armband too. I definitely prefer a piece that has been worn rather than an unissued one. At least you can say it has been there and you always wonder about the person that wore it .

100% agreed. You know there are plenty of unissued Volkssturm armbands out there. GI's grabbed them by the box full, brought them back to the states, then slowly over 70 years they dispersed into collections. Where's the history in that? A great many of them would have been destroyed during denazification as well. Sure it may have existed during the Battle for Berlin...but did it participate in that historic event?

Now an issued armband. That's a part of history. One that could have been worn by a German fighting to the last man in Berlin with inferior weapons, training, alongside some wehrmacht and SS soldiers. As the Reich shrank down to just a few city blocks, until Adolf Hitler killed himself thus ending his Nazi reign forever.

I suppose there are two types of collector. Those who like mint items, which often have a higher monentary value and resale value. Then you have those who want items with wear, indicating it actually took part in the historic event.

[RailwayEagle]

I have a few questions regarding this, I've done a good bit of searching and have learned a lot but still have a few questions left unanswered. I sure wish I could learn some more history on this particular piece though. I wonder since it's issued if the Volkssturm soldier wore it while defending Berlin?

Would anyone happen to have any knowledge on how many of these Volkssturm armbands were actually issued? Also how many were produced? Is there any way to tell exactly when it was manufactured?

Also, I believe I've seen 3 different styles of Volkssturm armband. This one I have here, a Yellow/Black one, and a White/Black one. Were these simply issued to different levies or simply different times of the war?