Another little FJ group, and yes, with boots again and a little extra.

[Ben]

Joe,

thanks.
The heels are the original ones and only have a piece of leather and a steel heel plate added.
The soles have not actually been fully re-soled either. The have simply put the visible half-sole one on top of the issue one and pinned and clamped it.
I have seen some other resoling done on boots which involved removing original worn out parts. Doesn't seem to have been done on these.
Most of the boots that I encounter have had some sort of re-soling done to them. Partially wartime and some post war. Very few mint boots are found over here.

[John Hodgin]

Thanks, John. Nice view points. All the " bwz " MM bag I've ever seen are late-war ones. Comparing these features you've mentioned, I'm fully understand. Or is it possible could be a mid-war bag?
Regards,

Joe

Hi Joseph,

It would be great if the bag had a date so we could know, but even with the letter code I still think this could be a 1940 through 42 bag.

[JohnB]

Ben,

You have inspired me! I think I may sell all of my helmets and collect Wehrmacht-issue boots. I love the metal clamps on the soles of the pair you posted.

So few pairs of minty boots. A former junior officer I once knew told me that for years after the war all he had was his dyed uniform and boots. A friend of mine has a pair of side-laced boots and they were re-soled post-war.

[Ben]

JH,

did they use the three letter coding system already in 1940?
I always thought that started in '41-'42?
I can't find a date on it anywhere.

JB, it seems that the uppers on German FJ boots didn't deteriorate as fast as the soles did. If you look at the 2nd pattern boot's soles it is easily to see why they went so fast in combat or even in normal use. They are nothing more than a piece of leather with a few small nails in them. I can imagine that most boots that were used in combat were re-soled at on time or another during the war.
Most of the Fallschirmjager MIA's that I found over here had re-soled boots, that is when they where wearing FJ boots.
The uppers on my boots hardly show wear at all, except from the combat pair used by the Brandenburger vet.