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Pictured from my collection is an optical gunsight for a 3.7 cm anti-aircraft gun (Flak M42) manufactured for the Kriegsmarine. The code for this manufacture is 'dow' (Waffenwerke Brunn A.G. (1943 - Opticotechna Gmbh, Prerau Czech.)). The optic has a wide field of view with a ranging reticle. Even though designed to withstand harsh environments, this optic was made to be removed from the weapon system mounted on an U-boat .

Pictured from my collection is a Kriegsmarine sea mine timer marked dnt M 4598.

All: I just finished reading all the posts, what a great exchange between everyone. A big 'THANK YOU' to to Kenny Andrew, Fritz, Gildwiller1918, Eddieq, Urkund1939, Ycvu, and Phantom for sharing their knowledge with others. The ones asking the questions and the ones providing the answers make the Forum great. Best regards, John R.

Pictured from my collection of Kriegsmarine antiques is bunker light from the Channel Islands. This light was manufactured by 'dzw' Metalwerke v. Galkowsky u. Kielblock, Finow. The fixture is original to the period with only wiring and socket mount being replaced by the prior owner years ago.

Pictured from my collection is dome compass (top) with lower binnacle case, type used aboard a Schnellboot. The Eagle, left of the gothic letter M on the bezel, was denazified with black paint, but not damaged. It is visible, just not in this photograph. The compass and sunshade (bottom) are marked C. PLATH of HAMBURG by the maker.

Pictured from my collection is a stereoscopic range finder manufactured for the Kriegsmarine by Carl Zeiss Jena (blc). This instrument was used to accurately estimate distance to a target calculated through triangulation, based on the length of the range finder. It can be operated with or without battery. The range finder and all its accessories are kept in a grey painted wood storage box, not shown from collection. A range finder like mine is pictured on page 424 and page 425 of 'Deutsche Kriegsmarine Uniforms, Insignias and Equipment of the German Navy 1933-1945' by Eduardo Delgado.

Hi John R., Thank you for your donation of 75.00 GBP. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation. Thanks Treasure Bunker Forum

Just got around to watching Greyhound, it was pretty good depiction of the Atlantic Ocean Battle. Although I understand that most U-boat Commanders were aggressive, in the movie it seemed to me they were very aggressive, to the point of recklessness. Just my opinion, but still an entertaining movie.

awesome collection thankyou for sharing

Here is my new Mannlicher 1890 Rifle or Infanterie Repetiergewehr M88/90. In 1888, the Austro-Hungarians changed the contract on their model 1886 rifles, mainly due to the French introduction of the smokeless powder Mle. 1886 Lebel. This involved moving away from the 11 x 58R cartridge to the 8 x 52R cartridge. The M88 was further upgraded to fire the new smokeless powder M1890 ball cartridge. The rifles that were modified for this were called the M88/90. This is a straight pull bolt rifle, and it is a very simple design with very few parts for disassembly. Some of the changes made to for the conversion to the new smokeless cartridge was adding a more narrow and shallower magazine, as well as a rechambered barrel and sight modifications. The barrel is stamped W-n 91 and marked OEWG. The rifle is about 50 inches long, and weighs 8.9 pounds, with a 5 round capacity magazine. Slightly over a million of these rifles were produced and like many other nations, these were also pulled out of storage for rear echelon units to replace massive losses at the front. This rifle at some point made it to Africa as it has the AOI stamp on the buttstock. This was a RTI gun, and was quite filthy and worn, but I cleaned it thoroughly and got it looking decent once more.

Pictured from my kriegsmarine collection is the emblem of the 1936 Olympics rings (top left) that was worn as an U-Boat tradition cap insignia by several crews, including U-165 and U-995. Also pictured is the insignia for the 9th U-Boat Flotilla 'Laughing Sawfish' (bottom right). Examples of the these tradition badges are on page 64, page 77, and page 83 of 'Torpedo Los! THE FASCINATING WORLD OF U-BOAT COLLECTIBLES' by Gordon Williamson.

