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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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Thanks John, much appreciated

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

very poor copy

looks like post war Souval

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

Update Alexander Married Elizabeth Campbell Baird born 1885 in Govan Glasgow, they were married on the 26 April 1912 and lived at 16 Cogan Street Pollockshaws. They had 4 children Mary Campbell Beveridge born 9th April 1912. George Beveridge born 4th April 1913. Alexander Beveridge born 11th April 1914. John Beveridge born 29th July 1917. This is how they are listed on his Pension Records. Alexander is remembered on The IWM .ORG.UK Lifestory by 2 people. Also on the Hollybrook Memorial Southampton. I also found him on the Roll of Honour of the Citizens of Glasgow, were he is listed twice, first at his Parents address of 24 Bengal Street Pollockshaws were he lived before he got married. and at 16 Cogan Street Pollockshaws were he lived after he got married giving the appearance that they are two different people when in fact they are the same person.

Here is my new acquired WW1 Italian Benaglia Rifle Grenade. It is in overall very good condition with small areas of pitting on the main body. This was a rodded rifle grenade used with the M91 Carcano rifle. This is the 2nd model with only one filling hole and stabilizing fins. The range of this was about 130 meters (427 ft) and could be used in both the regular length and carbine Carcano's.

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.

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.

Here is a WW1 Era Italian Vetterli Rifle or Italian Fucile 1870/87/15. Many Nations during WW1 pulled obsolete weapons from storage for use to free up more modern weapons to cover the substantial losses at the front, Italy was no exception. The Italians decided to streamline their logistics by converting the Vetterli 10.4mm rifles to the same ammunition that the Carcano used. The modifications were not too complex and by using these newly modified rifles for rear units, guards, etc. the Italians freed up a lot of the more modern M91 Carcano rifles. This is a very large gun, at 53 inches and weighing just over 10 pounds. It had an internal magazine in which 6 rounds could be stored and used the Carcano 6.5 x 52mm cartridge. During WW1, around 1.3 million of the M1870/87 models were in storage, with many of these being given to the Russians, who were in desperate need of any weapons available. 400,000 remaining rifles were converted to fire the 6.5 mm Carcano cartridge such as this example. Like many other European nations that had colonies, these weapons made their way after WW1 into the hands of native & colonial soldiers to help police their respective empires and were seen in many conflicts including WW2. Barrel is stamped Torino, and dated 1889. It also has an accuracy stamp and a Savoy Crest on the right side of the barrel. The Bayonet is an arsenal shortened version of the M1870 Bayonet; it is stamped TA for Torre Annunziata. Non-Import Marked as well.

This one looks OK

I think I would leave that one.

Hello, does anyone have an opinion on the authenticity of this Iron Cross? It's a 1st class Rudolf Souval.

Thoughts on this please gentlemen

Thanks! I'll try.

Thanks Xcvu! Yes, I tested the core and everything and it seems to pass the tests. The core is magnetic, the frame is not, and it does seem to be a multi-piece construction. Not sure how to judge the sharpness of the swastika since it's got some wear to it, and the colour between the chipped swastika and the frame look similar given the tarnishing, but it's difficult to tell. It's tough, I've done lots of research online about these crosses over the years, but I haven't had the chance to handle many that I know are real, so I'm definitely still finding my feet in terms of recognizing all the details and knowing what to look for. It's great to get the input from those who have much more experience with these things.

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:

Very impressive items, thank you for posting. Looking forward to seeing more of your items

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?

1. M1/70 HJ Honour Award is a copy unfortunately. 2. Can't make out the maker, is it maker stamped? 3. Can't make out maker ? 4. Looks OK 5. Looks OK 6. I don't like this one either

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 a masterfully painted oil on board portrait of a Kriegsmarine officer, Leutnant zur See with career designation being Coastal Artillery. Without frame, the art measure 29 inches (73.66 cm) wide x 39 inches (99.06 cm) tall. The art is signed R.G. and dated 1941.

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.

Pictured from my collection of Kriegsmarine antiques is a 7x50 power binoculars manufactured by Ernest Leitz (beh). Binoculars have original protective lens cover, as well as a ranging reticle in right ocular. Binoculars like these are pictured on page 232 in Volume 3 of Die Kriegsmarine Uniforms & Traditions by John R. Angolia and Adolf Schlicht.

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

So... the mystery item remains a mystery for a bit longer... actually, I love the suspense! Thanks so much for your TIME and Expertise.

Yes I was talking to Mikey a few weeks ago , although I think I might know what it is, just need to check my books when I go back into work on Tuesday.

Hi all, Just back from our house in France which is our home now, we just work in Scotland. France publishes many good military history magazines but there are few in Britain. I am interested in WW2 and can always get interesting material in 2GM (WW2), Gazettes des Uniformes, 1939/45, Batailles and of course Militaria. Armour is catered for with Batailles et Blindes and TNT (Trucks and Tracks). Military Modelling is catered for by two or three mags. eg Steel Masters. WW1 and the middle ages have heir own publications. There are also specials that come out 2 or 3 times a year for most titles. Why can't we have the quality of these in UK? Dave

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