unmounted web frogs?

[corporalSteiner]

leather k98 frogs were mounted and unmounted-ie, both with and without the fastening strap over the bayonet handle.
were ak/late war/tropical/sudfront web frogs ever issued in unmounted-ie strapless-versions? ive only ever seen mounted strap versions.
many thanks in advance.

[rick1]

I would say since the wartime rules stated to have the fastening strap (nothing to do with cavalry)..these late ones would always have it. Most of the leather ones without it are pre-war, or just around the time of the regulation.

[MP44_tom]

Correct

I don't know when exactly (have to look it up) the "unmounted" frogs were abandonned, and from thereon only frogs with straps were produced.
Since this was very early it would be unlikely that "tropical" frogs without straps were produced.

Tom
www.mp44.nl

[corporalSteiner]

thanks for the contribution, gents! excellent. good to know fastening straps were a result of wartime directives.

[Admiraal]

Correct

I don't know when exactly (have to look it up) the "unmounted" frogs were abandonned, and from thereon only frogs with straps were produced.
Since this was very early it would be unlikely that "tropical" frogs without straps were produced.

Tom
www.mp44.nl

I think it was januari 1939.

[IanC]

This is a very interesting thread, thanks for raising it Steiner.

I have a leather frog (which isn't a late war model) that doesn't have a retaining strap and as far as I can see it hasn't been cut off. The frog does have a very faint RB number so makes it mid war at the earliest.

Does this make it "suspect" and probably a fake?

(I know I would need to post pictures, but I don't have any to hand but I will upload them to this thread when I can!)

Cheers

Ian

[leondes]

I quickly dug through my pile of frogs and came up with 7 wartime dates that don't and never did have the strap. 2 are dated 1941 and 5 are dated 1942. I have several more that are dated 1940.

Regards, Leon

[MP44_tom]

@Rick, you're right

The Date was january 25, 1939 and the HeeresVerordnung was HV39C, Nr. 119)

For those of you interested, I can put the exact text of the HeeresVerordnung here.....

@Leon: That is not uncommon, the order wasn't "obeyed" to the max, as much unmodified frogs with later dates can be found.....

Tom
www.mp44.nl

[90th Light]

leather k98 frogs were mounted and unmounted-ie, both with and without the fastening strap over the bayonet handle.
were ak/late war/tropical/sudfront web frogs ever issued in unmounted-ie strapless-versions? ive only ever seen mounted strap versions.
many thanks in advance.

The short answer is yes but they may be the rarest of all German WW2 frog.

Speculation is that when the first tropical uniform was produced in 1940 that a web frog without a retaining strap was going to be produced. For some reason not many were ever made.

Keep in mind also that not many infantry (white soutache) were sent to Afrika in 1941. Most sent in 1941 (equipment made in 1940) were light/ mobile (soutache jager green) or specialist.

Anyway here is the only one that I have ever found beside another one with a retaining strap, brought back from North Africa by New Zealand soldiers in 1943. The example without the strap was originally a darker olive green/ brown but it is heavily bleached out.

Both frogs still hold the original bayonets with matching numbers as brought back,

Chris

[corporalSteiner]

wow. how kind, chris. thanks for showing this rare web frog of yours. great to see!

[90th Light]

wow. how kind, chris. thanks for showing this rare web frog of yours. great to see!

My pleasure, in fact I will start a new thread about it and put up some more images,

Chris

[corporalSteiner]

My pleasure, in fact I will start a new thread about it and put up some more images,

Chris

indeed, chris. tell the whole world.