Pictured from my kriegsmarine collection is an emblem and a badge used by the Ubootwaffe as tradition cap insignia. The emblem for the National Socialist League of the Reich foe Physical Fitness( left) was worn as an U-Boat cap insignia by the crew of U-274, as was the Edelweiss gap device of the German Army Mountain Troops (right) by the crew of U-124. Examples of the these tradition badges are on page 77, page 81, and page 83 of 'Torpedo Los! THE FASCINATING WORLD OF U-BOAT COLLECTIBLES' by Gordon Williamson. Pictured from my collection is a U-Boat tradition cap insignia 'Swordfish spearing an enemy sip' for the U-441 being worn by its Commander, Klaus Hartmann (white cap). All 51 hands, including Hartmann, died when U-441 was sunk by Allied depth-charges on 30 June 1944.

phantom: Hello. Thank you very much for the compliment. It is a pleasure to share my collection of Kriegsmarine antiques with the Forum. Kindest regards, John R.

Hi Eddie, sorry I missed this post, yes unfortunately there was no "BM" RZM prefix, they are only found on fakes.

Thank you John, and we continue to look forward to your items as well.

Soak for a few hours in a bath of lemon juice (citric acid) and water or a solution of oxalic acid. Remove and rinse thoroughly when sufficiently clean, dry thoroughly. Rub with a suitable oil to preserve

Gildwiller1918: Hello. Fantastic acquisition, a great addition. Thank you for sharing your new antique Mannlicher 1890 Rifle with the Forum. Thank you for continuing to be a steward of history. Best regards, John R.

looks like post war Souval

The swastika's edges look dull which is not a good sign.

Picture is a two-piece officer''s visor cover for junior grade from my collection of Kriegsmarine antiques. The cap has a hand-embroidered gilt wire national emblem and, cockade, as well as gold wire piping. This cap belonged to Werner Wendt (1916-1988), Captain of U-765. The U-765 was sunk in the North Atlantic on 6 May 1944 by depth charges on its first war parol. Werner and 10 crewmen survived, 37 dead. Pictured below is the underside view of the visor cap. Pictured below is the two-piece visor cover disassembled. In this configuration, a white or blue cap-covers could be worn. Because I do not like to take this cover apart, I used a photo taken years ago.

Here is the Mosin Nagant M1895 Revolver. This gun is a 7-shot and fires a 7.62 x 38mmR cartridge. It was designed by Léon Nagant and production started in Belgium, in 1898, Russia bought the rights to produce and started making on average 20,000 a year. The gun utilizes a gas seal, which seats the cylinder against the barrel, preventing loss of gas pressure. The cartridge is also unique looking with the bullet completely recessed inside the casing. The loading and reloading on this gun was not fast or easy compared to other revolvers in use elsewhere at the time. These pistols were made in large numbers, with at least 2 million produced seeing service through WW2 until being replaced in 1952. This particular firearm was made in 1909 at the Tula factory, however after the revolution, czarist era stampings were marked out or removed, as in this case the markings have been stamped over. Typically, from what I have seen, more soviet era pistols are available than Czarist ones on the market today.

I remember many years ago, these were on offer deactivated to collectors, now no longer permitted. They were quite cheap in those days.

Thanks John, much appreciated

very poor copy

Progress is being made in the restoration of the Heinkel at Hawkinge - https://www.kbobm.org/heinkel_project.html

Copy

here are backs. What about the badge. Its heavy, could be bronze but seems darker than originals i looked at?

they are pretty rusty.

Awarded to all troops trapped in the Festung Dünkirchen, which surrendered on 9. Mai 1945 A copy being offered for 19,95 Euros https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dünkirchenschild A said original

Hi Kenny Are all badges marked with a BM known fakes- I’ve got a couple of German youth badges marked the same. E

Thanks everyone! And thank you for the reference links! I don't have any postcards with german machine guns, but I have quite a few postcards written by belgian frontline soldiers. There are definitely a few interesting ones among those. I checked the headstamps of the cartridges again and they're all 1918 dated. I thought they were 1916 and 1917, but apparently I remembered that wrong.

Sorry if it's not clear.

Everything supposedly fake but old fakes maby .EK2 non magnetic one piece, is this cross fake and what gives it away?

