Can anyone tell me about these three hat badges/pins?

[Joec03]

I received these family items which I've determined to be from the Bundeswehr.

Here's the information that I could come up with.

I think the wreath and crossed swords is some sort of Bundeswehr hat badge manufactured by OLC (Overhoff & Cie Ludenscheid).

I think the Edelweiss is from the Bundeswehr Gebirgsjager.

The Munich Maid seems to be some sort of hat badge, but I know nothing about it. It may not be Bundeswehr.

Can you guys tell me anything else about them? What era do they come from? What is the Munich Maid hat badge/pin?

Thanks.

[uscob]

The Star is old Style Munich City Police.

[Joec03]

Thank you so much! That was the one that was giving me the most trouble.

[Joec03]

Does anyone know more about the crossed swords and wreath hat badge? Who would have worn this from the Bundeswehr?

[Towarish]

Does anyone know more about the crossed swords and wreath hat badge? Who would have worn this from the Bundeswehr?

It's for the Schirmmütze (visor).
The crossed swords are for the HEER.

Cheers,
Philipp

[Joec03]

Is it possible to date any of these items? Or at least time periods?

[Gordon Craig]

Joec03,

I t is not really possible to date the BW hat badges. The wreath and crossed swords was worn on visor hats for a long time. The Munich City police badge would have disappeared in the mid 70s when city police were absorbed into the state police.

Regards,

Gordon

[Marc Sherriff]

Edelweiss (the flower)

In 1962 the traditional Edelweiss in silver and gold coloured metal was introduced for wear by the Gebirgsjäger.
The badge is worn on the left side of the grey Mountain Cap (Bergmütze), and later the camouflaged combat cap.
The Edelweiss is also worn on the beret of their own Branch of Service, to the rear of the beret badge by soldiers serving in
Military District Command VI/1, the Mountain Division, Jäger Brigade 37 and the Mountain & Winter Combat School.


Marc

[Gordon Craig]

Marc,

Good explanation of who wears the Edelweiss. One more comment. The badge introduced in 1962 was very close in design to the one worn during WWII. The main difference is the end of the stem of the flower which is more curved on the 1962 badge than on the war time badge.

Regards,

Gordon

[Collectinsteve]

That particular Edelweiß looks to be quite old. The more recent versions I've come upon are much brighter. I'd guess 1970s or earlier, though I don't think there's any way to say for sure.

It should also be remembered that the Austrian army also uses a very similar Edelweiß for their hats. I've not compared the two side by side to look for differences, but for sure they are very similar.

The Polish Army also uses the Edelweiß to represent their mountain troops, though I don't think they have a cap badge similar to this.

Steve

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Steve, as usual, is correct in his comment about the similarity of the German and Austrian Edelweiss. Makes sense since they were both fashioned after the WWII badge.
Here are pictures of the German and the Austrian Bergmütze with the Edelweiss as they wear it.

[Gordon Craig]

Side view showing the badges. Note that the Austrians wear the badge in the opposite direction from the German mountain troops.

[Gordon Craig]

The Polish mountain troops do not wear an Edelweiss on the said of their caps. They do wear one on the arms of their tunics but it is a different badge from the one the German mountain troops wear. The pictures below show "A military parade in Warsaw's Royal Road (Nowy Świat Street), commemorating the Feast of the Polish Army (August 15th) Podhale Rifles" and the arm badge this unit wears.

Regards,

Gordon

[SprogCollector]

The easiest way to differentiate the BW Edelweiß from the ÖBH Edelweiß are the attachment holes. On the ÖBH pattern, there are two holes on the respective petals whereas the BW version only has a single hole at each attach point. Also, the BW had a pronged version at one point -- i.e. no attachment holes at all.

There are a variety of other differences, as well.

For the WW2 version, the leaves both point the same way. On postwar versions, the leaves both curve inwards.

[Collectinsteve]

Good photos and info!

I've also seen Edelweiß used by Bavarian Grenzpolizei. Check out this one:

http://www.polizei.bayern.de/wir/ges...dex.html/23287

I have another Polizei? M43 style hat that has an Edelweiß on it. It's in blue and does not have a Polizei badge on it. I don't have it handy but I did once post pictures of it here and nobody could identify it at the time.

My guess is these rare Polizei uses probably relied upon BW badges and not custom made pieces.

Steve