Cavalry Major's Tunic: Badges

[J C Gray]

Great info. Well, the Rider's badge now comes off the Kavallerie Regiment 18 NCO Waffenrock I have!

I like to display proper badges on uniforms, not just what looks "pretty".

Mike

I believe that it was more of an Enlisted Man thing, not to wear a civilian endorsement of what they considered to be an inherent part of their arm of service. I have seen plenty of period photographs which show that the Reiterabzeichen was indeed worn by at least some Kavallerie NCOs & Officers, however, the GAB was prevalent.

[Mike H]

...

Thanks! I mounted the Rider's badge on my Kavallerie NCO Waffenrock because it was the proper size. The dimension between the two loops was perfect for this badge and I always believed were intended for this badge. The German tailors tended to be very precise about these things. One of the things I love about Waffenrocks.

Mike

[naxos]

I believe that it was more of an Enlisted Man thing, not to wear a civilian endorsement of what they considered to be an inherent part of their arm of service. I have seen plenty of period photographs which show that the Reiterabzeichen was indeed worn by at least some Kavallerie NCOs & Officers, however, the GAB was prevalent.

If they wore them - it would have been a higher grade of the award than their current training.

It was not a matter of "endorsing a civilian award" or "wearing a Reiterabzeichen was below them" - rather it was a matter of redundancy.

The idea of the Reiterabzeichen to be worn in the Wehrmacht or Luftwaffe was to show that a soldier of another arm then the cavalry was a qualified equestrian.

An ex cavalry soldier would wear again their Reiterabzeichen in civilian life (they were proud of it).


Here is the regular army NCO cadre of a cavalry squadron with their two reserve officers, probably right after the fall of France:

[J C Gray]

Cheers Naxos, just going by 'Axis Cavalry in WWII' by Dr. Jeffrey T. Fowler.
Here are a couple of pics of it being worn. Below left the guy at far right from 31. Horse Regt. appears to be wearing one and the officer below right from KR Mitte is wearing one with his GAB...he, however, is a Stabsarzt, so I'm not too sure if he would have been considered a cavalryman.

[Mooyman]

A cavalry Major .... maybe a First War vet.

[Luftm40]

All, thanks for the input on this....very interesting discussion.

[Luftm40]

The WWI-veteran idea is interesting...perhaps some of the loops were for Imperial era awards...any thoughts on which ones?

[naxos]

Cheers Naxos, just going by 'Axis Cavalry in WWII' by Dr. Jeffrey T. Fowler.
Here are a couple of pics of it being worn. Below left the guy at far right from 31. Horse Regt. appears to be wearing one and the officer below right from KR Mitte is wearing one with his GAB...he, however, is a Stabsarzt, so I'm not too sure if he would have been considered a cavalryman.

Thanks, and here another exception

A young trooper from 3rd squadron of Kavallerie-Regiment 13, stationed in Lüneburg (note next to the Reiterabzeichen he is wearing the Fahrerabzeichen).

[turbopanzer]

hi

Hi
Very nice tunic

[Luftm40]

I was recently giving this tunic another look and discovered something that raised a question for the uniform gurus....would this type of uniform have been worn in combat? In the lining at the right shoulder there is a dark, concentrated stain that, to my eye, looks like blood. Sure enough, there is a corresponding area on the shoulder of the tunic that looks repaired. Here is a picture that shows what I'm talking about...perhaps I can snap some additional photos today....

[Luftm40]

Here are the pics. The seam appears to have pulled back together and resewn, as if to cover up a hole. The very dark staining on the sleeve lining. There is staining as well on the green rayon material, but it is less visible.

[Luftm40]

more...this also shows a corresponding repair to the lining. These sure look like blood stains to me....