Kampfgruppen (??) rank insignia?

[Kozlov]

Hello,

Was sold a whole set of what was described as "Kampfgruppen" rank insignia from ebay.

Since then a friend of mine with much more knowledge than me has caused me to question if they are actually Kampfgruppen or instead, Civil Defence (which apparently is similar but a slightly different colour)

What makes me suspicious is that it seems he has a continual auction for these sets... he might have a big box of them or he might have something else or just be making the things!

So here you go, a sample of them, tell me the bad/good news...

[torstenbel]

It certainly looks like Kampfgruppe to me...whether or not the guy is having them made in a sweatshop in Thailand somewhere or not is another matter of course.... to see the actual KG insignia have a look here http://www.kampfgruppen.de very informative website but you need to be able to navigate it in German...if you can't let me know...Cheers, Torsten (ebay id german.militaria).

Hello,

Was sold a whole set of what was described as "Kampfgruppen" rank insignia from ebay.

Since then a friend of mine with much more knowledge than me has caused me to question if they are actually Kampfgruppen or instead, Civil Defence (which apparently is similar but a slightly different colour)

What makes me suspicious is that it seems he has a continual auction for these sets... he might have a big box of them or he might have something else or just be making the things!

So here you go, a sample of them, tell me the bad/good news...

[Kozlov]

I don't mind if they are repro to be honest, the backing material is definitely the correct type for Kampfgruppen uniforms, I'm not sure about the colour or the makeup of the tresse (I'm assuming thats what it is, that looks to me like Soviet style field rank insignia material!). Assauming the whole item is good, originality or not is not a problem for me. I only care about incorrectly made repro!

I have a complete set, or so it would seem:

[ken]

KG insignia

I am the seller, I bought twenty pieces of each rank in 1994 from Marspec at a trade show, I receintly came across them in my garage and have been selling them for the last month or so, I have five pieces of each rank left and if I could, I would buy all that he has, but there are no more to be had. It is just not worth the trouble or effort to fake these things. Maybe in 50 or 60 years from now.

Ken Krivac

[torstenbel]

Ken, totally agree..not worth having them faked quite yet and I cannot imagine either that anyone would do that...I also come across large lots of things from time to time and then sell them individually and I am sure that I will have been discussed on this forum at some point when people were wondering, where I got all those items from... but, there you go...good luck with selling the rest... Cheers, Torsten (ebay id german.militaria).

I am the seller, I bought twenty pieces of each rank in 1994 from Marspec at a trade show, I receintly came across them in my garage and have been selling them for the last month or so, I have five pieces of each rank left and if I could, I would buy all that he has, but there are no more to be had. It is just not worth the trouble or effort to fake these things. Maybe in 50 or 60 years from now.

Ken Krivac

[J Howland]

At the end of the DDR, there were eleven different KG rank bar patches, each one worn on only one sleeve - not both. The only other rank-specific item peculiar to the KG was a pentagonal metal "commander's badge" that showed the portrait of Ernst Thalmann above the KG circular insignia. Frankly, I've only seen the metal badge being worn once...

Jim

[Kozlov]

Ken,

Thanks for the repy!

Please don't think I was being accussational (sp?) about the items, I simply don't know enough about the subject to be certain and use these guys as a sounding board for my finds...

Have been stung a couple of times recently, but not this time

You don't have a Battallion commander patch to complete the set do you? (three big stripes)

Andy
(ebay: napalm_uk)

[oldflagswanted]

KG vs. ZV(CD) rank insignia ???

...question if they are actually Kampfgruppen or instead, Civil Defence (which apparently is similar but a slightly different colour)...

In my 1990 NVA-Kalender book rank charts, on page 170 and 171 are shown the DDR KD and ZV(CD) insignia - both look to be the same design except for the shade of red is slightly darker looking on the ZV(CD) charts. Color shades seem to have always been a problems with the ID of German military type insignia! As such which it is that you actually have I could not tell? That is why I think I'll stick with just collecting unit flags. On that note I have only seen one DDR ZV(CD) type unit flag ever offered for sale - so it would seem that ZV(CD) stuff is rarer to find, at least unit flag wise.<br><center>OldFlagsWanted.com</center><center><img src=http://members.tripod.com/~oldflagswanted/ddrflgm1.gif></center>

[ken]

No battalion commander patch

Ken,

Thanks for the repy!

Please don't think I was being accussational (sp?) about the items, I simply don't know enough about the subject to be certain and use these guys as a sounding board for my finds...

Have been stung a couple of times recently, but not this time

You don't have a Battallion commander patch to complete the set do you? (three big stripes)

Andy
(ebay: napalm_uk)

Hello Andy, sorry but I do not have any other types of the KG patches, just the ones in the set that you purchased.

Ken