West Germany Fallschirmjager Spange

[Guardian 5]

A while back Gordon asked me to publish a picture of BW paratrooopers wearing their 1957/1958 badge along with their American style wing as a "foreign badge".

I recently came across this picture in the February 1959 edition of "Der Deutsche Soldat" which shows two fallis wearing the 1957/1958 badge over their U.S. badge on the right side of the tunic.

I apologize for the poor quality of the reproduction.

TJ

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

Nice photo. Really good shot of the para insignia on the right sleeve.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

Here is one that I just bought about a week ago. It shows the American jump wings worn on the tunic without the BW wings. It shows "Generalmajor Walter Gericke, Kommandeur der 1. LL-Division". It came in a large pack of fotos that seem to have origniated from a Hungarian photo archive. The majority, if not all, of the photos appear to have originally come from a DDR archive. The caption on the back is dated 24.7.1964 but the picture appears to have been taken some time before that. It does not appear to be a very complimentary notation!

Regards,

Gordon

[Uncle Kurt]

Hello Thomas,
Can you please me the back of the badge to show picture # 58.

Thanks

[Guardian 5]

Herr Onkel - As requested.

TJ

[Guardian 5]

Gordon - Interesting picture of the U.S. style wings. I think he may be wearing his German wings in the ribbon form, i.e., a mini-replica of the de-nazified badge on a black ribbon.

Speaking of de-nazified, here is a wartime photo of Generalmajor Gericke with the offending swastikas air-brushed out.

He had a very distinguished wartime career; all of it on the Western Front. he won the Knight's Cross on Crete and the oakleaves at Anzio. He also was decorated for his bravery during the early airborne campaign in Holland.

The picture was taken from "Knight's Cross Holders of the Fallschrimjaeger" by Franz Kurowski.

All the best - TJ

[Guardian 5]

Here's a ribbon bar posted by my fellow moderator Daniel Krause on the 1957 Awards forum. On the bottom row you can see a postwar version of the Fallschirmjaeger badge mounted on a black ribbon.

I think this is how Generalmajor Gericke chose to wear his German "jump wings" in the formal portrait shown by Gordon.

TJ

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

Thanks for the suggestion re the German para qulification badge on General Gericke. That is obviously what he has done. That should have occured to me.

Regards,

Gordon

[Guardian 5]

Gordon - To be absolutely honest, I didn't even know of this practice until I did some poking around last week.

I knew other wartime badges received this treatment, but I didn't know for certain that the para badge was worn this way until I did some research on the forum.

I guess Generalmajor Gericke was an "old school" paratrooper who couldn't bring himself to wear the various models of BW wings created after the war.

All the best - TJ

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

I have been aware of this practice for some time. I just got so wrapped up in the topic of having both wings worn at the same time in the same place I forgot to recognize what was going on in the picture! Its appears to have been standard practice with WWII german paratroopers to wear the 1957 issue qualification badge on their ribbon bar.

Cheers,

Gordon

[Guardian 5]

Gordon - Ironically, I encountered pictures of WW II veterans wearing Bundeswehr wings and thought the standard practice was to wear post-war wings.

I didn't even know about the ribbon arrangement until I came across it recently on the "57er" Forum.

There appears to be enough photographic evidence to suggest that personal preference dictated the manner in which a WW II Fallschirmjaeger veteran chose to wear his parachutist qualification badge.

An alternate theory is that those WW II veterans who subjected themselves to post-war "jump school" wore both the new badge and the ribbon and those who elected not to requalify just wore the ribbon.

In any event, here is a picture of Hellmut Kerutt. He won the KC in Holland on October 16, 1944, while leading his battalion in a successful counterattack. I can't tell from this picture (from the Kurowski book cited above) whether or not he is also wearing the parachutist badge ribbon.

TJ

[Guardian 5]

Here is a picture of Oberst Timm who won the KC at Anzio. He was a graduate of the Bundeswehr's first post-war jump school class conducted under the auspices of the U.S. 11th Airborne Division.

I can think of no better example of the military credo "lead by example". Here is a distinguished and highly decorated Fallschirmjaeger veteran who nevertheless subjected himself to the harsh indignities of basic parachute training conducted by the Army that he fought against so valiantly a mere ten years before.

That's the airborne spirit; "All the way and then some!"
TJ

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

It is hard to tell if Helmutt Kerutt is wearing his Wehrmacht Parachute Qualification badge but I think it is the last one on the right in the last full row of ribbons. In the 1957 Order of Precendence Wehrmacht qualification badges were worn after all other awards and were often followed by Bundeswehr sports awards. Since he won his Knights Cross as "Major, Kdr. Fsch.Jag.Btl. "Kerutt" he would most likely be qualified to wear one.

Regards,

Gordon

Gordon - Ironically, I encountered pictures of WW II veterans wearing Bundeswehr wings and thought the standard practice was to wear post-war wings.

I didn't even know about the ribbon arrangement until I came across it recently on the "57er" Forum.

There appears to be enough photographic evidence to suggest that personal preference dictated the manner in which a WW II Fallschirmjaeger veteran chose to wear his parachutist qualification badge.

An alternate theory is that those WW II veterans who subjected themselves to post-war "jump school" wore both the new badge and the ribbon and those who elected not to requalify just wore the ribbon.

In any event, here is a picture of Hellmut Kerutt. He won the KC in Holland on October 16, 1944, while leading his battalion in a successful counterattack. I can't tell from this picture (from the Kurowski book cited above) whether or not he is also wearing the parachutist badge ribbon.

TJ

[Guardian 5]

Here is a picture of Friedrich-Wilhelm Wangerin who won the KC at the battle of Kauen in October 1944 as commander of the III Battalion, 16th Parachute Regiment-East (Schirmer).

In this post-war photo Herr Wangerin has opted for a ribbon only display of his awards.

He finished the war as a Hauptmann; can anyone tell his rank or whether or not he is an officer in this photo? It seems to me that we should be able to see at least one "pip" on his epaulettes.

Thanks - TJ

[Guardian 5]

Here is a picture of Oberstleutnant Hugo Paul who won the KC in Holland in 1944.

Oberstleutnant Paul is not wearing BW jump wings. Is it possible that he is wearing a de-nazified version of the full-sized wartime badge on his lower left pocket?

This picture, like the one above, was also scanned from the Kurowski book.

TJ