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"Bretagne" TraditionAbzeichen

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    "Bretagne" TraditionAbzeichen

    Salut,

    I am looking for information of the use and wear of this "Bretagne" badge. It does look like a civilian badge but the period iconography proves it was used as a tradition badge by the Kriegsmarine personel .

    The badge is enameled and has no maker's marks. Type of construction does not indicate the country of origin.


    You can see it worn here on an officer's schirmutze



    and here worn by a U-Boot crew member on a side-cap in conjonction with the ship's emblem.




    The insignia worn on the side cap seems to be exactly the same as this one.



    It was found metal detecting by a friend on the location of a rubbish tip of a villa used by the 6 UBF as a resting place . It was found in the same layer as other KM related items.

    You will notice that the insignia is blue on top with the main field in red.



    However you can also find it with inverted colours, ie : main field in blue and top part in red


    My 2 versions of the “Bretagne” insignia with a cigarette box . The one on the left seems to be similar top the one worn by the officer on his schirm .



    The box has this vignette glued at the bottom - "Deutschland siegt an allen Fronten”



    The badge is also found on this X’mas plate made for a aero-naval unit or base near Brest in Bretagne.



    We initially thought that this badge was worn by U-Boot crews but this ceramic plate seems to imply that other units, maybe even land based were using its symbolic.

    - Would it be that any KM personel of the Bretagne area could wear it ? The scarcity of original photos showing it worm make me doubt .

    - So what units was it restricted to ?

    - Were those badges made specially for the KM or were they civilian French "province" badge adopted by the KM ?


    My friend and I would be very gratefull if one of you KM expert had a little more info on this badge or photos of it in wear in your archives.

    Many thanks,

    Cheriooooo,
    yves
    Last edited by sturmann; 11-13-2009, 04:10 AM.

    #2
    Very nice post Yves. Based on my own experience there are regulations and then there are what individual units decide to do in regards to non-regulation insignia. Many militaries are like this and the KM was probably no different.

    In other words, if a unit wanted to wear it and the Commanding Officer said OK, it was OK.

    If you look at a completely different area of militaria collecting, Vietnam War unit patches, you will see that there are official patches, mostly boring in design, and then the unofficial but widely worn patches with the amazing art work typical of the US military.

    Where the Germans had their badges I guess US forces had their patches and aircraft nose art.

    So, I do not think you will get a definitive answer, but the fact that this badge was found where it was found seems like pretty good provenance to me. Whether it was a shore or sea based unit, who knows and impossible to determine now. Remember you had all kinds of ships and boats, each had their own traditions and attitudes--not just the U-boat crews.

    Nice post as I said. John

    PS--I need to remember to use the word iconography a little more often in my own posts!!!!!!!!!

    Comment


      #3
      Hallo John,

      Many thanks for reading the post and your answer .
      None-regulation trad insignias are indeed a complex and little wrote abt subject .

      If any one has further pictures of those "in wear" my friend and I would be very greatfull,


      yves

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        #4
        I am going to drag this old thread back to the top because I just had a ring show up, in a vet group, with this same crest.

        I'll get some shots tomorrow in the daylight. Anybody want to guess what it says inside?

        Here's the group with what I thought was a French ring.



        Attached Files

        Comment


          #5
          I also started a thread on the ring in the Luft section.

          http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=800121

          Here's the ring.....



          Attached Files

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            #6
            "A ma vie" means "for my life" i would say .
            Nick

            Comment


              #7
              "a ma vie" is the motto of the Breton order of the Hermine, so traditionally associated with the Breton heraldic . Nice ring

              Comment


                #8
                I'm no scholar in this area, but I don't understand why a ring from France should be engraved in that manner "1940-1941 Legion Condor". The Legion Condor was in Spain and pre-WW2, so why now in France during wartime?

                Best regards,
                ---Norm

                Comment


                  #9
                  ------------------
                  Last edited by John R.; 09-08-2016, 07:45 PM.

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