Legion Condor Panzer Badge - Bender Photos

[Yuri D.]

Please do not comment on this thread until the words:

“DEMONSTRATION OVER” are seen.

I would like to finish my thoughts based on the newly discovered data.

[Yuri D.]

Last night I visited Roger James Bender. Roger is an accomplished collector and historian who has immensely benefited our hobby and many other collecting hobbies. R. Bender holds a Masters Degree in History, and he wrote his masters thesis on, you’ve guessed it, The Legion Condor.

Roger Bender wrote and published a book called “Legion Condor” (available at www.bender-publishing.com). This book tells the story of the Legion Condor in excellent detail, with statistics and rare photographs. When Roger started writing this book, he was able to contact Rudolph Vogt who not only had his badge, related items and photos, but also the badge of Ernst Bartz and photos of the rest of his friends from Spain. Rudolph Vogt just GAVE Roger all of Bartz’ stuff – badge, photos, letters, everything.

So what I will do in this thread is present photographic evidence, with various comments from Roger Bender about dates and the photos. I will not present any theories or conclusions. I will leave those to the readers.

[Yuri D.]

It is September / October 1936: the German ground forces move in

Colonel von Thoma, commander of all ground forces in Spain, issued a special badge for the tank troops on November 16th, 1936. All of the legionnaires get studio photos taken immediately after receiving their badges. Notice that there is no insignia on their uniforms other than the BADGE.

In the Winter of 1936, the troops are issued an official uniform with the six- and eight-pointed star insignias with the horizontal bars.

[Yuri D.]

Here is the first studio photo from November 1936 of Dolmetscher (interpreter) Hermann Bartels, lovingly known as “Sir Bartels” by his Legion Condor compadres.

[Yuri D.]

And here is a close-up of his badge:


Note the details:
1. The right side of the tank turret is to the RIGHT of the right edge of the teeth.
2. The wreath is not too bushy, and not too smooth either.
3. There is a bridge between the two bone lines on the bottom right bone.
4. The left eye temporal line leans to the LEFT.
5. The tank has a “hump-back” and is on the chubby side.
6. The teeth are almost straight in line (almost no curve to them).
7. The ribbon knot is VERY pronounced and symmetrical with ultra-straight wood branches.
8. The right cheekbone is highly pronounced.
9. The forehead cleft is pronounced and deep.
10. There is no cleft created on the top left side of the skull by the temporal line.

[Yuri D.]

Here is another photo from the same time period, from around the same month that the badge was issued of Hauptmann Lansa, Fuhrer der Panzer Abwehr Ausbildung. Note the absence of insignia, which means pre-Winter 1936 photo.

[Yuri D.]

And the close-up of his badge:


Note the details:

1. The not-too smooth, not-too bushy wreath.
2. The left-leaning temporal line.
3. The pronounced cheek bones.
4. The forehead cleft is pronounced and deep.
5. The temporal line created a cleft on the top left edge of the skull

Note: the black line at the bottom of the badge is black thread that was used to help the badge stay attached to the uniform. We will see this attachment method being used more and more by these guys.

[Yuri D.]

I have presented the above information to show everyone the badges that were being worn NO MORE THAN ONE MONTH AFTER BEING INITIALLY ISSUED.

Now let’s take a look at the badges being worn from January 1937 and later

[Yuri D.]

Here is the ORIGINAL famous post-1936 pre-1939 photo of Bartz with his LCPB:

[Yuri D.]

And here is his badge:



Note the details:

1. The right side of the tank turret is to the RIGHT of the right edge of the teeth.
2. The wreath is not too bushy, and not too smooth either.
3. There is a bridge between the two bone lines on the bottom right bone AND the left bottom bone.
4. The left eye temporal line leans to the LEFT.
5. The tank has a “hump-back” and is on the chubby side.
6. The teeth are almost straight in line (almost no curve to them).
7. The ribbon knot is VERY pronounced and symmetrical with ultra-straight wood branches.
8. The right cheekbone is highly pronounced.
9. The forehead cleft is pronounced and deep.
10. There is no cleft created on the top left side of the skull by the temporal line.

Note: Two white threads are being used on the top portion of both sides of the wreath to help keep the badge in place.

[Yuri D.]

Here is the ORIGINAL post-1936 pre-1939 photo of Ritterkreuz Tragger Kurt Kannenberg with his LCPB:

[Yuri D.]

And his badge:


Note the details:

1. The right side of the tank turret is to the RIGHT of the right edge of the teeth.
2. The wreath is not too bushy, and not too smooth either.
3. There is a bridge between the two bone lines on the bottom right bone AND the left bottom bone.
4. The left eye temporal line leans to the LEFT.
5. The tank has a “hump-back” and is on the chubby side.
6. The teeth are almost straight in line (almost no curve to them).
7. The ribbon knot is VERY pronounced and symmetrical with ultra-straight wood branches.
8. The right cheekbone is highly pronounced.
9. The forehead cleft is pronounced and deep.
10. But here is the clincher: look at the top left edge of the skull, the contour line is not smooth there. The temporal line created a cleft.

Note: This guy has gone overboard with the black thread. Not only is it used at the top and bottom of the wreath, he also has it between the eyes and nose of the skull.

[Yuri D.]

Here is a post-1936, pre-1939 photo of a guy I call Tanker-A:

[Yuri D.]

And his badge:

Note the details:
1. The right side of the tank turret is to the RIGHT of the right edge of the teeth.
2. There is a bridge between the two bone lines on the bottom right bone AND the left bottom bone.
3. The tank has a “hump-back” and is on the chubby side.
4. The teeth are almost straight in line (almost no curve to them).
5. The right cheekbone is highly pronounced.
6. There is no cleft created on the top left side of the skull by the temporal line.

[Yuri D.]

Here is a post-1936, pre-1939 photo of a guy I call Tanker-B: