Britisches Freikorps insignia?

[Der Texaner]

This is always worth a watch.
Looks like one Solbuch, is the only item to survive.
Or at least that is all that the archive would show, at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwfIkoRjMw


John.

Thank you, John. I’ll have to find the video you linked to elsewhere. YouTube will not allow it to be shown in the U.S. for copyright reasons.

-Joel

[Christian J]

Thank you, John. I’ll have to find the video you linked to elsewhere. YouTube will not allow it to be shown in the U.S. for copyright reasons.

-Joel

Just change your location on the round button in the right corner.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

here is the documentary (mp4 format) I just uploaded on wetransfer.com (150 mo) :

https://we.tl/t-4ilEfIYIOs

See You

Vince

[Der Texaner]

Christian, Vince, many thanks!!

-Joel

[HPL2008]

Note that the repro cuff title worn by the reenactor in post # 11 is incorrect in that it says "Britisches Freikorps". The actual cuff titles said "British Free Corps".

(While period photos of the cuff title in wear (see post # 9) aren't clear enough to make out details, they definitely show that the cuff title had three words.)

[TomH]

I didn't know 2 sleeve shields were produced for the BFC.

No room in the "Britisches Freikorps" for the Jocks and the Taffs then.

[simon]

Post eight is definitely Unterscharführer Roy Courlander; pictured here while in SS Kurt Eggers

[Basil]

The current situation with British Free Corps artefacts is this:

Soldbuchs

1. An original Soldbuch issued to Francis George McLardy is in the UK National Archives in Kew. This was actually the soldbuch he was issued when he left the BFC and transferred to the Waffen-SS proper.

2. An original soldbuch issued to Roy Nicholas Courlander was, at one stage, bundled with his court martial documents in the New Zealand Defence Force Archives. Despite multiple letters and emails, I've never received a reply to my enquiries.

3. An original soldbuch issued to Dennis John Leister was put in the custody of MI5 after Leister was convicted of 'assisting the enemy'. It may still be in the custody of MI5 but my suspicion is that it was microfilmed in the 1970s, when MI5 did a large clear-out of old files, and subsequently shredded and burned. I think it is possible that Leister's MI5 file may be released at some point in the future, but the likelihood is that it will be a reconstruction from the microfilm.

No others are known.

Insignia

I know of no original BFC insignia in private hands. By the last few months of the war, there were no more than 15 Brits still notionally serving in the BFC. A group of 10 were attached to the 11 Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion of the Nordland Division and all but one of them removed their BFC insignia. The others were lurking around in Berlin, keeping their heads down and looking for an opportunity to escape: in all but one case they did this by ditching their BFC uniforms and trying to blend in as normal POWs.

As far as I am aware, only one run of 800 sets of BFC insignia was made. It was ordered in November 1943 and delivered to the BFC in Hildesheim in April 1944. According to the BFC men, they were issued with two uniforms: a normal 'work' uniform (M42 tunic and trousers, grey shirt, ankle boots and M43 cap) with grey embroidered insignia; and a 'best' uniform with silver embroidered insignia. The insignia formed part of the unit's stores and moved with them from Hildesheim to the Wilder Mann Kaserne in Dresden in October 1944 when they were sent for pioneer training. By this point, morale was collapsing, they were more or less unsupervised and the core group of pro-Nazi Brits had either left the unit or were trying to get out. Although more men were joining the unit, they were largely being 'pressed' into it to avoid disciplinary charges in POW camps. In early 45 one of the NCOs led a group of BFC men in an escape attempt and he claimed afterwards that he had burnt a lot of the unit's files and stores before they left (although none of the others mentions this). In Feb 45, after the Dresden fire raid, the BFC were firstly imprisoned, and then moved back to Berlin. It isn't clear whether the unit stores went with them, or whether they were abandoned in Dresden: they aren't mentioned again in the files.

So, there are possible routes for BFC insignia to have survived. It's possible that BFC men might have given examples of their insignia as keepsakes to girlfriends in Hildesheim or Dresden; it's possible that the Soviets found examples of it when they captured Dresden in 1945; it's possible that one or more of the Germans associated with the unit kept examples of the insignia as souvenirs (although the three that I have interviewed didn't). Nevertheless, so far, nothing has emerged.

What is certain is that the only member of the BFC who was captured in possession of any BFC insignia was Courlander. He had transferred to 'Operation Scorpion West' in the Kurt Eggers Standarte and had rebadged his tunic, but he had hung on to his BFC insignia. In September 1944, he and Francis Maton, both Unterscharfuehrers, went to Brussels, supposedly in order to do Psyops with Scorpion West, but in reality intending to escape to the Allied side and pretend that this was their intention all along. Courlander managed to get himself wounded and was captured in SS uniform with an example of the arm shield in his pocket. This, along with his soldbuch and ID disc (and his tunic) is listed as an exhibit with his court-martial papers. It may still be with the court martial file or it may not.

Courlander's Tunic

Courlander's M42 tunic (as seen in the photo in post #8 and in post #22) had a busy career after the war. It was used as an exhibit at Courlander's court-martial in 1945; it was shipped to South Africa (along with former BFC private Ken Berry) in 1946 for the trial of Mardon, Labuschagne and Viljoen; and then it was shipped to New Zealand and archived with Courlander's court-martial file. At some point during the 1970s, someone involved in an amateur theatrical production who knew of its existence in the archive borrowed it, and it was never returned. God knows what happened to it.

Photos

I know of, I think, 10 photos of members of the BFC in uniform. I would be very surprised if more didn't emerge as time goes by.

Recruiting Pamphlets

These were liberally scattered around POW camps and a fair few were brought back to the UK as curios. They turn up in auctions from time to time and there are examples in the National Archives and the Imperial War Museum library.

So that's where we are.

[Christian J]

Always a pleasure reading your informed posts, Mr. Weale.

[Kiwipom]

I didn't know 2 sleeve shields were produced for the BFC.

THE "England "shield WAS A POST WAR PRODUCTION FOR A FILM IN THE 60S RELATING TO BRITAIN HAVING ACTUALLY BEEN INVADED.

[Ian Hulley]

Morning Adrian, I wonder if you could post examples of the repro sets of insignia you had made for your documentary please ?


It may help eliminate possible finds online.


Cheers, Ian.

[Basil]

Hi Ian, I'll see if I can dig some out but they're the ones shown in post #1 of this thread. They look OK from a distance but wouldn't fool any but the most gullible or hopeful close up.

[Ian Hulley]

Hi Ian, I'll see if I can dig some out but they're the ones shown in post #1 of this thread. They look OK from a distance but wouldn't fool any but the most gullible or hopeful close up.

Cheers Adrian, I was wondering if the cufftitles are the rectangular weave type ? ... there was an offer where you could have any message you wanted embroidering on them.


Ian

[Gary Symonds]

What is the consenus regarding the sleeve eagle in the film?

[wolfslair44]

I have an original of the recruitment pamphlet/flyer, I'll try and post a couple images later this week.