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Guys, as stated above. Rich

Guys, few more pics, this time of an exercise, the name of which escapes me but we had 'sim fix' which was some sort of laser quest stuff and the exercise was to determine if we would buy Challenger or M1 Abraham. At the time we believed it but it was apparently a forgone conclusion due to the collapse of the Shah of Iran's power base. It happened down by Wolfenbüttel South of Hannover.

Hi all, I managed to complete a collection challenge that I had set myself: complete an air force uniform for the major participants in the Cold War (minus France as has already been pointed out to me!). So we have USA, UK, West Germany, East Germany, and USSR. Still have a couple of variations (officer or enlisted) to display but really pleased with how this has turned out.

Afternoon all, Well it looks like FB has pulled the plug this time. So,lets make this online forum number 1 again eh. Waffy

Finally it looks like spring is coming here too. I've been doing som service on our 67 model Peugeot 404, and getting it ready for the summer season. We had some very nice weather last weekend, with a temperature around 10 degrees celcius - about 50 degrees fahrenheit. So me and my wife packed up somethimg to eat and the kids in the 404 and went for a small roadtrip/picnic in our local area last saturday. We had a very nice day, and the old Peugeot performed perfectly. 20210417_151315.mp4

Another Quist, 64 shell size., War time repaint, textured anti glare paint. JOSTO strap.

First and Foremost, I am an enthusiastic collector and WWII obsessed (History in general)! As a U.S. Navy Veteran I enjoy collecting WWII Era Kriegsmarine Badges and more. I am also the owner of Operation Overlord Militaria - I don't consider myself a "Dealer" as I keep Inventory at a minimum and focus my efforts on adding to other's collections and not adding to my Wallet. I am known mostly on the Facebook side of things but decided to go old school website after pages and groups started being shut down. My reputation and the preservation of these Historical Relics is the utmost important thing to me. I love being a Curator of our History and have a sense of responsibility to do it! When it comes to selling I never swap passion for profit! My goal is to bring the feeling of joy to.others like I get when a new item arrives. “THOSE WHO CANNOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT.” - George Santayana

I seldom if ever buy helmets,but I quite liked this one when I saw it offered.A “rautarn” M35 in great nick and 58-size.Decals can be “guessed” under the thick layer of paint mixed with dirt.

Guys, As stated above. Rich

Guys, This short engagement was recorded in the Ulrich Saft book Kriege in der heimat. These photos were taken post war by a young boy that used to play on the wrecked tanks, what a play ground he had! He is now in his 80s and has recently rediscovered these pictures taken before 1949 but after the war. It shows two of the tanks from the battle although he tells me there were 3 British tanks in a row in column of march and they were destroyed on the North South road that goes past the Hotel Kroepke which is still there today. those tanks were on the road circa 3 to 400m South of the hotel just before the slight bend in the road. The Tiger was further South and I will confirm the locations later. The flak was to the North East of the road described above. The old boy (Albert) has offered to walk the locations with me but he is not in the best of health. I will do it as soon as I and he can. Rich

Hi Hans, welcome to this forum. Bit quiet but I still think it will get busier when FB etc finally pull the plug, they are dyeing to do it. Best Rich

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A multi-piece constructed linen Banner/flag that measures 56" wide and 97" drop with a printed mobile swastikas in black on a white background. There are five sets of ties along the top to tie to a pole. There are a few small marks as well as obvious fading to the central disks. There is also the maker mark in the upper corner as shown in the photo. Great bring back piece of memorabilia. £250 plus p&p

For your review...DDR NVA-Wachregiment oberleutnat in parade dress...and some more NVA-Wachregiment complete uniforms

Here are a couple of rough WW1 German canteens I have in the collection. The one with dark gray cover was one I got in a mail order auction when I was like 15. $10 I think I paid (Before the internet and Ebay!lol)

A selection of tropical pith helmets...Second pattern army was damaged by friend's son during hands on examination...appears to be easily repairable

Just got this nice Post war German Shelter 1/4 in trade. Now these use to be plentiful back in the '70's and '80's. But You dont see them very often anymore. I was happy to add this one to the collection. The WW2 ones are more plentiful! lol Infact I have a new one of those coming too.

I have a few links from a Goliath track,currently soaking in oil

Hello, Some recent entries ! A richtkreiss and some measurment tools in their pouch ! Kind regards

Rich, it turned out to be in pretty Good shape. Check it out

£20 your way.

