What's your newest militaria III

For some reason, Skipper; I really like that tatty old Bread-bag, something personal about it.
Knowing next to nothing about Militaria, how hard to find is French WW2 stuff?
I find the kit of the WW2 Poilu currently intriguing me, as I've never really looked into it. Any decent websites you can recommend that have lots of illustrations of more bits and pieces, or what exactly was issued?

~A

 

I dont have any salutes left but thats a great cross in great condition from a great maker.

 

looks real bright doesn't it with very little patina at all. hey I'll wait for the salute' s later friend

looks like I need to pull more items out of the closet and lay them on the carpeting for more pic taking . . . . .

 

Certainly does look like a very clean piece, core too. One of these ages, ill get around to posting my WWII Crosses. I have 3 1st class. One of them is mint but with slight tarnish on a small area on the back side. The core paint is perfect. Another I have has a brass core and some fo the black paint has flaked off. The third is a common maker-I forget which one? but I got it and it is clean but I THINK it might have been cleaned? cant remember? Anyway, it too is in excellent condition ;-))

I need to get back into collecting WWII EKs before they cost $200 for an EKII as a ""normal"" price.

 

Carl I'll tell ya for a clean EK 2 with shipping from overseas ..........hate to say this but yes it is getting real close now to US 200.00 smackers our dollar is terrible against the Euro now . . . . I say this as I was looking at two other maker marks for some other framed set-ups for KM EK 2 recipients that are in the works but am going to wait it out to see if our US dollar heads north in a positive way.

hey take some pics man and post

 

I'm not a forex expert but predictions are that it should get better during this summer for both dollar and pound against the Euro, both are looking well in other markets - then most likely back down again later in the year towards winter - doubt if amounts will make a big enough difference to matter on long term vendor items like collectables though, although if I'm right try buying late summer, or anytime soon if you can find Swiss sources

 

many pictures are available for these both from WW1 and WW2 , but this is my favorite. It's a WW1 soldier who has his bread bag on top of his haversack and has a German canteen too!



for 1940 references I highly recommend this site:

Histoire et Documents | Librairie en ligne d'histoire

 

Cheers Skip.
I knew I should have started at H&D/H&C... (It was late, apologies for my laziness!)

Back to the Militaria.
~A

 

It may actually seem easy to find militaria in France, in away it is because of the all the battlefiedls, but don't get the wrong image, yo ucould well go to three diffrent fairs in a day and not see a single cup. What is my strengt is that Icn usaully sport what many others wouldn't even recognize and also I do not hestistate to pick up relics and ruins and clean them becasue I know they will look great once clean.. Many people do not like to do the dirty work, and would not bother comparing labels on a rucksack on the floor or picking up a canteen to see the maker. I found some trench art yesterday, but also some WWI music partition with all the national anthems from the allied nations with flags and leaders + their wifes pictures on them. In the same box was a dictionnary for French Pows edited in France, sponsored by the YMCA, transmitted via the Geneva Red cross, and approved by the Stalag IIIa commander. All four stamps are on the same page! Nobody even noticed, among the junk and old magazines. I did. So things are there, but you need to know where to look, where to go, don't hesitate to drive a few miles more to go to a better fair.

 

Well said Skip, and that is almost exactly what I do when collecting German Mil. I know where to look and what to look for.

 

Here is my little relic stalag book with Stalag censor stamp + YMCA stamp, international Red Cross marking and the booklet being printed especially in Clermont Ferrand, (Vichy zone France) for French pows with military vocabulary and Nazi ranks explained. Note the help in Gemran written, possibly by a nice guard who transcripted the Sünderling alphabet into the roman one so that newbies could read handwritten documents too. I can imagine the pows passing this on and trying to understand what their guards were shouting at them.

Note the mysterious philosophical sentence which must haven been written by the same guard (possibly a literary quote?)

"Es wär zu schön gewesen, es hat nicht können sein"

"It would been too nice to have actually happened"

 

great find Skip YMCA in the center almost makes me laugh if the item was not such a serious one . . . .

 

They acted as a charity in 1940 and 1941 whne the U.S. was neutral like Switserland and were therefore accepted as a negociator by the Germans. The stamp is interesting because its presence shows this is an early war item

 

Great you have some background info on it Skip and talk about neutraility . . . . . the support unit for the Graf Spee, the Kommandeur of the tanker decided to head up north and sail the coastline of Norway to escape and then .......

a pic coming my way. google up the "Altmark affair", wiki in it's own has covered this to some extreme in 2 articles. an interesting history behind this tanker / fuel support ship for two famous HSK KM raiders, the Thor being the major one. Ship and the Thor were toasted in Japan by accident. In fact this major fire and explosions claimed several German ships and 1-2 Japanese ones in harbor. The tanker/support ship was then known as the Uckermark.

bergen_seite_04-altmark

the foto :



the pic enlarged is full of wonderful details.

note the ships in the background :

 

nice addition to your collection Erich. Do you know the identity of the two others ships in the Fjord? the one on the left looks like a merchant ship , whereas the two others ones could be suppliers/escorters

 

I do think the left ship might be the Altmark. this is the fjord that the tanker/support vessel was caught in. note the article on wiki if interested and the German link. am trying to find some later war pics when she was the Uckermark before she was burnt out. As she was equipped later with hidden heavier weapons packages she very well could of been on raids in the Pacific but I need to do a more thorough study on her.

 

Is this the UCKERMARK ?

musterrolle für Seeleute der DSR Marine Fischfang alle Reedereien Binnenschiffer - Galerie - Kategorie: DSR

UCKERMARK 2

Panzerschiff-Admiral-Graf-Spee

 

Is this the UCKERMARK ?

musterrolle für Seeleute der DSR Marine Fischfang alle Reedereien Binnenschiffer - Galerie - Kategorie: DSR

UCKERMARK 2

Panzerschiff-Admiral-Graf-Spee

 

thanks Skip but your link on Uckermark 2 is for another ship with the same name. interesting isn't it. well off I go for a 50mile bike training-ride, back later to check the forums . .. .

 

Nice book Skip and ill have to wiat till this eve before I cna rep or salute ;-))