Some Freikorps Unit Badges

[von Mackensen]

Ehi Sergeant, nice insignia, impressive!
Concerning the photos, if you look the two soldiers hold the sign, they're probably ex members of sturmtruppen korps in WW1, cause the proudly show stielhandgranates Modell 24 and wear the Stahlhelm mod. 1918 before tested, as another weapons, armours etc. by this elite's corps.

[Brian L.]

Ehi Sergeant, nice insignia, impressive!
Concerning the photos, if you look the two soldiers hold the sign, they're probably ex members of sturmtruppen korps in WW1, cause the proudly show stielhandgranates Modell 24 and wear the Stahlhelm mod. 1918 before tested, as another weapons, armours etc. by this elite's corps.

The two soldiers are members of MWH and most likely not former Sturm-Truppen, but were Minen-werfer and Flame-thrower troops during the war.

[mchap]

Excellent thread, bolewts58. We appreciate your education on the subject!

I'll add some badges soon!

A medals thread would be nice as well, I've got a few I can add to that.

[von Mackensen]

The two soldiers are members of MWH and most likely not former Sturm-Truppen, but were Minen-werfer and Flame-thrower troops during the war.

You're right, but both minen werfer and flame thrower korps work with sturmtruppen, so they are completely part of a sturmtruppen company. When Major Reddemann saw the first flame thrower on action he called these troops sturmtruppen, and lately classic elite troops started to use that name.

[Brian L.]

You're right, but both minen werfer and flame thrower korps work with sturmtruppen, so they are completely part of a sturmtruppen company. When Major Reddemann saw the first flame thrower on action he called these troops sturmtruppen, and lately classic elite troops started to use that name.

Well they might have been or not during the war. There's no way of knowing based simply on the equipment they have.

The Freikorps were essentially free-booters to a great extent with shifting allegiances and certainly far less disciplined than the old Prussian military code would have dictated. They used whatever equipment they could lay their hands on, and often adopted uniforms and accoutrements for style and effect. Hence, many wore the visorless helmets made for the Turks and others wore the French Adrian helmet. In the Baltic, many adopted Russian uniforms.

The Freikorps was certainly born out of the Sturmtruppen ethos. But, most didn't strictly speaking, come from that background.

The other widely held belief that is largely incorrect is the Freikorps' natural affinity for the Nazis. Ideologically, most Freikorps fighters were at best indifferent to Hitler and the Nazis and at worst thought Hitler was a buffoon. Two of the most celebrated Freikorps leaders, Rossbach and Ehrhardt barely escaped with their lives during the Röhm purge. Many Freikorps fighters drifted into the SA only because it provided an environment in which to perpetuate their war experiences, their nihilistic, violent mind-set and their free-booter ways.

[Brian L.]

Let's get back on track, as I'm trying to create a sort of archive of unit badges with this thread. I'd appreciate anyone else who can add a unit badge (bot no awards, please).

Freikorps Feldmarschall von Hindenburg (lower left sleeve)

founded on 8 March 1919 at Kolberg from the Bewachungskompanie der Obersten Heeresleitung. It was dissolved on 21 October 1920.

Unit strength: 25 officers, 167 unteroffiziere, 573 men, 139 horses and 10 vehicles.

Order of battle: 1 Sturmbatl. (formed from Imperial Army Sturm-Batl.2), die Eskadron von Bothmer, 3 Inf-Komp., 1 MG-Komp., 1 MW-Komp., 1 Schwadron, 1 Nachrichtenzug, 1 Rekrutendepot.

From March to October 1919, it was active in Pomerania and it fought against mobs in Hannover in March 1920, ostensibly in support of the Weimar government against the Kapp Putsch.

It became Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 110 and Reichswehr Kavallerie Regiment 101.

[Brian L.]

Deutsche Schutzdivision (collar Badge)

The Deutsche Schutzdivision was formed on the 4th of January 1919 in Zossen from 31. Infanterie-Division as part of Grenzschutz West and it saw action against the Spartacist uprising in Berlin. It became Reichswehr-Brigade 25 in June 1919.

This was one of the larger Freikorps with a total of 4,134 officers and other ranks.

Despite the rather large size of this Freikorps, genuine examples of this badge are difficult to find.

[von Mackensen]

I really like this badge!
Can I post here a MWH badge for rewiew?
I need your opinions if it's genuine or not!

[mchap]

I really like this badge!
Can I post here a MWH badge for rewiew?
I need your opinions if it's genuine or not!

Might be best to post your badge authentication here

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=739637

Good luck!

[Brian L.]

I really like this badge!
Can I post here a MWH badge for rewiew?
I need your opinions if it's genuine or not!

I've been attempting to set up an archive of sorts of genuine Freikorps insignia for collectors to reference, not a forum for badge authenticity reviews because I don't want to clutter this thread up with possible fakes and extraneous information.

I would suggest it would be better if you either start a separate thread for the badge you want authenticated or post it on the linked thread suggested by mchap.

[Brian L.]