Had I know what these were when I was a boy, I would have got my dad to bye some of these, Back in the 60s there was a market called Portebello in London, there was a trader that had about 20-30 of them on his stall and was only saying that they were cold winter boots, they wer,nt even described as being German, but they were the same as you and Richard have shown, and at that time I can now see why they were descibed as such, I dare say that no one new what they were, or who made them,if people had known then , I dont think there would have been many sales for the guy selling them, where he got them from God only knows

Model. Warning, file is BIG, 16MB. Click on it!

My newest addition to the family. A M1917 from the 101st Combat Engineer Battalion of the 26th Yankee Division. I don't have any books on the maker stamp on the helmet so if anyone knows how to look it up that would be great.

Here are two that I have to hand the the left one is more repair than sack and has been used post war by a mill. The other 3 picture are again of a repaired sack but they have unfotunately used the eagle part of another sack, it has also been used post war by the looks of the half hearted denazification. Rich

I have just acquired the earlier 1940 dated Gustav Brehmer to go with my display. It will take the place of its younger brother, 1941 Gustav Brehmer. Thank you so much to @DAK D for once again helping make my DAK/tropical collection, shine! The GB 40 is a vet bring back from El Alamein !

Langensalza Medal awarded by the former Kingdom of Hannover, to her sons who fought the Prussians to a standstill during the Bruderkrieg of 1866. Although a temporary victory was obtained, Hannover was forced to surrender several days later, with its kingdom and army being absorbed by the Prussian victors. Interestingly, Kaiser Wilhelm I, allowed the former regiments of Hannover to wear all honors and awards to be worn, including the medals of the 1866 war.An interesting feature of the Langensalza medal is that the recipients name appears on the edge. No doubt due to Hannover's long association with the forces of Great Britain, notably the King's German Legion, who served with distinction during the Napoleonic wars. The medals of England nearly always have the recipients name appearing on the edge.One other interesting fact regarding the Langensalza battle was the appearance for the first time of the Red Cross emblem being worn by medical personnel

Cant think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than having a cold one and chatting helmets and collecting. Hope you all are well. Would love to see more collections being post! Cheers! The Afrika Rat

hello all! just signed up today and have been going through some of the sections. interesting indeed. i am from the United States and am a long time collector mostly in American WW2 items. i buy and some times sell. history is my corner stone interest in life. i like viewing members finds and find it interesting what lead them to collecting. i feel it is important to preserve the past as it serves as an ever lasting memory to those who served.

Here's a video I made at the RAF Museum Cosford. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, I need all the help I can get.

Guys, fairly sure these are South front. Rich

Hi guys, In respect of the above, can I remind all new members to the forum, that you have to be a member here for at least a month or too before trying to sell your items, This has been a standing rule on the forum, it is a safe guard to protect the members, There have been in the past a few people who come on here, sell items then leave and then the members find out that they have been scammed. So to prevent this that is why we have these rules, by all means post your items that are not for sale so the members can see and comment, Thank you

Prussian Medal For War Aid Document.

As you might have seen, we have a Troll that keeps posting on the forum, please do not reply or comment to him I have been removing him and flagging him as a spammer, one day he might bugger off

I,m glad you said that Waff, If he pops up again, its your fault, and I dont have to kick my self in the arse lol

Just bought this Ishapore Made Bayo, dated March 1943, c/w frog..........sorry about the pics, they were the sellers.... Looking forward to its arrival...

Got a Reichsbahn visor cockade in today. To add to my Railway odds and ends. I love trains. The cockade is an AssMann and has all pins. Just need a cap! The O scale Model railroad is being rebuilt this weekend.

