A Second War Iron Cross 2nd Class 1939; Marked

Measuring 328x259mm, extremely fine condition with light scuffing. The title, “Bremer Lazarettzüge”, means military hospital trains from Bremen (northern Germany). The album contains ten continuous pages, each measuring 288x213mm, near extremely fine condition with some creasing, linnen in celluloid case. They show the blueprint of the train in the form of a coloured drawing. It has 38 cars that include 260 beds, cars for staff and materials, and for cooking and storing of food and drinks. It is dated to Bremerhaven on February 15, 1915. The album also contains eleven photos of the train, near mint condition, measuring ca. 225x165mm,

Mostly shots of the inside of the cars. They include hospital cars (Krankenwagen) (for officers and for enlisted men), the bandaging car (Verbandswagen), the kitchen (Küche), the doctors’ dining room (Ärztespeisezimmer), the nurses’ dining room (Speisezimmer für Schwestern), a doctor’s room (Arztzimmer), and two outside shots, one with the Lloyd factory in the background, one with the Lloyd liner “Bremen”. The name of the original owner, Chief Medical Officer of Auxiliary Hospital Train 23, displayed on the inside of the cover, has been scratched out.

Footnote: Lazarettzüge were used to transport wounded soldiers from the front to safety and back home. They were financed exclusively through donations (in the form of the sale of postcards), especially supported by the Red Cross.

This is an extraordinary set of Third Reich German SS-Police uniform pieces and insignia, consisting of a Police Shako, a SS-Police Officer rank brocade belt with buckle, a shoulder belt, a police pouch, Police Officer collar tabs, and a et of Bezirksoberleutnant rank Police shoulder boards.

1) A 1936 Pattern Gendarmerie Officer’s Shako, constructed of a molded vulkanfiber body with a green field-grey wool covering to the exterior. The body of the Shako has an extruding humped curve on the reverse with a mid-brown lacquered, downward sloping, front and rear vulcanfiber visors and a leather top. Both sides of the Shako feature two circular screened vents near the top to allow for proper ventilation. To the front of the Shako is a silver finish aluminum Third Reich shako plate, illustrating a spread-winged eagle sitting upon an oak leaf cluster wreath centered by a wreathed swastika insignia. Immediately above the shako plate is a cockade, with a red felt center surrounded by rows of silver aluminum bullion and black embroidery, framed by five outer rows of silver bullion, attached to the helmet via a u-shaped prong on the cockade and slid through a slot behind the shako plate. Behind the cockade is a bushel of white horse hair that is attached to a similar u-shaped prong that slides through the same slot as the cockade. The reverse of the cockade is covered in black felt. The patterned silver finished aluminum chin strap has two sets of sixteen scalloped panels on either side, with leather supports on the underside, linked together at the center junction with a hook and eye fixture in the end panels. The side posts on either side of the Shako are capped by large silvered aluminum cockades, with the chin strap attached on the underside onto the cap. The inside is complete with its leather sweatband, perforated along the front edge with five tiny rows of forty ventilation holes each. The dome features two cloth panels that meet in the centre, with a small opening on the top of the Shako, maker marked “Hans Römer, Neu-Ulm (Donau) - Echt Fiber-Tschako”. It measures  246 mm x 170 mm x 180 mm in height.

2) A SS-Police Officer rank brocade belt with buckle. The buckle “Feldbindenschloss” is that of the type introduced on June 25, 1936. It is constructed of polished aluminum, with a pebbled field featuring a raised mobile swastika in the center of the buckle, an open oak wreath on the bottom, and inscribed “Gott mit uns” on the above half. The reverse is is plain, with a standard “Koppleschloss” closure, and is marked “DRGM” and maker marked “RZM 257/40 SS” (the SS took over the operations of the German police in 1938, dating this piece past 1938), possibly for C. T. Dicke. It measures 49 mm in diameter. The SS Police Officer’s brocade dress belt is fabricated with a extremely fine quality aluminum brocade wire, with the outer edges trimmed in two rows of black threading on the upper and lower sides. It incorporates a repeating pattern of SS runes and oak leaves on the obverse, and is lined in bluish-green corduroy (Grünmeliert), with two sliders that have matching uppers and reverses to that of the belt, but without the runes and oak leaves. There is a brown leather tab stitched in place on the underside of the right end of the belt, with ten rows of two vertically punched holes for length adjustment. The left end of the buckle is folded over and stitched in place, housing a matching receiving clip. A SS-RZM paper sticker is placed on the backer of the right end of the belt, with “158” stamped on the tag, along with the number “No.007050”. It measures 1670 mm x 41 mm.

3) The shoulder belt is constructed of extremely fine quality aluminum brocade wire embroidery, with a raised lip on the upper and lower edges of the belt, and with a standard field-grey wool underside. Incorporated into the belt are sliders constructed of silvered aluminum buckle and a matching cap, with a leather underside. Both ends of the shoulder belt are constructed of leather, with a pierced hole for attachment to the brocade belt. It measures approximately 1250 mm x 48 mm.

4) The pouch is fabricated of three layers of leather; the upper with a smooth glossy brown finish, and the underside in a light brown coloured finish. It has a weather flap constructed of leather stitched in place on the front, with a 100 mm x 49 mm die-stamped silvered aluminum police eagle affixed via three aluminum prongs on the underside and held firmly in place via a thin strip of leather tied between and knotted around the prongs. On the underside of the pouch are three studs that for closure of the pouch. On the reverse, is a single leather strap for attachment to the police uniform; measuring 126 mm x 86 mm.

5) A set of Police Officer Collar Tabs of the Gendarmerie (Rural Police); constructed of extremely fine quality manufacture silver aluminum bullion flat and round wire hand embroidery in the form of standard “Doppellitzen” on a bright orange wool backer; buckram core; measuring 69 mm x 37 mm; a matching set.

6) A set of Bezirksoberleutnant rank Police shoulder boards; constructed of two double-laid silver aluminum bullion soutache braids in U-formation with an orange wool underside; with a single gilded zink rank pip placed on the uppers of each tab; with both prongs showing on the reverse on both tabs; measuring 108 mm x 35 mm; a matching set.

This set appears to be in absolutely mint, in unsurpassed condition, without signs of wear besides the set of collar tabs and shoulder boards.