1/ Freiwilligen Landesjägerkorps / Freikorps Maercker (silver oakleaf collar badge)

It was formed 14 December 1918 from 214. Infanterie-Division by General Ludwig von Maercker and was the first Freikorps unit to be officially recognized by the government. All members of this unit had to take an oath of loyalty to the government, unlike many other Freikorps units that were openly hostile to the republican government.
Numbering over 8,000 officers and men, it was was the principal Freikorps used to put down the Spartacist Uprising in Berlin in January 1919.
It later saw heavy action in Halle against the left wing militia commanded by former Imperial German officer, Leutnant Fechlandt. It also saw action in Magdeburg, Brunswick, Dresden, Leipzig and against the Poles in Upper Silesia.

2/ Freikorps Hülsen / Brigade Postsdam (gilt oakleaf collar badge)
shown with a photo of the owner of this pair of badges - Grenadier Ferdinand Bold, Freikorps Hülsen, Rekr. Depot Doberitz, VI Komp., II Korps.

This Freikorps was raised on 26 December 1918 and saw action against the Spartacist Uprising in Berlin in January 1919. It saw action again in Berlin in March 1919 and in Leipzig in May.
It was made up of a number of smaller Freikorps units including:
Detachement Graf Stillfried
Detachement Grote
Detachement Oven
Freiwilligen Bataillon Osterroht
MG-Abteilung
Feldartillerie-Abteilung
Kavallerie-Abteilung
Flieger-Abteilung 432

(Note: This design of oakleaf, either with long and short veins, or with long veins only and either a pebbled or smooth surface was widely used by a number of Freikorps units (FK Bogendörfer, Freiw. 17. Inf.-Div.[gilt], and Freiw.-Det. Probstmayr [silver]) and is still used today by some German hunting clubs, albeit in a thinner, less detailed form, finished in oxidized gilt.)

[Brian L.]

Freiwilligen-Eskadron von Lützow/Freiwilligen-Eskadron Kürassier-Regiment 7 (sleeve badge)



Formed from remnants (approx. 200 men) of DAS KÜRASSIER-REGIMENT VON SEYDLITZ (MAGDEBURGISHES) NR. 7. in January 1919. Served as a Staff Escort Squadron in the Baltic campaign from January-November 1919.

Formed a “Traditions-Eskadron” as part of the Vörlaufiges Reichswehr in November 1919. Together with 4 other cavalry squadrons formed Reichswehr Reiter-Regiment 10 in March 1920, which continued as part of the 100,000 Mann Reichswehr and into the Wehrmacht.

Former members of the “Traditions-Eskadron” formed from Freiwilligen-Eskadron von Lützow/Freiwilligen-Eskadron Kürassier-Regiment 7 serving in Reiter-Regiment 10. continued to wear the sleeve shield as a tradition badge after 1920. The badge continued to be worn until the Freikorps prohibition laws of 1935.

Shown are both versions of the badge. The original badge was made in two pieces. The second badge was a one-piece stamped badge and was the type that continued to be worn as the tradition badge. The reason for the change to one-piece is unknown. But, I suspect it came about because of wear-stress on the original design caused cracks (note the solder) and the attached central shield to come loose. The badge is larger than other Freikorps sleeve shields, which I think created these problems.

The one-piece badge shown was worn by Hermann Gollus of the 10. (Preuss.) Reiter-Regiment 1. Eskadron (pictured in the next post).

[Brian L.]

Freiwilligen-Eskadron von Lützow/Freiwilligen-Eskadron Kürassier-Regiment 7 (sleeve badge)


Photo of Hermann Gollus on his sports badge certificate wearing the tradition badge (shown in the previous post).

Photo of 10. Reiter Regiment sometime in the late 1920s with some of the original 'Freikorps Kämpfer' wearing the tradition badge. Gollus is 2nd from the right, seated in the first row.

Gollus was 15 in 1919. But, this young age doesn't preclude him from having joined the Freikorps. Age restrictions were very lax. As a result, there were many teenage members of Freikorps units. The Freikorps was not made up of only WW1 veterans.

[Christian J]

Thanks for posting these badges. Very interesting thread.
I asked a little about Freiwillige Battalion Schade on GMIC some years ago, perhaps you remember. I purchased this schulterklappe some time ago. Never seen this thin type of badge for FR34 usually they are much thicker and it doesn't seem this has been on there originally. Do you think this might be a sleeve badge for the aforementioned battalion? You wrote that they were normally 50mm this is only 43-44mm so it does not really fit the criterias. Do you perhaps have a picture of the 50mm badges? The book by Haarcke is not much help in the matter.

Best regards
Christian

[Brian L.]

Since Major Artur Schade was a Kompaniefuhrer in IR34, it's likely that shoulder boards continued to be worn when he formed the Freikorps, and that the sleeve badge could have originally come from on-hand stocks of the shoulder board insignia. My comment about a 50mm badge was based on 2nd hand info from a reliable source. I've never actually seen the sleeve badge, but only the items you have shown and the two insignia that appeared on eBay last year. So, it's possible and even likely that the sleeve badge could have been the 43mm insignia you have shown. Perhaps later a larger 50mm purpose-made badge was produced. I don't really know. It is a rather obscure Freikorps unit.