Infantry Ass badge, Very interesting!!!

[Dion]

Hey Guys,

Here`s an extremely interesting badge What do you think??

I`ll devulge more later.......

Dion

[Hans N]

LOL it´s hand made!

[Dion]

ABSOLUTELY! And issued and worn!!!!!!!
Was taken off a German soldier in Afrika by a South African vet who served there!!!
This badge was carved out of Aircraft aluminium, (see pic below)
I think this is a GREAT badge, done at the front, in the desert by someone who was quite an artist!

Dion

[Dion]

Check out the catch and hinge assembly! Very well done. Unfortunately, the pin is missing!

[vonStubben]

Very nice! Just another case in point of what can, and was, done in the field. This fits in nicely with my old thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=116495

Super piece!

Regards,

Chuck

[Dion]

Hi Chuck,

Thanks mate, its greatly appreciated I read the thread on your DKiG, and I must say, absolutely awesome piece you have there! Those are great pieces, and I`ve come across maybe one or two frontline pieces with 10000% provenance, and I personally would never disregard a piece like this! My Grandfather told me himself, that this was done on the front regularly when supplies were running short and awards where not reaching the front in time for award ceremonies!
So, there`s absolutely NO reason to disbelieve these items.

Dion

[AndyC]

Not for my collection !

Andy

[stewy]

Well,there's something i've never seen or dreamt of seeing before. Bizarre,Stewy

[Hans N]

Is there a provenance on this one?

[Mainemilitaria]

I once knew the son of a ex-POW US soldier who had a large German swastika pennant that had "homemade" examples of "just about ever" USAAF Wing insignia, British-French-Polish Pilot/flying insignia, and several German Luftwaffe badges & flight clasps....all made from melted tin cans. All were fairly well done on the fronts, the reverses were crude- with saftey pins & catches. They were supposedly done to serve as replacements for insignia confiscated by the guards and for possible use in escape attempts.....

By themselves I would have laughed them off as poor reproductions, but thier provenance as coming from a POW camp was unquestionable....wish I'd taken pictures but this was 25 years ago.....and now I have no idear where the son is or if he still has the pennant. He had a Camp-made scrapbook and his fathers POW papers & Dog tag...too!

Just wanted to add this.....I think it's an interesting insight.
John G.
Mainemilitaria

[juoneen]

George marinos has a collection of lead made awards made in pow camps, taken by guards at the end of the war. I recognized it right off, just the difference is the metals used. they used what they could find. A real rare badge , and woth buying if you everget a chance at one. If so youll be smarter than the average bear. Their awards were taken away, and insignias stripped from their uniforms, and hats. They made these to actually wear or trade for stuff to the guards was the story i was told. Nice thread, i was wondering if any pow badges would ever show up. I have what i feel is a field made set of oakleaves for an RK, but someone sweated the loops of the back in the 70s . I found it in a scappers junk box when silver went to 45.00 an ounce, if anyone recalls when that happened. I would have to look for the shots if anyone wants to see em, just ask, and ill get back to this thread later to see. Maybe this could be a thread for field, and pow made awards. Way cool id say.

[Bruce Simcox]

Hi Dion......

......Thanks for sharing.

These field badges, as I would term them, fall somewhere in the realm between trench art and curiosity pieces. There were, undoubtedly, badges made by troops at the front. Because awards had to compete with staples such as food and ammunition for delivery to the front, it meant leaving soldiers to their own initiative and creativity to see to it that at least some presentation could be made to recognize accomplishments in the field. We have only to look at the similar creation of EKI's and modified EKII's(into Ritterkreuz), for example, to verify the validity of these uncommon pieces.

They are not for everyone, which is understandable. It is definitely a matter of belief, and available provenance, to enable a collector to include this type of award confidently into one's collection.

I, myself, do believe that they exist, but in the same breath would be very careful about accepting such an award into my collection without any solid provenance. I like them because they are not only unique, but offer a glimpse into the trials and tribulations that soldiers the world over encounter during warfare, and more importantly a measure of how they deal with them.