Reference library for KM war badges

[John R.]

While covered in the Book Review Forum, many new members of this forum might not be aware that there are some absolutely terrific books on the market that deals with Kriegsmarine War and Qualification Badges.

I would like to see if others have favorite reference books and will start the discussion by mentioning the following:

Torpedo Los: This has just been published by Bender and contains a wealth of information that to me makes it one of the best reference books available to collectors. The thread on the Book Review Forum is:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ht=torpedo+los

[John R.]

Next are the two articles at the top of this forum. The two extremely well researched articles by fellow forum members Mike Kenny concerning the High Seas Fleet badge and Rob Hudspith on Schwerin Badges in general.

For the new members, these articles might be overlooked, but they truly deserve your study for the wealth of information provided.

Note: Currently these articles are not available as they seem to have been lost by some technical difficulty that cannot be resolved. Hopefully at some point they will reappear but it does not seem likely at this point.

[John R.]

Medals and Decorations of Hitler's Germany by Robin Lumsden I have referred to countless times and is described in this thread:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru....php?p=1753018

[John R.]

One of personal favorites is The German Navy in World War Two, A Reference Guide to the Kriegsmarine, 1935-1945, by Jak Showell. This is available from many sources, amazon.com to ebay and quite a few others with a google search. It came out in 1979 but once again is full of information that is useful in the badge collecting area, in fact most aspects of the naval uniform is discussed.

I would like to know what other books the forum feels should be part of the collector's library that pertain to this part of the collecting hobby.

John

[Jody]

KM war badges

Hi John,
Don't forget the following books:

Nazi Regalia by Jack Pia (a classic from the early 70's)

Volume 1: Orders, Medals and Decorations of the 3rd Reich by Littlejohn and Dodkins

Volume 1: For Fuehrer and Fatherland by LTC John Angolia

Combat badges of the 3rd Reich by Christopher Ailsby

The 3 Volume series on the Kriegsmarine by LTC John Angolia

The large Detlev Nieman price guide

Time/Life series on the 3rd Reich called War on the High Seas (I think)

In additon, there are several good articles on KM war badges in The Military Advisor

Regards,
Jody

[John R.]

Hi John,
Don't forget the following books:

Nazi Regalia by Jack Pia (a classic from the early 70's)

Volume 1: Orders, Medals and Decorations of the 3rd Reich by Littlejohn and Dodkins

Volume 1: For Fuehrer and Fatherland by LTC John Angolia

Combat badges of the 3rd Reich by Christopher Ailsby

The 3 Volume series on the Kriegsmarine by LTC John Angolia

The large Detlev Nieman price guide

Time/Life series on the 3rd Reich called War on the High Seas (I think)

In additon, there are several good articles on KM war badges in The Military Advisor

Regards,
Jody

No doubt about that list. It is intersting that so many reference books once out of print go up in price faster than the badges. John

[Martin W]

Headgear of Hitlers Germany,Vol.1,by Halcomb & Saris has a good section on the insignia of the U-Boat Flotillas.Also insignia worn by members of the individual U-Boats.

Martin.

[John R.]

Kriegsmarine Auxiliary Cruisers

Gordon Williamson's new book "Kriegsmarine Auxiliary Cruisers" has just been published by Osprey. Nice images of the AC warbadge and history in this one. I highly recommend this well written book. It is a good read and the art work by Ian Palmer is fantastic.

Check out the cover of the famous Komoroan and Sydney battle.

John

[John R.]

Back cover

[Martin W]

I agree John.I have just received a copy and it is a very nicely written little book.A great starter for anyone interested in the Auxiliary Cruisers.
As you mentioned the illustrations by Ian Palmer are superb.The book also contains some great photographs,especially of the commanders of the ships.Some i have never seen before.

Martin.

[JustinG]

Thanks John for the great info.

Thanks for giving all of us who are breaking into the world of KM collecting a good place to start. It is also nice to see that these books are still available at bookstores and such.

Some of these old, out of print books can run you the cost of a KM metal breast eagle or other original small KM item to a badge.



Regards,
2dresq907

[John R.]

Thanks for giving all of us who are breaking into the world of KM collecting a good place to start. It is also nice to see that these books are still available at bookstores and such.

Some of these old, out of print books can run you the cost of a KM metal breast eagle or other original small KM item to a badge.



Regards,
2dresq907

Exactly correct and in fact, they would have turned out to be a very good investment.

I bet Jody can give us a long list of books that today are very hard to find.

They are expensive when published these days, but when they are sold out, the price only goes up.

John

[Infansammler]

Hello Friends,

I am working on a book for Warbadges of the Kriegsmarine.

End of this year it will be published in the German Language, and later in the English Language by B&D-Publishing www.Ironcross1939.com

Below you can find my new Info!

[JustinG]

Is it possible to get some personal recommendations for non-collector based books but factual and dealing more with the history of the Kriegsmarine perhaps dealing with different factions like the surface ships, torpedoboats, S-boats, Uboats, etc...
I have "The German Navy Handbook 1939-1945 By Jak P. Mallmann Showell. This is a nice book but just a brief overview. I also have some others like the Time life book "Wolfpacks" The Batttle for the Atlantic, I realize that there is many wonderful sites dealing with the Kriegsmarine like uboat.net. etc..

Seeing some photos from Dion regarding the minesweeper group shield posting based out of Norway, I had no idea about that history or knowledge of that unit and I would like to learn more. I want to broaden my knowledge of the actual events that transpired. If you have some good books to recommend, I would be greatly appreciative.

Regards,
JustinG

[CSForrester]

General informations about the activity of the Kriegsmarine in World War II are in comprehensive style are to find in

Cajus Bekker "Verdammte See"

i think it is also translated in english on the market.
More specific informations for each kind of warships are to find in the Motorbuch Verlag (google with that words), they have books concerning only S-Boats, Torpedoboots, Sperrbrecher aso.

Just to get a complete overview on the formation of all Kriegsmarine-units during Word War II you have to spend some more money in

Lohmann/Hildebrand "Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine 1939-1945", 3 volumes, only one limited issue in the 1960s, sometimes on ebay or at the known dealers for 300-500 Euro. No stories from the war, but if you want to know when was the 25.Minensuchflottille formed, who was the leader, which boats where in the flottilla....... you will find it there, incl. short biographies of about 3000 officers of the Kriegsmarine.

Hildebrand wrote a new 3-volume opus in the 1990s and it was published in the Biblio-Verlag, i think it is named "Formationsgeschichte der Deutschen Marine" and it includes also all facts and dates and personalitys including the imperial german navy, missing the short biographies.

Regards
Markus