leap of faith Infanteriemesser

[Jolly Roger]

Hi,

I would like to share an Infanteriemesser that I have in my collection. This one will raise a lot of scepticism due to the personalization of it - please check the photos. It involves a huge leap of faith. It has a nice patina and nice aging. Ofc this could have been done postwar but I am a believe

It is named "SS Sturmman.Franz Frucht." (Sturmmann misspelled) and on the other side of the grip "F.p.No.28.406.D.Florian.Gayer." (Geyer misspelled). The misspelling is weird but not neccessarily a sign of post war non native speaker mock fabrication IMO. If you read old field post letters you will notice not everyone was quite well educated back then.

So nontheless please share your thoughts with me!

Best regards

Ben

[Jolly Roger]

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[okkultist]

I must say I like it. This "upgrade" is wery old. I like lettering too. Interesting and lovely knife. And what is the maker mark on the blade? I can not read it on the pic.

[Reibert-Austria]

Sturmman ...

Florian Gayer ...

The knife itself is OK, the "upgrade" devalued the knife, what a pitty ...

[Jolly Roger]

Thanks for the comments! I cant read the maker unfortunately and as I dont know much about these knifes I cant guess which maker it could be either.

By the way I found a Franz Frucht on Volksbund who died in November 1944 in an area where the division was situated at that time. He was born in Hungary which is also a good sign as they had many Volksdeutsche in that division:

Nachname:Frucht
Vorname:Franz
Dienstgrad:Grenadier
Geburtsdatum:16.03.1927
Geburtsort:Aparhant
Todes-/Vermisstendatum:26.11.1944
Todes-/Vermisstenort: Rozsaszentmarton

Still remains pure speculation that the knife belonged to that person but the possibility is there. I might make some research about the soldier.

Best regards

Ben

[Thälmannpionier]

SS Div "Florian Geyer" and not Gayer. I would believe a soldier would know how his division name is spelled correctly.....but who knows...not every ss men was a brainiac..

Sturmman-N!!

[AndyB]

The Feldpost Nummer 28406 is since aug.1943 for Stab und Kollone des Pionier Battalion nr.8, part of SS Division Nr.8 Florian Geyer, personally i believe a soldier would write there a lower unit as Division, same as there are gramatical errors. Plexiglass grips are typical for US GI bringbacks, possible that someone worked on it later. b.r.Andy

[okoska]

Hello!

Frucht died in Rózsaszentmárton but at this time the Florian Geyer fought in area of Vecsés, Pécel, Gyömrő etc..
The distance from that place where he died and where the 8. SS fought is around 75 km. (50 miles)

How happened this?

Best
O.

[Erik]

Hello!

Frucht died in Rózsaszentmárton but at this time the Florian Geyer fought in area of Vecsés, Pécel, Gyömrő etc..
The distance from that place where he died and where the 8. SS fought is around 75 km. (50 miles)

How happened this?

Best
O.

The location of death/missing is often very generic and rarely exact on both time and location. Bodies are collected, often even days after death, and located to rear areas for adminstration and burial. The (exact) location of death is mostly a formality. Also wounded who later, sometimes days, weeks or months, die in a (field) hospital can be up to many hundreds of miles from their unit. Even back in Germany wounded soldiers have died long after being transported from the battlefield. Thus their place of death is a location in Germany while they got wounded while their units continue to be engaged at the front at the time of their death. In short, dying 75 km from your parent unit is perfectly plausible.

Erik

[Jolly Roger]

The Feldpost Nummer 28406 is since aug.1943 for Stab und Kollone des Pionier Battalion nr.8, part of SS Division Nr.8 Florian Geyer, personally i believe a soldier would write there a lower unit as Division, same as there are gramatical errors. Plexiglass grips are typical for US GI bringbacks, possible that someone worked on it later. b.r.Andy

Absolutely correct. As said before this is a piece for believers. No chance to prove it was done wartime. I like it though and am a believer

Best regards

Ben

[zbv500]

I dont beleive its autenthic. The wrong spelling + all these dots between the words and numbers are very atypical for German abbreviations + the plastic grips. Postwar work on that for sure.

Jens