ramcke brigade ?

[phil1942]

Hello, I have a nice postcard portrait here of a Fallschirmjager in tropical outfit.
As you can see he is wearing the ribbon to the Russian front medal, GAB and Fallchirm badge.
I am trying to establish what the chances are of him having seen service in AFRIKA.

For example, could we say there was an 80% chance of this man having served in Afrika, or is there no way to make an educated guess ?

(I would like to thing he was part of "Ramcke Brigage - Battalion Kroh - formed from the 1st Battalion of Fallschirmjaeger Regiment 2, just returned from Russia"). The other members of Ramcke Brigade didnt seem to have Russian front experience.

Anyway, thank you for your expert opinions.
By the way, the soliders names is "Martin Muller" and he was born on either the 4th or 7th of Ocotber 1922.

[John Hodgin]

The other members of Ramcke Brigade didnt seem to have Russian front experience.

2nd Battalion, von der Heydte, also fought in Russia.

[Bob Lyons]

John, you can sniff out these photos from a thousand miles away...


Bob

[TWP]

John that is amazing. What was the Division and regt of VonDerHeydte?

[Johann Voss]

Beautiful postcard!

[W Petz]

Congrats! I saw that one on ebay and it wasn't cheap. I don't think it was Ramcke Brigade...Got a feeling that FJ was in Italy. Bill

[JYN]

Italy why not or Tunisia if you want to believe that he went in Africa.
You know his name.. is it written behind the picture... any date ?

JYN

[phil1942]

OK guys, thanks for the comments. It would seem there is no way to establish if he was Afrika or Italy. I thought the continental straps and/or uniform might point towards one or the other.

Sorry, no date of the photo, only his name and date of birth.
Yes indeed it was not cheap, I ended up paying my absolute maximum bid, right down to the last 10 cents !

[John Hodgin]

$wT¾?il1942]OK guys, thanks for the comments. It would seem there is no way to establish if he was Afrika or Italy. I thought the continental straps and/or uniform might point towards one or the other.
[/QUOTE]

Greetings Phil,

No conclusion can be established from the wool straps with the tropical tunic. This mix was worn in Africa as well as Italy. IMHO the Ground Assault badge likely implies an Italian time frame. This does not rule out possible prior service in Africa however. Research should answer your question.

TWP, von der Heydte was I./FJR3
Regards,
John

[TWP]

Thanks John regarding Von der Heydte.

[Fallschirmjaeger]

The Russian Exp?

I was wanting top know why said the other ramcke brigade guys didnt have much experince in russia?was this said somewhere in a book or not,i thought most have them would have been in russia as most of the 7th FJ div was there at some time in 41/42+?or was the brigade sent straight form germany and made up of new recruits and vets?.Im a bit rusty again on these things,or haven't read my FJ books much lately,also many FJ fell in russia in the early winter battles near leningrad or where wounded too, and maybe the ones sent to africa for the ramcke brigade like i had said before came from depot,new recruits or vets from the balkans or early FJ batles in europe in 39-40.(HOPE UNDERSTAND THIS )