Leaderboard

I have just completed a piece of business with forum member Gordon Williamson. What a top guy Gordon is. He sent me the item on approval before I paid for it, had it delivered at super fast speed and we concluded the deal this morning. Gordon is a superb , knowledgeable and excellent member of this forum. Attitudes like his are from the "old school" and how refreshing it is do business like that. Sums my experience of this forum. Well done to Bart and the team and ofcourse the so many great members who contribute their knowledge to this group. This forum just gets better and better!! Best wishes to all Jim

This arrived today. It is attributable being awarded to General Lt von Vett in October 1918. The ultimate for me in my collecting. I cannot believe I have this, it is simply stunning in hand!!! Please enjoy Jim

John, always happy to share this hobby with people like you. Soem very nice pieces, congratulations to all. This one has been my last but probably the best of the year. Vizeadmiral Walter Matthiae reefer, Seekommandant from Lorient (10 Sep 1944-10 May 1945) and Deutsches Kreuz in Silber winner (11 Apr 1944). It came also with a WW1 EKI and coastal artillery war badge. The cloth DKiS is abosolutly amazing.

Here is a small German display I set up at the Ogden gun show about a year ago. And here is a close up of the display case.

Hi All I finely got some new images, plus arranged things (lack of space) around, I have been collecting for a while now, and yes had some bad buys:-(, but now most of my items have came form fellow members on WHF (that are also members here:-), and collectors that I have gotten to know over the years:-). Just want to point out a few things, firstly as our good old (big brother) Customs don't allow these bad things called machine guns eve if they meet the deactivated requirements (our state of Western Australia does), so my M-40's are replica's, my camo patten helmet cover is post War but made out of original camo cloth, the water follow cover is field made out of a poncho, on my Pioneer soldier, all off my helmets are original, except the M-40 Snow camo, as this one came from Latvia many moons ago with post War paint job and a fake SD SS rune, but once I check the batch number (yes I know about that the batch numbers were really there for the sheets of metal that the helmets were made form so that the factory could trace back to were that metal sheet was made etc) and it came back as a SD SS shell. Another thing as I was just accused off putting this SS HBT together my self as it is originally a Heer HBT tunic, as I brought this from a good reliable collector a few years back I had to contact him to remind me of it's story as I have forgotten, he then reminded me this was a end of War put together by a SS soldier out on the field, as soldiers grab anything they could due to the dismantling of the German power and their War machine. So I hope you like my collection:-) Lou

Hi Gang. I was asked by a forum member if i could badge a beret he had correctly. So i got him the correct cap badge which took a while to get an original. I met up with him in birkenhead uk yesterday and sold him the badge. What a nice chap to meet. The forum has made me a new friend. Pete great meeting you. His forum name is Sonderbefehls. Im glad i was able to help a fellow member source a original cap badge for his beret. The cap badge is in the data base. Fantastic day all round.

Indeed, I can hardly believe its already almost a year since Jan Arne passed away. On militaria forums you meet some real nice people but also some thoroughly nasty, odious characters. Jan Arne was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. One of the most helpful and generous people you could ever wish to know. His passing was a tragic loss. The world is a poorer place without him.

With Horst Bredow (R.I.P.) on my last visit to the U-Boat Archiv in Altenbruch

I am a spanish collector.Basically i collect badges and some medal bars.Till now i had a couple of soldbucher.For me they were a perfect complement for a metal piece. But this perception of soldbucher and documents in general has dadically changed when i "met" Eric JB. I wrote him to make him a question.It was a question from a biginner in soldbucher so i thought that perhaps Eric hadn 't time enough for answer... But he did it,with kindness and of course a lot of knowledge.Some emails more between us and my thoughts about the way of collecting "paper" changed. He made that now i look for stories inside soldbuch and he has made that my interest in these pieces of History has grown so much that i am selling some of my badges to buy soldbucher. When you read the passion he writes with,the details he see in a simple line,the researches...you realize documents are much more than documents...they are History!!! But More important than this is the fact that Eric is always there for helping,always turn on a light when darkness arrives,always with kindness,spending a lot of his time with beginner collectors for nothing,only becuse he feels inside him the satisfaction of doing it!!! Great collector,and great person. I would like to say more things in a better way...my english is not very good,but i have tried to do my best for saying all of you what lucky we are of habing in our forum Eric JB. For all these things,Eric,my friend,i say to you... THANK YOU,Eric JB!!! Alberto. Feel free to contnue this thread...all of you collectors.

Original wrapper with matching numbers Gaunt

Had this in today. A nice group to a machine Gunner with Landsturm Battalion "Tannenburg". He saw action on both the East and Western Fronts. I like these groupings with paperwork and hope you like it too. Jim

Thanks for the kind comments guys. All credit to Bart for creating a Forum where it is easy to trust and feel confident in dealings with fellow members. This forum has a real "community" feel about it.

I do have some other favorites Patrick, hope you don't mind me posting more than one? Here's a pelzmutze from an Einjahrige Freiwillige Leibhusaren Regt. Nr. 1. As a bonus, also the rest of the uniform... Adler

Hello all, I have been always very interesting in the Wehrmacht units insignia's, and even more in Kriegsmarine. I wrote this for myself a while ago and would like to share with you. Please share your own pieces and knowledge with us to complete or correct it. I hope you enjoy with it. File upgraded in May 2018 with some new information Kriegsmarine Feldgrau Shoulder Straps 2018.pdf

I haven't shared my collection here yet but now that I have some new photos here it is. I started seriously collecting about 5 years ago. First focus was armbands then buckles then helmets and then after I got my first tunic I decided I wanted to be a 'head to toe' collector as it were. So now I love collecting items that fit with certain other items (mostly tunics).

