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Cuff Title Marinehelfer Kriegsmarine

Hi Gents,

still quiet times for collectors due to the nice weather. But as a real collector you check your collection from time to time to see what you really have (sometimes it happened to me that I search for whatever and open a drawer in my home office…..between some paperwork, pictures and ribbons suddenly you see something and wow didn`t know that I HAVE SUCH THING ,-).

That way I checked my cuff title collection and saw my latest acquisition (almost forgotten). It was a cuff title of the Kriegsmarine. The name on it is “Marinehelfer” which means helper of the Germany navy.

Marinehelfer cuff title unworn

Here we have a picture so you can see what it is. A blue woven title with the name “Marinehelfer” on it.

Let’s see who had this one on his uniform and what was the task of the owner back in the days of War.

 

Historical background:

The HJ naval helper “ HJ-Marinehelfer” were underage auxiliaries of the German Navy, who were used during the Second World War in the active weapon service. The specific form of organization emerged from the previously established units of the “HJ-Luftwaffenhelfer”, so-called “Flakhelfern”.

Marinehelfer cuff title 1
Marinehelfer cuff title backside

These units were not subordinate to the Luftwaffe despite their common origin. This not only concerned the training and education times during the ordered compulsory service on the weapon, but also involved a wide range of tasks to combat sea targets. Naval aides were under the exclusive command of the navy. In contrast to the “Luftwaffenhelfern”, which were used according to the locations of their respective anti-aircraft batteries exclusively in the Reich territory, covered the operational area of ​​the naval aides almost the entire coastal region of the German Reich and the occupied areas with a total of almost 3000 kilometers in length. At the end of the war, naval aides were deployed in combat with Allied ground forces.

Marinehelfer Group Picture

The available information was taken from the leaflet, which was given to the helpers with their summoning order at the same time. It applies to both naval and air force helpers. The same applies to the also used internal document on the use of air force helper (file reference 11 b no. 1/43), since the instructions there were also applied to the naval aides.

Let’s have a look at the daily routine of a “Marinehelfer”

The day always started with the same ritual, the morning appeal, for the naval helper (and Air Force helper). They had to compete in uniform outside their accommodations and then marched closed in the group to the roll call. It was always a flag of the Hitler Youth to carry. During the march the usual battle songs were sung together with a marching band. With the song „Holy Fatherland“ the appeal was then opened. In the following reading by the site leader then the new order of the day was announced and ended with further songs.

School attendance
The “HJ-Marinehelfer” were not permanently deployed to their anti-aircraft positions, but, like their fellow HJ Air Force volunteers, had to attend school at least 18 hours a week, which was led by their old teachers, but only after a 4-week training session. The school took place in the immediate vicinity of the “Flakstellung”, mostly in makeshift barracks. In practice, however, the school operation was sometimes impossible, especially after flak missions at night, which could sometimes last into the morning. The hours after that, the naval aides first had to clean the anti-aircraft weapons and wait for the next mission.

Marinehelfer of the HJ

Also during the day, as the duration of the war worsened, there was an air-raid alarm and the few remaining time apart from the maintenance of the weapons, the naval helpers used to sleep and rest or even for combat exercises. The lessons were carried out until the adolescent had passed his matriculation examination, with simpler evaluation standards than with a regular school leaving certificate. Sixth grade students who had been drafted as flak helpers in March 1943 were dismissed from school with a diploma.

Indoor service and leisure activities
The internal service was rather barren for most “HJ-Marinehelfer”, although until 21.00 clock permission prevailed. In addition to the school, maneuvering exercises and the hours-long compulsory weapons cleaning, there were always numerous air raid alarms, so that the “HJ-Marinehelfer” had very little time to pursue any meaningful leisure activities. The aspirations of the Reich Youth Leadership, the rest of free time with sporting exercise, etc. filled, were nullified by the everyday service at the gun again. Thus, the Reich Youth Leadership provided at least for the supply of literature or provided, if not available, people’s receivers for radio broadcasts and music.

