Goodday to all you fellow forum-members!
Today, I’d like to bring back a somewhat older discussion, in this case focussing around an East German uniform that is scarcely seen – and therefore only lightly documented. I will try to get all my thoughts straight into this topic, though I might forget something in the chaos :P
It’s about the elusive tunics for members of the Wachregiment Feliks Dzierzynski, serving as “Wache” (like the F. Engels ones had at the Neue Wache, but then – I believe – at important SED buildings).
Some months ago, one of these tunics (presumably) made it’s way into my collection. It was a bit of an odd item. It had the very stiff “slip-on” FED cuff title, which was also sewn through the lining (opposed to the chevron and cuff tabs, I must add!). This raised suspicions and I started a topic on this way of attaching a cuff title to a tunic – you might remember. It went on to become an interesting topic, though it died – shortlived. Member Tom300 gave very interesting information as to the use of these titles: prior to the late 70’s, they were not consequently worn. He received this information from several (I remember reading about 10 testemonies) FED-“veterans”. They would put the title on for specific happenings – parades and ceremonies – and take it off while on different duties. This way, titles sewn through the lining appear to be an anomaly, though not an impossibility: they would be sown on “for good” when the wear of the cuff title became rule on all occassions.
Still, at that point I explicitly chose not to link the whole tunic to the cuff title-discussion, as the latter might cast a shadow over the dicussion on the former. Well, now it’s up for discussion. And not just this one! Last week, I got my hands on yet another one of these tunics (just to clarify; the difference lies in the precense of white piping around the collar).
And guess what? It has the same “slip-on” title – sewn through the lining as well. Comparing the sewing on both titles, they appear a full match. The second tunic has the chevron originally sewn, as well as the collar tabs (see the pictures to form your own opinion on that for both tunics: I believe it looks all-ok). The lack of cuff tabs would’ve caused a problem (as the Wache tunic would have been used solely as a parade one and – produced in 1976 – would have had to have the tabs mounted), though there’s traces of them on the sleeve (see pics). They have been removed with care – possibly to use after 1982?
Finally: I would like now to tell you something I already thought several months ago while seeing the Wache-pic on the “Dzierzynski-Soldaten” cover. Especially in the colour picture, it does really seem like the chap is wearing the slip-on title as well. The way it sits on his arm, not wrinkled or folded in any way, might explain why the Wache used these titles instead of the possibly cheaper ones that were used on other FED-tunics.
Please do share your opinions!
As a sidenote: the tunics did not originate from the same seller - nor do both sellers live in the same country either.
The pictures:
Tunic 1: Overview (I apologize for the wrinkledness).
Tunic 1: Collar Tabs front and rear.
Tunic 1: stamp (1/1976).
Tunic 1: Cuff tabs and title, front and rear.
Tunic 1: cuff title, inside.
Tunic 2: overview.
Tunic 2: collar tabs front and rear.
Tunic 2: stamps (1/1976 also).
Tunic 2: sleeve (title) front, closeup of patten-area and rear.
Tunic 2: cuff title (inside).
Note the similarity in construction:
And just for reference, these were the pictures I talked about earlier in my post (note the cuff title on the colour-picture: it looks like it's "wider" than the sleeve, which might be because of it's stiffness being a slip-on title):
I'm sorry for the length of my post, but I'm very interested to get to the bottom of these tunics (and, perhaps, the title-discussion)!
Thanks in advance for any comments!
Today, I’d like to bring back a somewhat older discussion, in this case focussing around an East German uniform that is scarcely seen – and therefore only lightly documented. I will try to get all my thoughts straight into this topic, though I might forget something in the chaos :P
It’s about the elusive tunics for members of the Wachregiment Feliks Dzierzynski, serving as “Wache” (like the F. Engels ones had at the Neue Wache, but then – I believe – at important SED buildings).
Some months ago, one of these tunics (presumably) made it’s way into my collection. It was a bit of an odd item. It had the very stiff “slip-on” FED cuff title, which was also sewn through the lining (opposed to the chevron and cuff tabs, I must add!). This raised suspicions and I started a topic on this way of attaching a cuff title to a tunic – you might remember. It went on to become an interesting topic, though it died – shortlived. Member Tom300 gave very interesting information as to the use of these titles: prior to the late 70’s, they were not consequently worn. He received this information from several (I remember reading about 10 testemonies) FED-“veterans”. They would put the title on for specific happenings – parades and ceremonies – and take it off while on different duties. This way, titles sewn through the lining appear to be an anomaly, though not an impossibility: they would be sown on “for good” when the wear of the cuff title became rule on all occassions.
Still, at that point I explicitly chose not to link the whole tunic to the cuff title-discussion, as the latter might cast a shadow over the dicussion on the former. Well, now it’s up for discussion. And not just this one! Last week, I got my hands on yet another one of these tunics (just to clarify; the difference lies in the precense of white piping around the collar).
And guess what? It has the same “slip-on” title – sewn through the lining as well. Comparing the sewing on both titles, they appear a full match. The second tunic has the chevron originally sewn, as well as the collar tabs (see the pictures to form your own opinion on that for both tunics: I believe it looks all-ok). The lack of cuff tabs would’ve caused a problem (as the Wache tunic would have been used solely as a parade one and – produced in 1976 – would have had to have the tabs mounted), though there’s traces of them on the sleeve (see pics). They have been removed with care – possibly to use after 1982?
Finally: I would like now to tell you something I already thought several months ago while seeing the Wache-pic on the “Dzierzynski-Soldaten” cover. Especially in the colour picture, it does really seem like the chap is wearing the slip-on title as well. The way it sits on his arm, not wrinkled or folded in any way, might explain why the Wache used these titles instead of the possibly cheaper ones that were used on other FED-tunics.
Please do share your opinions!
As a sidenote: the tunics did not originate from the same seller - nor do both sellers live in the same country either.
The pictures:
Tunic 1: Overview (I apologize for the wrinkledness).
Tunic 1: Collar Tabs front and rear.
Tunic 1: stamp (1/1976).
Tunic 1: Cuff tabs and title, front and rear.
Tunic 1: cuff title, inside.
Tunic 2: overview.
Tunic 2: collar tabs front and rear.
Tunic 2: stamps (1/1976 also).
Tunic 2: sleeve (title) front, closeup of patten-area and rear.
Tunic 2: cuff title (inside).
Note the similarity in construction:
And just for reference, these were the pictures I talked about earlier in my post (note the cuff title on the colour-picture: it looks like it's "wider" than the sleeve, which might be because of it's stiffness being a slip-on title):
I'm sorry for the length of my post, but I'm very interested to get to the bottom of these tunics (and, perhaps, the title-discussion)!
Thanks in advance for any comments!
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