Edelweiss pin sewed to Kriegsmarine Officers Cap (1 Viewer)

[Gideon]

I saw an interesting thing today. I was in an antique shop and saw a kriegsmarine officers cap - all blue with black visor and band, in tact completely and it had an edelweiss flower tin/badge sewn to the left side of the cap.

Anybody know why that would be done?

 

[OzDigger]

U-124 had an Edelweiss emblem on its conning tower, maybe something to do with that.

 

[Mascleo]

I saw an interesting thing today. I was in an antique shop and saw a kriegsmarine officers cap - all blue with black visor and band, in tact completely and it had an edelweiss flower tin/badge sewn to the left side of the cap.

Anybody know why that would be done?

Gideon,

Yes, Ozdigger you are correct. Here is the story:

That is probably from a sailor who won a Narvik Shield for a battle that took place in Narvik Norway. The Kriegsmarine Narvik shield consisted of an edelweiss (army mountain troops), propeller (luftwaffe/Fallschirmjäger), and anchor (kriegsmarine). The battle was interesting for the fact that all three branches fought as infranty. A group of submariners (from U-64 which was sunk) fought for the Kriegsmarine and Fallschirmjäger for the luftwaffe. It was a very pretistigous award in the Kriegsmarine becuase the battle was hard fought and submariners rarely had the chance to fight as infantry.


U-64 was the first U-boat to be sunk by aircraft. Most of the crew survived and made it ashore in Norway. Since the situtation was critical for the German army, the kriegsmarine sailors were put into combat with the Heer infantry. The infantry they fought with were Mountain troops who used the edelweiss as their emblem. Aftwerwards, many of the sailors adopted the edelweiss as their own.

After winning the Narvik Shield for fighting in the battle, the Captain of U-64, Georg-Wilhelm Schultz, put the Edelweiss emblem on his next U-boat, U-124. He also took many of his former sailors from U-64.

The hat must be rare becuase U-124 sank with the entire crew in 1943.



Narvik award

http://www.feldgrau.com/narviksh.jpg

History of U-124

http://uboat.net/boats/u124.htm

 

[Gideon]

Wow. Fascinating story - thank you for the information. Now I am wondering if I should buy it - even on speculation that this was worn by one from that crew.

Would there have been any other instances where this would be done? Seems pretty rare over all.

 

[Mascleo]

Wow. Fascinating story - thank you for the information. Now I am wondering if I should buy it - even on speculation that this was worn by one from that crew.

Would there have been any other instances where this would be done? Seems pretty rare over all.

Here is an article that might help. It states that many kriegsmarines attached a metal insignia of their U-boat's insignia to their caps and uniform jackets. So, if this insignia is genuine, the cap is from U-124. I am not aware of any other references to putting symbols on german navy caps.

Ken

http://uboatcolours.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/page7.html

 

[Capitolron]

Ken

Great information - I really learned a few things from this discussion. Very Cool !

Ron

 

[Gideon]

Here is an article that might help. It states that many kriegsmarines attached a metal insignia of their U-boat's insignia to their caps and uniform jackets. So, if this insignia is genuine, the cap is from U-124. I am not aware of any other references to putting symbols on german navy caps.

Ken

http://uboatcolours.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/page7.html

Thanks again! THe cap is very interesting as it appears to be an officers cap - it has a stitched German eagle and swastika logo, the bullion underneath, black band which the edelweiss badge is sewn on to and it has a brown leather strap just above the visor.

If U-124 sunk losing all hands, then how would this cap have wound up surviving? The guy in the antique shop told me that he bought from someone who went to Berlin - bought it there.

I am really thinking about buying this thing - he wants a few hundred for it. With that potential history, it might be worth it.

 

[maddadicus]

Thanks again! THe cap is very interesting as it appears to be an officers cap - it has a stitched German eagle and swastika logo, the bullion underneath, black band which the edelweiss badge is sewn on to and it has a brown leather strap just above the visor.

If U-124 sunk losing all hands, then how would this cap have wound up surviving? The guy in the antique shop told me that he bought from someone who went to Berlin - bought it there.

I am really thinking about buying this thing - he wants $375 for it. With that potential history, it might be worth it.

Could it have belonged to an officer that was transferred out, after the gound action, but before the sinking? Might be worth checking out the roster ( if possible ) of that time frame..Michael

 

[theBaron]

I'd be skeptical of its provenance. There is a ton of replica Third Reich material out there, some of identified as such, some of it not. The odds that a cap belonging to an officer from the U-124 survived its owner are very long.

There are illustrations of U-Boot crew wearing their unit badges, which were unofficial, by the way, in Squadron's "U-Boats-In Action" book. If you have access to a copy, it's worth taking a look.

The Wehrmacht also allowed similar badges to be worn on caps, some of which were sanctioned, because the given units had inherited the tradition of old Imperial regiments (like the Totenkopf of the Leib-Husaren, the Totenkopf of the old Brunswick Infantry Regiment, and the Schwedt dragoon eagle), and others were unofficial division mascot badges, like the greyhound badge of the 115th Panzer division ("Windhunde"-Greyhounds)

Prost!
Brad

 

[Gideon]

Thanks for the info. When I got the cap home and was able to really examine it carefully, posted photos too and researched the hek out of it, I discovered that it was fake.

Fortunately, the dealer stuck by his word and provided a full refund. He brought out other items for me to look at which he bought from the same person. I actually identiified all he brought out as fake and told him anything from that person is highly suspicious.