Marinehelfer on duty

Orders and decorations
The “HJ-Marinehelfer” and the “Flakhelfer” were honored with the following awards:
• Flak Badge (Luftwaffe)
• War Badge for the Naval Artillery (Kriegsmarine)
• War Merit Cross (1939) II. Class with swords
• Iron Cross 2nd Class
• Wound Badge (1939)
In addition, there were loud eyewitness reports and public commendations in front of the assembled team, so for example, a “HJ-Marinehelfer” firing at a fighter plane and it was shot down, he got a bar of chocolate. Occasionally, however, there were also certificates of recognition by the commanders.

 

Interesting to know is that there are also cuff titles “Marineoberhelfer” and “Marinehelferin”.

After 13 month of service as a “Marinehelfer” you could get a promotion to “Marineoberhelfer”. Just a recognition of service time but not a higher rank than the “Marinehelfer”.

A “Marineherlferin” was a female helper to the Kriegsmarine. They received various specialized training, as there were: air traffic, radio, telex and telephone service, the list probably does not even cover all training directions. So there was no active weapon duty. Actually sort of “NH des Heeres” in the Army or “Blitzmädel” of the Luftwaffe.

 

 

Thanks for reading, please help the blog to get more readers and more writers……Let the other collectors know what you can find here.

 

Take care

Best

Sascha

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Unknown Tinnie „Zweimonatsplan“

Hi Gents,

well the summer is here and it is always a quiet time for collectors. You don’t spend hours in front of your computer searching for good deals or write emails to other collectors. Always better in your garden with a cold beer or a barbeque with friends.

Same with me, after 8 – 9 hours in my navy office I have to kick myself in the butt to get some writing done. But anyway, here I am and very happy that another collector friend provided me with an interesting topic…..ore tinnie.

To be honest, after I received Gary Munson`s Email it took me a while to understand that I have never seen this tinnie before. So I checked my books, IMM, database, the net and asked some other collectors……nothing.

Seems like Gary found something which was made for the “early” NSDAP party but it was never used due to the small power of the movement in the political field of Germany that time.

Here you see a picture of it.

Tinnie Stadion 20 Jun 1931

It says “Zweimonatsplan und dennoch” – which means: “two-month plan – and nevertheless”

There is the date 20th of June, 1931 and the NSDAP letters. Also you can see the “Feldherrnhalle” which is located in Munich (you have seen it on the blood order)

But let`s get to the beginning and what the history says about that particular day. The date on the pin says June 20th 1931. What was the Plan on that date?

Tinnie Stadion 20 Jun 1931 B

Here is all what Gary found out:

This tinnie was originally produced for a pre-election rally that was part of a 2-month plan designed to make huge increases in the Nazi party membership. The rally was to be held in the Berlin Stadium – a stadium that no longer exists; it was leveled to make room for the Berlin Olympic Stadium that housed the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics games. The Mayor of Berlin rejected Dr. Goebbel’s application for a rally, and the Party decided to cancel the event. Appropriately, it appears that all evidence of the planned rally was destroyed, except this pin.
Dimensions:

Paper Circle (diameter): 30 mm
Metal Circle (diameter): 21.45 mm

Here we have some very detailed information what happened between the different political leaders and the persons in charge.

I tried to translate it as it is, wording that time was different from now but I think you will get an idea about the problems of the young NSDAP and also the communist party. I hope you get a little inside view how it was that days:

 

Discussion on the lifting of the Spartakiad ban. June 29, 1931
R 43 I / 2675, p. 23-25

Present: Brüning, Wirth, Treviranus; Zweigert, Meissner; Protocol: MinDir. v. Hagenow.

Carl Severing

After the opening of the conference, the Reichsminister of the Interior presented the state of affairs. He stated that last Friday he had been surprised by the lifting of the ban and had immediately communicated to Minister Severing his objections to the lifting of the ban. At the meeting with Minister Severing, he pointed out the political consequences that the lifting of the ban must entail. Minister Severing had informed him that he had spoken with the representatives of the Communist Party about the nature of the event. He was told that the event will take place in quiet forms. Minister Wirth once again spoke with Minister Severing on the journey to Frankfurt, pointing out the position of the Reichspräsident and the seriousness of the situation.

