Opinions on Kreta Paratrooper Officer Tunic

[clairors]

All,

Picked this up at auction awhile back and was hoping for opinions to make sure it is a good original jacket. Also thought maybe someone might be able to identify the original owner since I wouldn't think there would be too many postwar LT COLs that jumped into Kreta. Ribbon picture is a little fuzzy but I think you can still make them out. Thanks for the help.

[clairors]

more pics

[uscob]

The Jacket is a 1973 Issue and the Patch is the "Heimatschutzbrigade 52"
So Territorial Defense Brigade 52. As I know it was activated in 1981.
1945-1981 makes 26 Years and in these years he got only the Sports Badge awarded?
To me, the Bar looks very new. I know some Places to get some of them, so maybe it was added to value up the Jacket?

[Gordon Craig]

clairors,

Although the label on this tunic seems to indicate it was made in 1973 other things on the label point to an earlier date. The maker mark "KKB" disappeared in the 60s and was replaced by "KKBw". The label has no order nuber (a number starting with a US or Q) US is the earliest of the two. No Nato Stock Number (NSN). This maker was one of the smaller producers of BRD uniforms and this may be a made-to-order piece. The sleeves do not have cuffs so the earliest time frame for the tunic would be the late 60s. The Armelabzeichen could also be for HeimatschutzKdo 14 which would place the tunic earlier than Heimatschutzbrigade 52. If the ribbon bars are sewn on it is probably ok. A good chance that the ex Wehrmacht officer who may have worn this tunic joined the Reserves when the BW was created and did not serve that long. A lot of the ex-Wehrmacht guys were gone by the end of the 60s. That would account for the only additional awards being the sports badge. This all an educated guess o my part and I would need to have the tunic in hand to make any relatively accurate guess as to whether this was the way the guy wore it or the way some collector put it together. To be sure, you have had to buy it from the original owner. Pictures don't tell everything.
The chances of you identifying who the Fallschirmjaeger was who might have worn this tunic are very slim. It is very rare to find a named BW tunic and even then you are not sure who wrote the name in it.

Regards,

Gordon

[Proud Kraut]

Can anybody help me out with when did the small 17mm stars replace the 21mm stars OFFICIALLY (yes, I know, the large stars are still worn today). I don't have my Kunstwadl at hand.

Lars

[Mike Yokum]

Gordon makes good points. I'd also like to know if the bar is sown onto the tunic.

The metal "KRETA" award is early. The later ones were not brass or brass alloy as this one is. If original, the lower bar must have been replaced as the white ribbon on the KRETA spange is much cleaner than the white sections of the EKI and EKII spangen.

More info is needed to make a correct determination.

I've been looking for a good, 50's or 60's para tunic to add to my display.

[Asbjoern]

Beside the KKB/KKBw question all details of thej acket would fit exactely to the date 1973 indicated by the label. To my knowledge the Heimatschutzkommando 14 was esteblished in early 1974 which would also make sense. As these units were a kind of reserve it would not wonder if this is a jacket of a reserve soldier who purchased a new tunic only for short use on special occasions on this duty ... I know several Reservisten which purchased a nwe dress uniform after years of inactivity (some sizes bigger then the last...) only to take part on on or two cermonies.

Regards,

Jens

[clairors]

Thank you all for the information. Here are a couple more pics of the attachment of the ribbons and a closeup of the ones in question.

[clairors]

bringing this one back up as I'm thinking of moving it to another collector. Can anyone provide me estimate of value on the uniform?

[Gordon Craig]

clairors,

An interesting question. I had a look on ebay.de and there is a vast range of prices on current auctions of Bundeswehr tunics. Since what tunics are listed for and what they are actually worth don't necessarily match up I don't feel comfortable in suggesting a price for this tunic. However, bringing this thread back to life has sparked my interest in the ribbon bar. I didn't notice when you posted it before that the bar contains a Luftwaffe Ground Combat Badge and an Heer Fallschirmjaeger badge. So this guy started out in the Wehrmacht Heer and became a qualified Fallschirmjaeger. When the Heer Fallschirmjaeger were transferred to the Luftwaffe they had to keep wearing their army Fallschirmjaeger badges. Now we find him back in the army with the Bundeswehr. An interesting fact for selling this tunic. Perhaps another piece of information that might help identify the original owner?

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

Good condition, senior rank BW uniforms from the 1970s usually don't sell for much. Maybe 30-40 EUR. The awards, though, are sometimes worth significantly more than a jacket. If you could convince a buyer that the uniform is not a put-together, and the bar is legitimate, I think you could get at least EUR 80 for it. Maybe higher.

Steve

[clairors]

Thank you all for the information. The tunic came out of an auction house in Oklahoma with no id or other information.