This scene is pictured looking east, towards Caen at La Villeneuve de Rots. Two tanks of 3rd Company return from an attack on Norrey. The light coming in from the South West shows that it is early in the afternoon. I have another picture which I have matched up. It was taken from the left hand side of the road, facing directly opposite the archway and barn style doors of the building on the right. The picture is of a Panther parked directly in front of these doors. ReichFeldpost

I think it has something to do with my ex wife Jim

Pte A.H CAYGILL WESTRIDING ( YORKSHIRE ) HOME GUARD / Bradford unit . This is the only example I have ever seen awarded to a Home Guard man , I have done a bit of checking with the clever medal type guys and they say he would have to have been killed - not died from sickness fior his Next of Kin to have been give this ? Another unsual fact , this unit with the designation ` Westriding ` should have been badges Duke of Wellingtons Regt but were for some reason unknown West Yorks Regt . hope this is of interest , your comments as always welcome

This has to be my best purchase of 2014 Jim

A friend of mine made this display cross for me.

I came across this grouping of Corporal Dale Gillespie several years ago and knew I had to have it immediately. Corporal Gillespie was attached to the 307th Medical Company. He took his jump training in North Africa and participated in all four combat jumps made by the 82nd in the war-Sicily, Italy, Normandy and Holland. I had the opportunity to speak with him after I purchased the grouping. It includes his jump jacket, which he wore on all four jumps, his bloody jump pants which he wore on the last two jumps as his first pair were worn out, his jump boots worn on all four jumps and in the Ardennes, his field jacket worn in the Ardennes, his Ike jacket, trousers and overseas cap. The group also included a unworn pair of jump boots, a bayonet and field knife. There were also several period pictures of him. The pictures will show how his helmet wore through the back neck of both jackets.

All: I received a very special gift this week. Just because he wanted to, my dear friend Eric-Jan had Alfred Eick sign a few photographs for me. I was lost for words when I realized one was signed to me. Best regards, John

Some more.

Quite recently I was able to land a nice Soldbuch and Citation set to a pilot who served in various units in WW-2 culminating in the night ground attack unit 2./Nachtschlachtgruppe 3 which flew 'nuisance' raids using such obsolete aircraft as the Ar-66 and Go-145 in a similar fashion to the well known Soviet Po-2 'Sewing Machine' of earlier war years on the Eastern Front. Then a couple of weeks ago I was able to land another set to a pilot in Nachtschlachtgruppe 3, this time from the 1. Staffel but this time the set was more significant as the pilot was one of only two flyers to win the Knights Cross with the unit. And not just the RK but also the DKiG and the Ehrenpokal as well, not to mention the Gold Bomber Clasp with Pendant and completing over 600 sorties! The set consists of the Wehrpass and all the citations with the exception of a Prelim RK citation and a citation for the Kurland Cuffband. As these are the only two citations missing it is possible that they were never issued or they could well be sitting somewhere with the pilots Soldbuch and Flugzeugführerschein. This set was sold some time ago by Hermann Historica and when it was auctioned it still contained his medals including the RK but since then the metal has gone its separate ways from the paper. Interestingly, the auction photo shows the whole set I have but missing the EK II & I citations but since then they have become reunited with the rest of the citations. Ludwig Bellof was originally a member of the Heer before WW-2 which included a spell with Pz.Abwehr-Abteilung 36 but before the war he transferred over to the Luftwaffe and commenced his flying training. This was the time when the fuel & war situation was such that the Germans could afford to give pilots a full and thorough training and so it was that Bellof would attend numerous training schools and courses from the beginning of 1939 to the end of 1942, a full 3 years and more including time at Jagdgruppe Drontheim and Aufkl.Fl.Schule Brieg. Completing his training in November 1942 Bellof was assigned to 2./Störkampfgruppe Luftflotte 1. This unit was set up in October 1942 in the area of Leningrad to copy the Soviet tactics of sending small, slow aircraft over enemy lines at night to conduct nuisance raids keeping the enemy soldiers on edge and to deprive them of sleep. A lot of the time the pilots of such units would fly up to 4 or 5 sorties in one night with probably the best sortie ratio being achieved in March 1943 when the Gruppe flew 3,052 sorties in 22 nights - an average of 138 sorties per night for the Gruppe!! In October 1943 Störkampfgruppe Luftflotte 1 was renamed Nachtschlachtgruppe 3 with 2./Störkampfgruppe Luftflotte 1 becoming 1./Nachtschlachtgruppe 3. By this time Bellof had already been awarded both grades of the EK and up to the Bomber Clasp in Gold, and a few days after the renaming to 1./Nachtschlachtgruppe 3 he was awarded the Ehrenpokal. Signatures seen here include those of Alfred Keller (RK), Bruno Loerzer (RK) and Major Boris von Maubeuge.

hi guys here is a real beauty. This is a revised version having the 900 with the 21 stamped on the pin.. Not often seen so i thought you might like a little look see. regards Pete