Shoulder Boards vs Buttons

[bratwurstdimsum]

Here's an interesting one, an infanterie waffenrock showed up at a medals store near where I work and I was quite interested since I am trying collect stuff on 18 Infanterie Regiment/6 Div.

What confused me was:

• the boards had "18" on them
• the buttons that held down the boards had "16" on them
• and there was documentation that came with the waffenrock which said the guy was from 3/JR47!!

Now while its not uncommon to chop and change, I thought regulation would have demanded at least consistent numbering of the unit, esp on a dress uniform!

I took a quick snap with my mobile phone camera so apologies for the quality but what do you think?

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi there, the tunic is from 16th Kompanie, Inf. Regt 18. Looks OK from what I can see in this photo.

The waffenrock was not worn after 1940 except for weddings and the like. So it is possible the owner was transfered and never bothered to update the insignia?

Cheers, Ade.

[bratwurstdimsum]

Ok that was a silly question I guess!

Hope this next one isn't as bad as I know next to nothing about Waffenrocks...why does the button denote the kompanie and not the Battalion?
Its a bit of a gap isn't it?

[Adrian Stevenson]

No question is ever stupid! So don't worry.

Battl vs. Kompaine: The short answer to that is I don't know! But I think this may be a tradition inherited from Imperial times, but I could be wrong on this.

But I think a Kompanie number is better from an espirt de corps point of view, as this is the lowest designation.

Cheers, Ade.

[bratwurstdimsum]

Thanks Ade, I might have to think about buying this now it fits in exactly with what I'm collecting