U-boat War Badge with Diamonds today!

[Norm F]

I have a photo, taken 1980 in the collection room of Marineschule Muerwik in Flensburg during my active service in the navy.
Shown is the uboat-badge with diamonds from Mützelburg, beside his Knightscross and oakleaves.
A bad picture, but not modified in any way, perhaps someone can recognize the type of badge.

Regards
Markus

Hi Markus,

Thanks for posting. It's hard to say anything definitive based on that interesting photo, but by the proportions it looks like a Type 1 badge which would make sense given the date he received his Oak leaves (1942).

Maybe someone has a better photo of this badge?

Best regards,
---Norm

[Sepp45]

What a nice find

Karl Donitz's funeral pillow, in 1980. Is that his Diamond badge?

[TorpedoLos]

What a phenomenal thread, you guys. Great work by all. This just underscores for all what an incredible resource the WAF is for the collecting community.

Bravo!

[Norm F]

One last thought regarding the timing of the two types of Diamond U-Boats. It occurs to me that the transition from the small swastika to large swastika in 1943 parallels what we see in the transition from the regular Schwerin 1st pattern to 2nd pattern S-Boat badge. Of course in the case of the S-Boat, Schwerin's design came from W.E. Peekhaus, but perhaps the change in aesthetic translated into their diamond badge U-Boat as well.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Yet another thought that supports the now overwhelming evidence that the larger swastika was the later version of diamond U-Boat.

In 1943 the U-Boat effectiveness was foundering due to effective Allied countermeasures, inability to crack the Allied communication codes after Feb, 1943, Bletchley Park's repeatedly successful cracking of the Enigma codes, etc.. From uboataces.com: "By the end of the 1943, more U-boats were being lost than Allied ships and through to spring of 1944, very few convoys were intercepted and none successfully attacked." It stands to reason then that it was statistically very difficult to qualify for the U-Boat with diamonds after 1943.

When you look back through this thread you will see seven different original examples of the Type 1 (small swastika) badge and only two examples of the Type 2 (large swastika). Although this could be a random sampling effect, it's still suggestive that the Type 1 is more common, just as you would expect during the earlier heyday of U-Boat offensives.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

This picture was posted by Christopher Ailsby on his militaria blog, so credits to him.

Source: http://ailsby.blogspot.com.ar/2012/0...1939-1945.html

Hi Guys,

I was checking out that Ailsby blog that Sepp mentioned. Although it has a lot of nice original examples of regular badges there it's a totally different story when it comes to the diamond badges unfortunately.

For example, this devilishly clever copy of the Type 1 badge. It's an excellent likeness but it appears to be a silver alloy casting from a regular Schwerin Tombak badge. Notice the soft smoothness of the surface, especially on the reverse, and the hinge and pin that emulate the regular Schwerin badge rather than the diamond version. Also the eagle's head is more like the earliest Tombak Schwerin U-Boat production rather than the slightly later style that is seen in the diamond badges. More in the next post.

[Norm F]

The closeups show the story. Firstly you see very fine pitting on the surface of the fake, and especially on the underside of the wide main pin. But more importantly you'll notice that all the original Type 1 badges use rough-cut diamonds in the swastika; in contrast, on the fake the diamonds are actually brilliant-cut and look much more geometrical. They did a pretty good job on matching the size of the swastika but the beading of the margins doesn't quite match.

Somebody made a very good attempt to deceive with this one.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Sepp45]

2) Adalbert Schnee (Oak leaves July 15, 1942) - from Torpedo Los

.

[Sepp45]

Piece featured on Internationales Militaria-Magazin (Ausgabe Feb-März, 2000)

[Sepp45]

Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Lüth

[Norm F]

Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Lüth

Thanks Sepp,

Looks like a good Type 1 badge. Lüth was said to have earned his U-Boat badge with diamonds on Jan 26, 1943 which is consistent with a Type 1 badge. From what publication is that photo?

http://www.uboat.net/men/luth.htm

Best regards,
---Norm

[Sepp45]

From what publication is that photo?

Hi Norm, thanks for the words.

The photo comes from an amazing article published by the Internationales Militaria-Magazin (2007).

I've sent you a PM.

[Sepp45]

Fregattenkapitän Albrecht Brandi

(Photo credits to "Bravery Courage and Valour - Volume 1: Decorations and Awards of the Third Reich", by Adrian Forman)

[Sepp45]

.

[Norm F]

Thanks Sepp. Since that's a Type 1 diamonds badge, that further narrows down the time window for the transition from Type 1 to Type 2 to some time between April 11, 1943 (Brandi, Type 1) and Oct 1, 1943 (Emmermann, Type 2).

It's also nice to see that the case for Brandi's badge seems to match that of Stan's "Cremer" badge.

Best regards,
---Norm