Feldgendarmerie! "Halt!"

[HouweTrouwe]

Feldgendarmerie! "Halt!"

This thread is meant to be a study in the Feldgendarmerie and only the Feldgendarmerie. Whether the unit is part of the Marine or the Waffen-SS, all are welcome. The study will be based upon how the Feldgendarmerie acted, performed their jobs, how they handled situations and their uniforms and much more..

To begin...
Some very amazing acquisitions that I made some weeks ago. It is a negative roll of a Waffen-SS unit, and much more in detail a SS-Felgendarmerie unit. On the outside of the negative carton it reads: "1941 ... Fahrkontrolle
im besetzten Frankreich (Vesoul) U.v.D. Nachrichten Hilf.. ..". Some words are inreadable or for the better eyes.

Vesoul is a French town in the Départment of Haute-Saòne. During the period when these photographs are taken (Early 1941) the only Waffen-SS unit which was there, was SS-Division "Reich". The numberplate which is clearly visible also matches this unit. So with 100 percent we can say that the Feldgendarmerie unit belongs to SS-Division "Reich".

The uniforms are very beautiful and perfect in detail. You can see the police eagles on the left arms, aswell as the gorget and much more. There is also a high SS officer to be seen aswell but I do not have any identity on this man. (If you can help, please do so). I think it is the unit commander.

[HouweTrouwe]

Close-up

[HouweTrouwe]

Postnr. 2

[HouweTrouwe]

Close-up (nr.2)

[HouweTrouwe]

If anyone need a better close-up of something, let me know!

Post nr.3

[HouweTrouwe]

Postnr. 4. Look at his eyes and ofcourse all the other details.

[HouweTrouwe]

Close-up (nr.4)

P.S.
Do not held back to give reactions.

[HouweTrouwe]

Amazing

1. SS Arm Eagle
2. Gendarmerie Sleeve Eagle (?)
3. Brown cufftitle "Feldgendarmerie"

- Feldgendarmerie gorget

Q: Anyone recognizes the ribbon bar?

[John Pen.]

I can't answer any questions, but I just wanted to say that these are some amazing photos. Thanks for sharing.
Jp

[PBR]

Huge, Bart!
Now they are well protected, they should crop a lot if willing to use without your permission.

I think the pictures are staged for Propaganda purposes since I strongly doubt that a FG man would allow anybody but a Kriegsberichter to take such kind of pictures during their duty: remember that FG were actually a very discreet and "secret" force, they were trained in a very particular way, and it's very unlikely that a private soldier would had been able get next to a Kettenhund on duty and take pictures just for fun.....
This is the reason why, images of Kettenhund in action are very rare, most of them are studio portrait.

I'm not sure that the eagle is orange, maybe you can post a close up of it to see if there's colour contrast enough with the feldgrau to determine what's the eagle colour.

Stunning pictures.

By the way, the division denomination wan't "Das Reich"?

[HouweTrouwe]

The high officer, anyone recognizes him? He wears the Golden Party Badge.

[PBR]

As usual the blank Winkerkeller with no eagle on it, very interesting!

[HouweTrouwe]

As usual the blank Winkerkeller with no eagle on it, very interesting!

What is a Winkerkeller? "Das Reich" was called in 1940 till May 1942 "SS-Division (mot) Reich" (Source: AHF).

Does anyone know why he has the combination of three? Please see post nr.5: 'Amazing'). I will see that I can make a better close-up.

[NickG]

Amazing

1. SS Arm Eagle
2. Gendarmerie Sleeve Eagle (?)
3. Brown cufftitle "Feldgendarmerie"

- Feldgendarmerie gorget

Q: Anyone recognizes the ribbon bar?

The ribbon bar shows 3 medals
From left to rioht;
1 = not clear...possibly a service ribbon, either Army or polizei (ex-cop?)
2= for sure Anschluss medal with bar (either Austria of Czech-Sudetenland)
3= appears to be West Wall service

[NickG]

What is a Winkerkeller? "Das Reich" was called in 1940 till May 1942 "SS-Division (mot) Reich" (Source: AHF).

Does anyone know why he has the combination of three? Please see post nr.5: 'Amazing'). I will see that I can make a better close-up.

Winkerkelle= That's the traffic wand