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An Uffz of the I Bataillon of Panzer Grenadier Regiment 10/9th Panzer Division as he would have been seen by Kriegsberichter Theobald on the Morning of August 11th 1944 in the Fôret of Perseigne,Normandy,where the Regiment concealed itself ready to fight with the British.At around midday the whole 5th Armoured Division bypassed the very same spot where these heavily armed men had set their stronghold! The BA file 722/407 is the one which comprises the original pictures taken by Theobald.

The German army had long dreamed of a "Patrouillenfunkgerät" or "Walky-Talky" but the technology only came together in the late 1930's. The new generation of army valves coupled to the successful development of VHF technology meant that a compact radio with a manageable antenna length could be developed. The resulting radio was called the "Funksprecher a", shortly followed by the Funksprecher a.1 (Fuspr.a.1): The Fusp.a receiver is based on the superregenerative principle. Valve 1 (SD1A diode) acts as an oscillator/detector after which the audio signal is passed through valves 2 (RV2P800) and 3 (RL2P2) for amplification. When transmitting, valves 2 and 3 act as microphone amplifiers with Valve 1 acting as oscillator/mixer and power stage: The radio is compactly build and only takes up a small part of the radio box. As is still true today, the size of the device is largely determined by the size of the power supply it needs: This early version had a lever as a Transmit/Receive switch, which could be operated with a cable. This cable mechanism proved troublesome in the field, so with a more conventional Transmit/Receive switch this radio went into series production as the "Funksprecher a1" (Fusp.a.1). The radio operated from 120 to 156 Mhz, with the frequency scale calibrated in channels (151 to 178); this gave a channel distance of 1.33 Mhz. Housed in an aluminium box, the radio had a minimum of controls: the frequency control was at the top, with the receiver fine tuning placed coaxially with the main frequency control knob. Under that were the on/volume control and the send/receive switch. A instrument allowed the battery voltages to be checked. Under that were the connection sockets for the headphones and microphone. A small storage section at the bottom allowed the storage of spare valves: Housed in an aluminium boxThe radio could be carried on the back using two standard radio straps: The top of the box contains the hooks onto which the carrying straps are hooked, a carry handle and the antenna socket. The Fuspr.a.1 legend is painted in white on top of the box: The back of the box has a bracket to attach a bag to hold the accessories. A long webbing belt could be passed through two loops at the bottom of the box, it appears this belt could be used independently of the belt and equipment of the infantry soldier wearing the radio: The right panel opens up to reveal the battery compartment: The bottom compartment held a 2B19 filament battery while the top compartment held the standard 90 Volt Anode battery: With the lid closed, a small air vent ensures that any vapours from the 2B19 battery can be dispersed: The 2B19 is a half sized version of the 2B38 battery normally used in portable equipment: On the left side, the close panel is marked with E/S (Empfänger / Sender) to indicate where to find the transceiver: The front panel hinges open at the bottom: The folded lids slides into a compartment under the radio: The standard Dfh.a and Kmf.b throat mic were used with the set. A sectioned antenna plugged into the antenna mount on the top of the box completed the radio. A small bag for the accessories could be attached to the back of the radio. Here a similar section from a Feldfu.b antenna is shown, the antenna would have another two sections of similar length: By plugging in the headphones, microphone and antenna, the Fuspr.a.1 is ready for use. At this time (1938) the standard Dfh.a and Kmf.b would have been used: Due to the omission of the cable operated Transmit/Receive switch, operating the radio while carried on the back proved impossible without a second operator walking behind. The very few period pictures showing the set in use show it carried on the chest instead, so that the operator could operate the transmit-receive switch and other controls. Operations also proved that the aluminium housing was too weak and that the radio was too easily damaged. Battery life was also limited, so when it came to design the successor to the "Fusp.a.1", all these weaknesses were addressed. This successor is off course the Feldfunksprecher series introduced in 1941. Here are a Fusp.a.1 and a Feldfu.f side by side: Limited numbers of Fusp.a.1 were used during the Blitzkrieg campaign. We know from a surviving drop container designed to hold four radios that the Fusp.a1 was used by the Fallschirmjäger during the Norwegian campaign. When the Feldfunksprecher series of radios were introduced in 1941, the Fusp.a.1 was relegated to second line duty. From this time, the Fusp.a.1 was sometimes referred to as the Feldfu.a. Its early manufacture in relatively low numbers make the Fusp.a.1 probably one the rarest of the Feldfunksprecher variants around today.