Shortened but looks original

A few years ago, I sold most of my ww2 stuff to focus my collection more towards ww1 militaria. This is one of a few items I kept: a german silver grade panzerkampfabzeichen. It's a hollow back version, made from zinc. I still think it's quite an impressive medal.

Any tips on how to mount a chinstrap on a m16?Got one and it's pretty hard to get the repro strap on it.

Here are some reference links over 13 pages of photos, to some interesting pictures on another forum (milsurps sticky) that members many may enjoy viewing. I wish mg1918 would join here. I also would love to see more of your specimens. Any post cards with Mg08s? Are those cartridges from WW I, please, how about a photo of the cartridges' headstamp . MG08 https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=42631 MG08/15 https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=42632 On this forum see this amazing post:

Hello everyone, I found this helmet but i have not any ideo for this. The store I bought it from has some with the Turkish flag on it. Turkey was one of the support units in the Korean wars and America and England provided military equipment support (available in M1 helmets). Could this be from the British or Americans at that time? I want to find the estimated year and country of production of the helmet. Please help me more id?

Welcome Thoran98, Looks like a British MKII shell the liner is not British, there seems to be a stamp mark on the chinstrap lugs but I can't make it out. The Belgians used surplus British shells post war until they started to make their own helmets. Hope this helps.

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ehrenfried-tschoeltsch-a-bf87a92e-0002-0001-0000-000043064995 About the author Ehrenfried Tschoeltsch, 60, Generalmajor außer Diensten in Darmstadt, früher Kommandeur der Luftwaffen-Unteroffizierschulen und Bearbeiter der Rekruten-Fibel »Der Dienstunterricht in der Luftwaffe«, fahndete bis vor kurzem während seiner Spaziergänge nach Übertretern der Verkehrsvorschriften, die er der Polizei anzeigte. Inzwischen hat der General seine Tätigkeit als selbstbestallter Helfer der Polizei eingestellt, nachdem er ihr zehn Verkehrsteilnehmer - »wegen völliger Nichtbeachtung aller Verkehrsregeln« - gemeldet hatte. Der Spiegel 52/1956 Ehrenfried Tschoeltsch, 60, Generalmajor a.D. in Darmstadt, former commander of the Lufwaffen-Unteroffiziersschulen and author of the recruits handbook "Der Dienstunterricht in der Luftwaffe", during his regular walks, kept watch on traffic offenders, which he reported to the police. In the meantime, the self-appointed assistant of the police, since having reported 10 traffic participants "for complete disregard of traffic rules". What a comedown for a former general! Luckily, he was not living in the DDR, where observing and reporting your fellow citizens was a sort of national sport (Stasi-Spitzel & Helfer der Volkspolizei) A photo from the Reichswehr period

Pictured from my collection is on more 7x50 power binoculars, but manufactured by Ernest Leitz (beh). The Binoculars have original leather neck strap, as well as rubber armor. Binoculars like this one is pictured on page 423 and 424 in Deutsche Kriegsmarine Uniforms, Insignias and Equipment of thw German Navy 1933-1945 by Eduardo Delgado.

John, you have an amazing collection, really have enjoyed you sharing your items with us.

Another good copy on the Market: RAD Weibliche Jugend, Brosche, somewhat heavier than the original, which were usually aluminium, the pin is the first giveaway, much too small and wrong style of pin. It was not expressively declared as a copy, but the price of 19 euro is just too little. Normal price is 70 euro

Just observed, Kubanschild for 735,- Euro, now with 10% reduction till 23. December = 661,50

Honestly, I kinda like the characteristics on it, just couldn't conclude how was there a perfect hole on the A and the O haha.

Dear Gentlemen, Thank You for advising, Here is my first acquisition for the NSDAP Party Pin m1/164 RZM Marker, (Buttonhole), Check out the photos . I have put it through under the loupe so you guys can have a better look, for example, in the A & O alphabet you may find holes in it, not sure why is there a hole . Enjoy!!

With that being said, the piece is legit?

Do you have images of the pins you are looking at? Maybe we can help.

Should perhaps have said several of the French magazines (and specials) are available from the big Military booksellers who have websites. The magazines themselves can be purchased directly from the publishers on the web. Postage can be pricy though, especially for one magazine. Dave