BGS BundesGrenzSchutz

[Gordon Craig]

"One think that confuses me. In the first two videos you posted some soldiers are wearing brown belts with their uniforms amd others black. The camera was moving too quickly for me to come to any conclusions as to who wore which one. Any suggestions?"


The belts are black for Manschaften (Grenzjaeger to Meister). For Meister and above (to Generalmajor/Brigadegeneral) the belt is brown (offiziere).

Check this site:-

http://www.bundesgrenzschutz.heinzjo...ienstgrade.htm

Some interesting material here (and from a veteran of the BGS).

N

Nachrichten,

Thanks for the link. I've been on that site before but I didn't spend much time looking at it. It certainly answered my question re the belts and there are some great pictures.

Regards,

Gordon

[Marksharky]

BGS Camo Smocks

I just noticed that the Sportsmans Guide has the old BGS camo smocks for sale for about $18.00 for two. In typical Sportsmans Guide fashion, they have them listed as East German!

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=868444

I picked one of these up last year off of eBay in brand new condition for about $10.00.

[Marksharky]

BGS Camo Smocks

Here's a photo of my BGS camo smock. It's dated in the early 1960's. I don't seem to see these smocks in any of the old photos. Does anyone have any information on these? I keep mine rolled and strapped to the back of the seat on my early 50's BGS bicycle.

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Here's a photo from the Sportsmans Guide listing:

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[Guardian 5]

Mark - There are a good number of pictures to show that the older zelt was worn as additional camo and protection from the elements, but I haven't seen any showing the garment apparently designed to eliminate this cumbersome arrangement.

My rain poncho was new in the box; similar to the one shown in the Sportsman's Guide. I wonder if they were issued at all? Perhaps they were made redundant by the issue of the marsh pattern camo smocks.

All the best - TJ

[Marksharky]

My poncho-smock actually looks like it was slightly used and has old initials inked on the label, which leads me to believe that it was actually used. Another BGS mystery! I'll pull it out and snap a couple of pictures of the label with the initials.

The poncho-smocks don't look like they would give much protection from the rain, so I would imagine that they were intended as a camo garment........ like you speculated, to replace the zelt-as-camo- set up. I keep mined rolled up and buckled to the back of the saddle on my old BGS Bike. It looks pretty good with the BGS camo as an accent!

[Marksharky]

Bundesgrenzschutz Mehrzweckanzug, BGS BDU's

Here's another new addition to my BGS collection that I've been meaning to post:

Bundesgrenzschutz Mehrzweckanzug, BGS BDU's

I made a trade with a 1990's veteran in Berlin for this set of his old service BDU's. The set is in good shape and I only had to make a few small seam repairs. Here are a few pictures of the shirt and pants.

Here is the link to my online photo album that shows a full and detailed range of photos: http://sports.webshots.com/album/580...nQPOzW?start=0[/SIZE][/SIZE]

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[Marksharky]

For those of you who are sure to notice........... the buttons on the shoulder boards are not correct. I had to use a couple of non-BGS buttons as "place-holders" until I can find a source for the correct buttons. I received the BDU's without shoulder boards and placed a spare set of my own on after they arrived.

[Marksharky]

Bundesgrenzschuitz Parka

Here's another item that I recently picked up..... a BGS Parka. I scored this on eBay in an odd category, with everything misspelled in the description. I ended up getting the parka at a GREAT price. I love it when that happens! The shoulder pocket flap was cut and repaired with the usual zig-zag stitch, with both patches cut in half. There was also two cuts on the back of the jacket that I did not notice until I pulled the liner to wash the jacket. I know that these parkas have been discussed in the past on this forum thread, but I figured it couldn't hurt to showcase another.

I made the repair to the slashed shoulder pocket in an interesting manner, and I think it turned out quite well. I removed the sliced patches and the zig-zag stitch repair stitching and then used iron-on tape inside the pocket flap fabric to bond the slash back together..... one piece for each side. This method hides the tape inside the pocket flap and renders it invisible! As an overkill, I stitched the damaged area with a tan thread with standard straight stitching. In the photos the stitching is quite visible, but to the naked eye it is quite hard to see. I then sewed on a new set of BGS patches.

As a side note, while looking for period photos of these parkas in use by the BGS, I stumbled across this photo taken in 1968 that shows the use of what appears to be white paper under the helmet nets for winter, snow camo! Very interesting!

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Before I post the photos of the parka, here is a link to my photo page with a complete photo documentation of the parka:

http://sports.webshots.com/album/580...reFvma?start=0

To start things off, here are a couple of before and after photos of the shoulder flap damage and repair:

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Here are a few photos of the jacket.......... I encourage anyone who is interested in the parka details to link over to my photo page.

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[Gordon Craig]

Marksharky,

Good suggestion for repairing these often found zig zag stitch patterns. I makes for a much more satisfying presentation.

Regards,

Gordon

[Marksharky]

BGS First Aid Card

One more interesting item that I received from a BGS veteran friend in Berlin........ a BGS First Aid Card. The card is unissued and is dated in the 1980's. I do not have any solid information about this card and who it would have been issued to, so any feedback from forum members would be greatly appreciated. The card is printed on the typical German document paper, the cloth-like stuff that ID books, etc. are printed on.

Here is the link to my photo page with the album containing the photos:
http://community.webshots.com/album/580729622NlgVGo

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[Satcong101]

Few more BGS items for my modest, but growing collection



Marking to the bottom of the fat dish and water bottle and cup.




Zeltbahn leather strap.



Breadbag tag.....is this date 79 or 63? Not sure which way to read this?

[Asbjoern]

Interesting to see a white BGS marked fat container ...until now I only knew yellow ones from BGS and all white ones I saw are marked "ZB" ...

Jens

[Satcong101]

It's not really white as such, more a cream/grey colour (think the camera and lighting appear to make it more white looking than it really is).

[Guardian 5]

Satcong101 - Good to see another field gear junkie at work!

It's challenging enough to put together a 1970s era BGS rig, but to put it together using only BGS marked gear is quite another.

Great pictures of your collection; thanks for sharing.

Your field flask was made in 1963; the same year as me...

All the best - TJ

[Collectinsteve]

To echo what TJ said... it's difficult to find all the right kit for a particular period of time. However, some of these items were likely kept in use for a very long time and therefore might be "correct" for multiple time periods.

Satcong101,

Some items don't have a date on them. Others have what looks to be a date, but in fact isn't. I don't know if your breadbag's date. I thought that particular type was more recent than 1963, but I could be mistaken.

The M43 and Schirmmützen are from the time period after 1976 for sure. The other bits are from the early 1960s but were used into the 1970s.

I'm suspicious that you have a Feuerwehr (Fire fighter) helmet that was painted up to look military. The vent hole clusters on the sides are what me think that. AFAIK these are never found on BGS/Polizei helmets, but are commonly (always?) found on Feuerwehr helmets.

Quick note about Marksharky's very nice Einsatzanzug (green "action uniform") is that there are two jacket types. One has no pocket on the left sleeve, the other has a small zippered pocket that the BGS badging is sewn onto. Which stinks because most of the ones out on the market have the badges removed and getting them back on means taking the entire pocket off is necessary to restore the badging. Which is a pain in the butt

Steve