Hi Tony, I was up in the loft a while back and found one similar to to one you have but mine has the markings for the Hitler Youth, I found this helmet in the basement of Detmold Barracks, Germany, many years ago, when i was but a mear lad of 14 , I was being nosey and exploring around, as we were Army Cadets , There was also a very badly rip up German uniform but it was far to gone to save, that was in a corner near the rear of one of the Boilers, I dont why no one had ever pick up the helmet before, it had no liner, but it still had the pins , in front and rear, later I added a proper liner and used the very same pins, I had almost forgot that I had it, thats what age will do to you

Wow, that award really looks like a fancy Mothers Cross, I just read about these not too long ago.. inscribed ‘ORDO TEUT. HUMANITATI’ (Teutonic – or German – Humanitarian Order); the reverse with a circular central white enamel medallion bearing the date ‘1871’ in black enamel letters within a black enamel ring; on original trifold ribbon. The Order had its origins in the time of the Crusades during the siege of Acre in 1190 with the establishment of a hospital for German soldiers but had largely disappeared when it was revivified in 1871 under Imperial patronage with first Archduke Wilhelm and then Archduke Eugen as High Grand Master to encourage and support voluntary hospitals and medical care. This striking award is relatively rare and was not awarded after the fall of the Hapsburg Empire in 1918. the hanger is silver very good condition dimensions: only the cross 4 cm and the hanger 5 cm, DON"T QUOTE ME ON THIS, there is a good resemblance and there may have been different classes or altogether a different medal, as the man pictured is wearing a really beefed up one with all the trimmings.. Let me do some research on my end and see what I can come up with ! G

Hi All - Just joined the forum, so thought I'd post some photos of some restoration I've been doing while having a bit of spare time on my hands during lockdown. - Had these German bomb fin relics a while. – Not many of these survive as they were generally speaking ‘blown up’! These ones sort of survived, by the looks of them, by hiding in a swamp. Over half of the cone piece had completely rotted away, which in turn meant a couple of the fins were no longer attached to anything. So a bit of fabrication, and out with the welder. A couple of edges had gone thin and had rust nibbles out of them that required cutting off and being replaced with a new straight edge. A bit fiddly as I had to cut it close to a swage line that I didn’t want to disturb. Metal was paper thin and difficult to get a clean surface to weld. The original rivets survived, but any stamps were long gone. These fins are interesting as they apparently have some shrapnel damage from another bomb. Fortunately I have been able to save this feature. No idea how it got there. Perhaps this was from a blown up ammo dump, demolition area or training range, or it was sitting on an airfield that was bombed, or even came off a bomb found in the wreckage of a shot down aircraft? We’ll never know. A clean up of my welding, and a skim of filler lost most of the pits. Painted, with a tad of rust colour for some of the pits that still showed, just to keep a bit of age and stop them looking too pristine and new. So, like Cinderella’s slipper, the test was whether it would it fit its intended. –“Yes Cinderella, you shall go to the ball bearing factory.” Also turned my attention to restoring some rusty German Butterfly Bomb parts to make a presentable one. A couple of 'before' shots of the crusty drogue piece. I had a very pitted and rusty bomb casing and various other bits, fuze and spindle - So basically a bitzer that I have cobbled together. Someone reproduces the screws to hold the spindle on, which is very useful! Lots of rubbing down, fettling of twisted wings, and a skim of filler. Again, I didn't want it to look pristine, so used a modellers 'rust wash' in places. Looks better for it and has stopped it deteriorating and rusting away. Back in the day the paint was applied very crudely, so easy to emulate that! Anyway, considering what I started with I am quite happy with the end result. I know with collecting originality is everything, but I really had nothing to lose by messing with these bits.

Glad that you got it sorted, but you need to be careful with these zip ties, are these metal, plastic etc some plastic ones can affect old wood, metal can leave heavy scars in old wood, Its not really an ideal fix, show them on hear, that way we can see whats been done

Not Stupid mate, you did your bit and good on you, but did you have to be so bloody good looking as well, thats taking the micky"!!!!!!!!

Hello folks, Last addition to the flak direction system. The battery box for the Kommandogerät 40 betriebschaltkasten. It holds three 12v batteries to provide the 36V DC for the Kommandogerät. A bit of the original paint left on the cover, but I will have it sandblasted after removal of all the fittings. I'm still looking after the KdoG40 manual to have the complete description of it. Cheers

A Bavaria first bar, consisting of Bavarian Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with Crown, the crown being for a single act deemed of exceptional bravery or as a second awarding. And Iron Cross 2nd Class. I say Bavaria first as the Bavarian MvK us mounted ahead of the Prussian EK II.

Here's a small film clip, showing how the Ladevorrichtung / Trigger mechanism works: MVI_7880.MOV

Scwarzburg-Rudolstadt War Merit Medal.

Grenztruppen display I put together. Long Service on top row, 2nd row Merit Medals, 3rd is a Qualification Badge and last is the Cuffband