Wehrmacht to Bundeswehr Personnel

[ReinerMB42]

Early BW members

RedCatcher,

in the rush of the built-up years, the BW was happy to get war-tested veterans.
A critical testing was done mostly for officers ranks, if they formerly had been in the SS.But a lot of former SS-Members had been "whitewashed" ("denazified")
in the early post-war years.
The BW used only WH weapons, not the Equipment. Some pieces like the M55
canteen, where constructed like WH ones, from the same makers. But the only
pieces of wartime origin where brought with the BGS-veterans. There had been
some scandals about the low quality of the new BW-Equipment of the early years
among the WH-veterans within the BW.

Best regards

Reiner

[RedCatcher1986]

From wikipedia:

"Contemporary use
Wachbataillon soldiers marching with Karabiner 98k rifles in 2007.

The Bundeswehr still uses the Karabiner 98k in the Wachbataillon for military parades and show acts. In 1995 remaining swastikas and other Nazi-era markings were removed from these rifles, after criticism regarding the presence of such symbols on Wachbataillon kit by the SPD parliamentary party."