Reply With QuoteVery nice find! The camo is Wehrmacht Heer Issue, Stumpfmuster or something along those lines. www.wehrmacht-awards.com go onto the forum many known experts on german militaria there can help you out! Good luck!
Interesting Find and Story(WWII)
So I went over to my wifes grandmothers to get a dead mouse out of the basement. While there, she told me a couple of the strip lights were out and would I change them. No problem, just need to buy new tube lights. Anyway,on my way back up she asked me to get a set of white snow camos at the bottom of the stairs.
I grabbed them, brought them up as she was explaining they belonged to her first husband who died in action in Feb 44. I startd looking at them and didn't think they looked like anything the Americans wore during WWII, not that I'm an expert. Anyway, I looked and found they were reversible, which I found strange, they have a rain/tear drop type camo almost similar to com-block rain drop camo. Well, I looked further and found it had a tag on it in German, so I'm guessing they're German issue, thing is she wasn't sure about them, as they were shipped back in his foot locker after he passed. So we started chating and she pulled a whole buch of stuff out that I thought I'd share(with her ok). Also looking for any info on the camo and origins?
The camo comes in two parts.
Top Front Snow
Top Back Snow
Bottom Front Snow
Bottom Back Snow
Top Front Camo
Top Back Camo
Bottom Front Camo
Bottom Back Camo
Grannys first husband is the guy in the middle,
Grannys picture 43
A pin she was allowed to wear as a wife of an Officer(servicemen?)
Unit Badge(?)
Badge while in Tn
Not sure on this one
Various pins
Not sure here
Postcards from the time period and where he was stationed(?)
And last but not least the Purple Heart he recieved
Hope you enjoy half as much as I did. Any help on the camo would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Very nice find! The camo is Wehrmacht Heer Issue, Stumpfmuster or something along those lines. www.wehrmacht-awards.com go onto the forum many known experts on german militaria there can help you out! Good luck!
Thanks for the quick response, I knew it wasn't American but wasn't sure as to which German units would have worn it. It's in mint condition, hard to believe it's almost 70yrs old, quite heavy as well.
Thanks again.
So just out of the blue she says that? And you just happened to have your camera with you? Are you selling these then?Anyway,on my way back up she asked me to get a set of white snow camos at the bottom of the stairs.
The picture of the reversible splinter camo parka seems abit knew....
You two need to go pull your heads out. If there's anyone around here you don't have to worry about being a scamming douchebag - it's Geezah.
Yeah, he's a bloody pom, but he's good people. Plus he owns more firearms than I do now...
Sent you a PM about that suit, Geez.
Go to www.fake.com and youll see lots of pic of it
Really? Now thats interesting, do you always make smart alec comments with no facts?Originally Posted by Dimebag
Go to www.fake.com and youll see lots of pic of it
Maybe you can present evidence instead of just unhelpful snide asides.
wow, nice find. woud like to know the story behind it (how he got it). But that woud ne pretty much impossible i geuss.
The triangle red/blue/yellow badge, should't that be the sleeve patch of 12th armoured div (if any such unit existed). Looks similar to sleeve badges of other US armoured divisions during WW-2. More or less all the same except for the numbering.
I'm a bit puzzled though. Since he died in Feb 44, I asume he was serving in Italy at the time of his death. But to my knowledge only the 1st US armoured served in Italy.
But I guess the badge could well also be a unit symbol for an independent tank battalion.
The Badge with the 8 I guess could mean he served with 8th army at the time of his death rather than the US 5th?
Given the state of US GI winter gear at the time I guess some "liberated" German gear would come in handy
No, I had passed the camo a number of times when feeding the cat but just thought they were hunting cammies. I had the camera with me because I was at a shoot on saturday and had downloaded video from the shoot to YouTube yesterday.
Something about my Wifes grandma is she is a goldmine when it comes to old stuff, she has a bring back P38 somewhere and a couple of Nazis helmets, of which I have only seen one.
And no I am not selling these, if anything I would like to secure them myself but I think she is dead set on given them to the historical society.
Yep, she told me he was at Mount Casino(sp) but I'm not sure if that is where he died.
Now she thought the camo was his, as in his issue camo, which surpised me as I was not aware of any camo being issued at that point to GIs. It was only upon closer inspection I thought there was something strange when she said it was returned in his foot locker after he passed.
It looks like it has spent all of its time white side out, that's the only way I can explain the condition of the camo seeing as it is close to 70yrs old.
Something that confirmed it was German was a tag sewn in 3 spots to the sleeve, which was pretty much broken up but still had readable German on it.
As far as sleeve badges and such, as I mentioned above, I'm not sure on the Unit but those were all the badges she had from his service, they had been going for a long time but had only been married a year, and she rarely talks about him to her kids or my Wife(her grand daughter), so I just sat back and took as much of it in as possible.
For the naysayers, couldn't care less what you think, the items aren't for sale, so I'm not that interested in value just the fact that they are an important part of history.
wow, theres no telling whats in every old persons basement. alot of museum material
That's the shoulder patch of the US 8th infantry division (a white 8, pierced by a yellow arrow on a blue shield according to this site http://www2.powercom.net/~rokats/div.html...
Not sure on this one
...
Shure if your wife's granny haven't mixed dates & places here, as both these units only participated in combat in ETO (European theatre of operations) post D-day as opposed to MTO (Mediterranean theatre of operations) pre D-day?
8th infantry originaly was attached to US 1st army, later on occasion serving under US 3rd and 9th armies as well.
The 12 Armoured division served under Patton's 3rd at one stage at least.
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