Otto Meißner

Minister Severing had stated at the meeting that he was compelled to prepare a police shooting decree, and that he would have to prepare for the day when serious clashes could occur in Berlin. He thought that he should have allowed the Spartakiade to prevent sporting events from provoking bloody riots in Berlin. Moreover, Minister Severing has the impression that the Spartakiade is completely flattened. Of course, that would mean that if the Spartakiad were banned, the police action would break up as well. Minister Severing has the opinion that no workers‘ blood should flow during sporting events. It was for these reasons that Minister Severing came to his decision. As for the question of whether it is possible to wrestle further conditions from the Communists, he, Minister Wirth, must point out that the Communists have already made severe demands. He considered it possible, with Article 48 of the Reich Constitution, to ban the Spartakiade by a decree of the Reichspräsident. Minister Severing had stated in the meeting that if the lifting of the austerity measures were to succeed by an order of the Reichspräsident, he would no longer be able to render assistance to the Reich Government if it came into political difficulties for other reasons. So far, Minister Severing, he has always been ready to do his best to remedy the difficult situation in which the Reich Government is in power and to press it on its party.

Heinrich Brüning

At the end of his presentation, Minister Wirth suggested that the Chancellor should hold a meeting with both Prime Minister Braun and Prussian Minister of the Interior Severing. Moreover, he further argued that Article 48 of the Reich Constitution was applicable. The Reich Ministry of the Interior first examined the framework within which the regulation could be adopted. The Spartakiade begins on 3 July and lasts 8 days. As a result, an urgent decision is necessary.

Secretary of State Meissner emphasized that the Reich President was very displeased about the lifting of the Spartakiad’s ban and had sent him a very specific telegram. The President of the Reich had the impression that his decree of 28 March 1931 was abused. He, Secretary of State Meissner, did not even speak to the Reichspräsident by telephone, but only with his son, Lieutenant Colonel von Hindenburg. He replied that both the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the Foreign Office had opened negotiations on the matter. Moreover, it is primarily Prussia’s task to implement the order of March 28th. The Reich has a small influence here. The Reichspräsident regarded the handling of the decree as a provocation and found it particularly peculiar that the communist event was called the „Spartakiad“. In the opinion of the President, the National Socialist event should have been permitted if one tolerated the Communist event. He shared this view, Secretary of State Meissner. He also had the impression that the decree of the Reichpräsident was applied too strongly to the right and that no parity was guaranteed. Minister Wirth once again referred to the attitude of the Prussian Minister Severing and emphasized that this attitude could not be easily avoided, since Minister Severing was a man of honor.

Old Berlin Stadion

Minister Reviranus stated that the people of the East did not understand the way in which the presidential decree of March 28th was applied. In this area, one has the impression that the decree of the Reichspräsident is handled only against the “right” (NSDAP), while the left-wing circles are spared to a large extent. He could not understand the attitude of the Prussian government in this regard and considered the ban on National Socialist events to be a great stupidity.

Secretary of State Meissner also added that the Reich President was awaiting the presentation of a decree, which would abolish the ban, this evening. He therefore asked the Reich Ministry of the Interior to send him an appropriate draft without delay.

Chancellor Brüning remarked that he was truly saddened that at a moment when highly political decisions were to be made in Germany, the Reich Government was also to be faced with this difficulty.

Reichsminister Treviranus asked whether in the present strong workload of the Reich Chancellor it was not possible for Reich Minister of the Interior to discuss things with Prime Minister Braun. In his conversation, Minister Wirth had to explain to the Prussian Prime Minister that the ban on the National Socialist event had been a great mistake.

The Chancellor remarked that he would speak to the Prussian Minister of the Interior of Severing tomorrow, and asked Minister Wirth to inform Minister Severing immediately.

