Studio Photo Of An SS Tankman

[RonR]

For your review and comments is a studio photo of an SS soldier who has been awarded the Tank Assault badge.

[S Ballantyne]

Unit

Hi there Ron,

Nice portrait, just thought I would point out that the man is obviously a member of the Leibstandarte.

Cheers
Steve

[Mike Davis]

A great image Ron. Thanks for posting, will look forward to seeing more from you.

[Edward]

Nice LAH studio pic Ron. Looks also to be a Panzergrenadier, Rottenfuhrer of the 1943-44 period.

[R75Kradman]

Looks all of maybe 18 years of age. Imagine the horrors seen of this generation compared to our 17 year olds of today.

[Butch Gooch]

SS Man

It always amazes me to see how young some of these guys look. Butch

[Al P]

Nice LAH studio pic Ron. Looks also to be a Panzergrenadier, Rottenfuhrer of the 1943-44 period.

Bronze or silver PAB?

Nice picture Thanks for posting this, but you might think about some kind copy protection before we see "it" show up on ebay. A sad fact of life now.

Al

[Edward]

Bronze or silver PAB?

Nice picture Thanks for posting this, but you might think about some kind copy protection before we see "it" show up on ebay. A sad fact of life now.

Al

Could be a silver PAB with dull finish, or just studio lighting giving the appearance as such. Ultimately without the photo in hand difficult to tell. Imo, from the uniform set up in the pic, similar pics in my collection, and the myriad number of books available showing same to reference from...bronze. If silver, then a nice score indeed.

Some individuals also look much younger than they are. From the Ost medal ribbon he had already been serving for sometime before since the photo was taken either mid-to-late war. He is not your typical 1944 HJ Div baby soldat.

[inimicus]

I think I've discovered a "new" type of buckle on this guy.

I've played with this image in photo shop and something is missing: the buckle has ... no motto! also the wreath top is lower relative to the wings than the normal position. and the eagle looks a bit strange to me.

comments welcome.

[F L Clemens]

It always amazes me to see how young some of these guys look. Butch

He looks young because you are old. Sad fact of POV! In the same way, the soldiers in my basic training yearbook keep growing younger every time I pull it out of storage. There was a time when they were all very adult looking.

Anyway, nice LAH portrait. Thanks for posting!

[Brendan Hunt]

Nice portrait!

Are you sure on its authenticity? I only ask because I see the same photo here: http://www.atthefront.com/("Waffen-SS Insignia Set" section).

-B

[RonR]

Nice portrait!

Are you sure on its authenticity? I only ask because I see the same photo here: http://www.atthefront.com/("Waffen-SS Insignia Set" section).

-B

Brendan,

Quite interesting as I do in fact own the photo.

Here is the photo scanned with a toothbrush today to prove the point.

(Someone once suggested the toothbrush as a prop. don't know why, but here is one I use to clean insignia)

[Brendan Hunt]

Hmmm...thats weird. I'm really convinced of its originality now, but I wonder how ATF had it. Maybe you purchased it from someone whom they sold it to?

-B

[RonR]

Hmmm...thats weird. I'm really convinced of its originality now, but I wonder how ATF had it. Maybe you purchased it from someone whom they sold it to?

-B

Brendon,

I doubt that could be the case.

Purchased this photo along with quite a large number of original studio photos from a gentleman who brought them from Eastern Europe and had a suitcase full of them along with a substantial quantity of war time equipment that was behind the Iron Curtain until just recently.

This is the first time I have posted it, so quite curious.

Thank you again.

Best regards,

[Brendan Hunt]

Great photo nonetheless!

-B