A LW Artillerie Obergefreiter as he would have looked in the final stages of the War near Vicenza to the soldiers of the 88th US ID to whom he surrendered on the afternoon of May 2nd 1945 (see the rare period photos attached) A few shots show these men armed with a second weapon,often a SMG,just like many used to carry during the bitter fightings in Russia. Since the LW supply system changed hands in 1943/44 as far as the ground units were concerned,these men were often issued with a mix of new or recycled WH uniforms and equipment but many fliegerblusen were worn until they literally fell to pieces! The only "new" and relatively plentiful LW garment was the camo smock, and there was always a way to get hold of a M43 feldmutze!Some units around Lucca wore M43 and M42 WH tunics devoid of chest insigna and a piece of LW headgear. This man wears a gently worn fliegerbluse coming from the Vicenza area (it could even have belonged to one of those man but I know that it comes from a house near the Vicenza airport https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroporto_di_Vicenza ),a HBT splinter pattern smock found in Normandy,a beautiful “Italian Vet” camo DD M35 helmet ,a late-War M43,and carries a mix of WH and LW equipment.No gasmask or entrenching tool are carried,our man has chosen to pack on things that may have really saved his life, like his K98k,for which he has been issued a second,WH-issue ammo pouch,and an MP40 with a spare magazine inside each boot! Hope you enjoy

Mine arrived back from the engineer today. He has straightened out the tail spigot and the baseplate threads for me. When the new soak tank arrives next week,it will be dipped in an anti rust agent for a few days. Dried out and painted in primer for the next stage.

Thank you so much for appreciating that,Ian. These setups hail back to last Winter when I could afford a few hours one day and made tries before making the actual mannequins.

Boonie, Send the measurements when ready please

Oberreiter of Jäger Regiment 40 (L) near Lucca,Tuscany,August 1944.Mounted personnel of the 20.FD(L) were permitted by the Army the privilege of wearing the yellow Kavallerie waffenfarbe the month before.He's wearing a tropical LW four pockets tunic with a mix of tropical and continental LW and Heer equipment,i.e. Heer web Tropical koppeltragegrstell,two LW ammo pouches instead of one as was the case with these men,leather LW bayonet Frog,Web belt,first type folding entrenching tool in leather carrier.He has secured his tropical LW breadbag,mess tin and canteen to the Y-straps D-rings,as per a picture showing German soldiers discussing their surrender with British and Canadian troops near Ravenna in 1945 He's wearing a lightweight LW M43 feldmutze(a REAL vet one and not one of the dozens found in bundles a few years ago!) and a DD "zimmerit" low-viz M35 helmet.Italian collectors refer to this particular camo as "zimmerit" which in fact was a mix of dirt,sawdust,and blue paint/distemper.

Was it even on? Cos the last winner never got his prize...😗🤨🤔

Hi Funksammler. I´m agree with you that main interest in this section could be WW2 german equipment but I suggest that there could be opened new subforums under the generic "other nations" to post comms items not included in WW2 era, where it could be included comms sections of other nations. My collection is mainly focused in Line Communications employed by Spanish armed forces along 20th century ( my older item is from the beginning of century) but having suffered a Civil war in 1936-39, there is a lot of stuff from other countries like Germany, USSR, France, UK, USA, Belgium, Italy and others and It could be posted in this sections. Greetings from Spain. ezesar.

Nice one. ELAS stands for Elektrische Aufschlagzünder. http://michaelhiske.de/Wehrmacht/Luft/Luft/LDV_4200/SERIE_1/Blatt_08_1943.HTM