Oldest para in town!

[Ian Jewison]

Can anyone add any information to the following photos? ie. What type of camoflage tunic he is wearing and type of smock?

Many thanks, Ian

[Ian Jewison]

...

[Willi Z.]

Hi Ian,

In two of the photos he is wearing a green step-in smock. Can't tell if it has been converted into open front configuration. The other photo he is wearing some kind of splinter field-made tunic. Certainly not an issue piece.

Willi

[Ian Jewison]

Thanks Willi,
Here is another copy of the photo......

/Ian

[Prosper Keating]

Talk about the backbone of the regiment! The splinter pattern garment is reminiscent of those bomber jackets and pilot-style blouses made of Italian camouflage material and popular with FJ in the Italian theatre of operations. If we could see the rest of it, it would probably be waist-length. Great photos. Real character. So...who was he?

I'd hazard a guess and say that this seasoned old soldier probably saw service in WW1 and that he may have been in the Landespolizei before it was transferred to the Luftwaffe to form the cadre of the proposed Fallschirmtruppe.

Just conjecture, I know. But he has the air of a policeman about him!
PK

[Ian Jewison]

Franz Neumann

Hi Prosper,
He did see service during WWI as a fighter pilot with Bayern Jagdstaffel 79. I am reliably informed he served with the Freikorps but the unit escapes me at the moment.....Obviously a member of the SA

Please also see this thread for other photos....
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...threadid=11869

WW II however he had numerous posts with Flak units. 23.2.1944 Fj.Kraftfahr Ausb.Abt., 12.3.44 Fallsch.Art.Ers.Abt. II, 7.6.44 Artillerie Abteilung, Fallschirm AOK, later transferring to Fallschirm Beobachtungs Batterie. (renamed FS Beob.Abt. 21).

During WWII he does not appear to have any awards...either he didn't get any or they are not marked up in his Soldbuch!

/Ian

[Ian Jewison]

Here are his dog tags....I don't know if it is the norm for para members but the tag is worn around the neck with para chord!
I have others to Heer and Luftwaffe units where it is string, green chord or metal chain!!!!

/Ian

[Prosper Keating]

Hi Ian,

You answered as I was editing my post! So...maybe I'm not that far off the mark with the Landespolizei guess.

If Franz Neumann served in Freikorps and the SA, that would make him prime recruit material for the Landespolizeigruppe/Landespolizei General Göring, set by the Göring in 1933 as a special Nazi para-military police unit within the Prussian police.

Obviously a man who was a decorated pilot in WW1 would be rapidly welcomed into the ranks of a unit established by one of Germany's air aces. The Landespolizei, as some of you will know, was transferred into the Luftwaffe in 1935 to form the cadre of the proposed Fallschirmtruppe. And was clearly quite a committed Nazi, with his Honour Badge for the 1931 Brunkwick rally, given to SA men who distinguished themselves in some pretty rough streetfighting.

There again, from what you say in the other thread, it is possible that he was not in any FJ units prior to 1944. He could just have been a veteran taken into the new Luftwaffe in 1935 to train young recruits and help instil some military tradition in the new arm. That said, he seems quickly to have assumed 'the look' of the commsumate airborne warrior! The white scarf, that leery non-issue cammo outfit, the thousand yard stare. There again, he must have gotten the stare as a fighter pilot.

Regarding the absence of Nazi-era awards: correct me if I'm wrong but in this wartime photograph of Neumann - fliegerbluse with breast eagle - his ribbon bar seems longer and there seems to be what might be the reflection of the Prague Castle Bar.



It does seem odd that no awards are entered for WW2 service. I assume you have his Soldbuch or Wehrpass. If so, any chance of a gander at the relevant pages? As I expect you know, the absence of awards or qualification badges from a Soldbuch or military resumé does not mean, of course, that he didn't get any! It just means that they were never entered into the book. It is perfectly possible, given that he was easily pushing fifty in 1944, that as a rear echelon NCO - no shame in that given his record in WW1 and the kampfzeit of the '20s and '30s! - he didn't win a single medal or badge. But I do find it hard to imagine that the officers of any of his units would not have arranged for a brave old warhorse like Neumann to get at least a KVK1 or even KVK2! And he would surely have qualified for at least a 4 Year Service Medal.

Maybe he was an awkward bastard! Maybe he didn't 'fit in'! He certainly strikes one as a man who wouldn't have suffered fools...and given that many officers are absolute fools - speaking from personal experience as a former para NCO myself - maybe he didn't get any medals with his rations! Whatever the case, Herr Neumann had nothing to prove!

Great photos. Thanks for sharing them. Oh...and the use of para cord was as popular with the Fallschirmjäger of WW2 as it is with paras today. We used it for all sorts of things: as laces for the desert boots British paras always wore with civvies until quite recently, as lanyards for knives and so on. The desert wellies may have been given the Viking funeral a few years ago but I still use a para cord apex tie as a key fob! The Fallschirmjäger of WW2 were no different. I had a gravity knife once with a neatly plaited lanyard of period para cord. And one FJ veteran I knew had a dog leash made in the same way but of modern para cord acquired for him by his son, who was in 272 Fallschirmjäger in the 1980s.

PK

[Ian Jewison]

I agree with you there Prosper, the ribbon bar does look longer but I don't know about the 1.10.38/Spange!
Unfortunately his awards and WWI documents were sold seperately so I don't know what the paperwork mentioned...no WWI Soldbuch or Militärpaß though!
If I remember correctly he was in something like "Freikorps Gruppe Beschtel"..or something sounding similar!
Here are a few images from his Soldbuch.....and another photo!

/Ian

P.S. The FP No. 53904 is that of:
Beob Battr. Fallsch.Art.Rgt. 11, later renamed Fallsch.Beob.Battr. 21

[Ian Jewison]

Unit page showing para units (Page 17....page 4 full of Flak units!).

[Ian Jewison]

Award page...interestingly made out from his home recruiting office rather than current unit!

[Ian Jewison]

Ooppssss, nearly forgot...the other photo!

[Ian Jewison]

One thing, why would he make the SA Trefen Badge take precedence over his EK I....perhaps as you say a committed Nazi and wanted to show the youngsters he meant business!!!!

/Ian

[Eric Stahlhut]

Well,

Take a look at the date that his EK1 was awarded. Looks to me like December of 1918.

[Ian Jewison]

Incidentally that's my birthday!...never noticed that....not 1918 though!!!!