SS Skull

[pete]

Fez

I had a 1943 marked Maroon one too but Sold it to Norbert Gratez at N&T Global Trading last month. I got mine myself in 1998 on a House Clearance (Mine Clearance) in Bosnia when I was a Soldier in the Cdn Forces. Mine had a Tan sweatband inside and the tassel was gone except for the base thick part.

Pete
Croatia

[Perry Floyd]

From the little I've been able to gather on these,is the one's with a early date have the black leather band and the ones with a band date around the time of issue seem to be tan. Anyone notice this? Or has anyone seen a tan one with the early date?

[Jean-Loup]

As often, that is a very nice vet familly find you got Perry.
Pete, have you found many other WW2 items in Croatia, or was that a unique stroke of luck you had?

JL

[pete]

Fez

Just a stroke of luck. It was on the floor in a pile of clothing. We had tto clear the house for the Cdn version of the SAS to use for an Op. There were also other things like wedding photos, peoples stuff, that familys life all over the floor from whenever they left/were cleansed so I felt bad for taking it after actually.

In my 3 tours in Bosnia:

While Supervising two Bosnian Army Demining teams we sometimes found ww2 mortar fins, Buttons etc..

An unfired hard cardboard Panzerfaust....

As far as Weapons I had a guy try and sell us a complete MG42 and Ground mount for 300 DM out of the trunk of his YUGO car, I took free choclait bars instead..

I saw and I know a guy in Bihac who has (and drives) his fathers Handschar Motorcycle and Side car (now painted Blue) around..

Humanitarian War Crimes teams investigating a mass grave of 92 women, children and old people dug into a grave of Germans buried in the exact same spot from ww2..

A 2 PPCLI guy in 97 found a Rusty Para Helmet outside Titos cave in Drvar from the SS Para operation...

Thats all I've ever seen over here. One thing ref finding stuff here: The guys who do the battlefield excavations in Russia like you can see online with no proper kit or Demining/uxo procedure in Russia mark my words are gonna get hurt when somthing explodes, and it will. I would love to check out some battle areas around here but the mine/uxo hazard from the 91-95 war and even ww2 is still out there ( we had a german 2000 lb? Bigg bomb explode once in a town while it was being rendered safe) so I am gonna keep to closets and fairs..

Pete

[Jean-Loup]

Thanks for the answere Pete. It sounds interesting over there. I should be getting some stuff from your friend Mladen this week thanks to you!
JL

[John T]

I have also seen fezes with early dates..ie dates before the division was formed. I had often wondered about this. I even saw one where the person tried to scratch out the date (without complete success). What is the consensus on these?

Is it that these were early civilian stock used then during the war to make military fezzes, and if so would it not stand to reason that these were civilian fezes because what military unit would have wore the fezes in 1940? Could these fezes be Bosnian production at that time from old fez stock? I think the Dachau vet pieces are unmarked save for a size marking in white ink on the red wool, or a size marking on the lining itself.

I know that the Bosnians did wear fezes in the military in WW1, but the 1940 date interests me.

What do you guys think?

John