In the course of the meeting, it was found that the following conditions had been set for the event by Minister Severing:

1. speech forbidden by foreigners,
2. prohibition of removals,
3. Submission of the speeches to be given to the Chief of Police for the purpose of review,
4. no uniform rally, but only individual events,
5. No use of the stadium.
The further debate revealed that the following new editions are still expected to be made:

1. prohibition of provocative inscriptions,
2. banning political speeches,
3. Note that the event will be canceled or prevented by police force if the conditions are violated. Moreover, negotiations are to be reached with Prussia
a) ensuring equal treatment to the right and left in order to achieve justice on all sides,
b) possible agreement with the Reich Government on fundamental decisions.
The opportunity of negotiations with Prussia should be used to subsequently raise ideas about the unjustified operation of the regulation.

….

Finally you can see that both parties, left wing (communist) and right wing (nsdap), had the plan to do something big to get a better standing in the mind of the German people. So both events were canceled due to the decisions of the gentleman in charge.

Bottom line is that the discovery of this tinnie is very special. Really rare but with a believable story behind it.

If there are more pins or if there is more paperwork about the “Zweimonatsplan” out there just let me know and I will add this information here.

Thanks to Gary Munson for providing me with pictures and information`s.

Best
Sascha

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Wounded Badge Case first pattern GOLD

Hi Gents,

Took me long this time to write another post but I was handicapped and couldn`t use my right hand.

What happened…. something bit me in my hand, some sort of Insect but we did not find out what ist was. Happened on a Monday morning, on Tuesday morning I was in the hospital with a hand like “HellBoy” and, as the doctors told me “close to Heavens door”. Anyway, they cut down my wedding ring and put me 3 days on hard medication to survive the blood poisoning…..Took me another week to use my hand again and now I can write slowly.

I Hope the responsible „whatever“ died after it bit me…..

Back to our hobby !

I scanned the net and checked different platforms for news on medals and badges. Found several interesting post on GCA, WAF and MFF. One posting let me think…..and finally I found out that I had never thought about it. It was all about cased wounded badges of World War II.

collection Jelle (7)

Easy area you think, you have already a black one, a silver and gold wounded badge and maybe this beautiful version…..uhhhh Legion Condor wounded badge…….but let`s start in the beginning. We have to get the terminology right. A lot of you talk about the legion condor wounded badge and the wounded badge of World War II. That is not the right way to put it down. We have to say it that way: Wounded Badge 1. pattern and the Wounded Badge 2. pattern.

Collection Heinrich (4)

The wound badge was originally established on March 3rd, 1918 by King Wilhelm II to recognize the sacrifice of those wounded during World War I. The badge was instituted in three classes with the class bestowed reflecting the number or severity of the wounds received. On May 22nd, 1939 Hitler re-instituted award of the black and silver WWI pattern wound badges, with the addition of the swastika, for bestowal to German volunteers, (Legion Condor), who had participated in the Spanish Civil war from 1936 – 1939. Of Note: Only one hundred eighty-two black and one silver badge were awarded to Condor Legion veterans.

Collection Heinrich (1)

With the outbreak of WWII, on September 1st, 1939, Hitler once again re-instituted another slightly modified version of the wound badge by altering the World War I pattern helmet on the badge to the newly designed M35 style helmet. The badge was awarded to both military and uniformed non-military personnel and later, (March 1943), to civilian personnel who received wounds as a result of enemy actions. The black wound badge was the lowest of the three classes and was awarded for one or two wounds.

Collection Heinrich (3)

The silver wound badge was awarded for three or four wounds, or if the wound was very severe, ie: loss of limb, blindness, etc..

The gold wound badge was the highest of the three classes and was awarded for five or more wounds, or if the individual was totally disabled. It was also awarded posthumously if the individual was killed in battle.

Interesting fact is hat the wounded badge 1st pattern was given out until 1940 because there were not enough second pattern finally made by the companies to give them to all soldiers who earned the badge.

Collection Heinrich (8)

So now let`s go back to the cased badges. If you examine a wounded badge 2nd pattern in gold it normally will come in a black case with white inlet.

If you were lucky enough to get a golden wounded badge 1. pattern which is also “hohl verbödet” (which means a hollow badge where the maker put a piece of metal on the back side to let it look like a flat back badge)and it is cased, this little friend will come in a black case with white inlet…..but be careful……it is like in your bedroom….the size matters.

Pictures collection Jelle

The cases for 1. pattern and 2. pattern are not the same size and I will show that with a few pictures from my collector Friend Heinrich.

As you can see the 1st pattern case is smaller, has an imprint on the top of the case and is higher than the standard black WB case. Everything is only in millimeter size but you can see it.

Pictures collection Heinrich

Shortly after start searching about WB cases  I found an interesting post in the WAF where some other collectors posted their cases of.

Pictures collection Gary

Here was a statement that the wounded badges 1st pattern gold case was also used for the Wounded Badge July 20, 1944. The same maker and the same size was the information. I hope we can proof that one day or some of the collector`s who owns one will provide me with pictures and sizes.

Thanks to Henrich, Gary, Jelle and Hans for helping me out with basic information and good pictures!

 

That’s it so far, hope you will get back after all the DSGVO (EU General Data Protection Regulation) storm in the internet.

Thanks for reading, please help the blog to get more readers and more writers……Let the other collectors know what you can find here.

Take care

Best

Sascha

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11 StuG, Ausf.G in Battle

Today we show you an interesting application photo of the wintry eastern front.

In the recognizable vehicle on the left, it could be an german assault gun ‘StuG, Ausf.G’ (Ausf. G, the last Variant next to Ausf.A – F/8).

11 StuG Ausf. G in Battle

It carries well recognizable, wintertracks, which introduced starting from October 1943.
At the rear is a structure (luggage frame) for stowing objects on the engine deck recognizable.
Externally, the StuG is color adapted to the environment and bears recognizable white lime color.

The soldiers who have taken cover behind the ‘StuG’ wear winter camouflage clothing, which apparently has been worn for some time.

At less than 50 meters away is a knocked out and still burning soviet ‘T-34/76 (Model 1941)’ recognizable.

Its driver’s hatch is open, so it can be assumed that the crew could still get out.
The turret of the ‘T-34’ is in 9 o’clock position, so it can be assumed that the ‘StuG’ did not destroyed this tank.

Exact details of the location of the photo are not known to us. It can be assumed that this could be a photograph from a series of a war correspondent.
As mission and recording time, the winter 1942/43 is likely to come into question.

More information about the photo shown is of course always welcome.

 


Heute zeigen wir Euch ein interessantes Einsatzfoto von der winterlichen Ostfront.

 

Bei dem links im Bild erkennbaren Fahrzeug, dürfte es sich um ein deutsches Sturmgeschütz ‘StuG, Ausf.G’ handeln (Ausf. G, letzte Variant nach Ausf.A – F/8).

11 StuG Ausf. G in Battle

Es trägt gut erkennbar, die ab Oktober 1943 bei der Truppe eingeführte Winterkette.

Am Heck ist ein Aufbau (Gepäckrahmen) zum Verstauen von Gegenständen auf dem Motordeck erkennbar.

Äußerlich ist das ‘StuG’ farblich der Umgebung angepasst und trägt erkennbar weiße Kalkfarbe.

 

Die Soldaten, die hinter dem ‘StuG’ in Deckung gegangen sind tragen Wintertarnbekleidung, die augenscheinlich bereits längere Zeit getragen wurde.

 

In weniger als 50 m Entfernung ist ein abgeschossener und noch brennender sowjetischer ‘T-34/76 (Model 1941)’ erkennbar.

Dessen Fahrersehklappe ist geöffnet, sodass davon auszugehen ist, dass die Besatzung noch aussteigen konnte.  

Der Turm des ‘T-34’ steht in 9 Uhr Position gerichtet, sodass davon auszugehen ist, dass das ‘StuG’ diesen Panzer nicht vernichtet hat.

 

Genaue Angaben zum Aufnahmeort des Fotos sind uns nicht bekannt. Es ist davon auszugehen, dass es sich hierbei um ein Foto aus einer Serie eines Kriegsberichterstatters handeln könnte.

Als Einsatz- und Aufnahmezeit dürfte der Winter 1942/43 infrage kommen.

 

Weitere Informationen zum gezeigten Foto sind uns natürlich jederzeit gern willkommen.