wwii axis reenactment forum

Evening All,

a question if I may be so bold, having been researching but can't seem to find a definite answer, I will be portraying a mid to late war FG (43-45) during this period would the FG still be wearing sleeve eagle and cuff title or would they have been removed? Any info that can assist would be greatly accepted.

Ged

From research I would say no.

I know they carried an FG Soldbuch and wore FG dogtag, but they also carried a WH equivalents as well as in some cases bog standard infantry shoulder straps. The logic behind all this was that if the Bolsheviks caught up with them they could quickly ditch everything and become a bog standard Landser who would get less of a roughing up than the hated FG who could probably count on a getting a cap popped in their ass.

Arm eagle and cuff title is all extra stuff to remove in a hurry

Neil

gedj2 wrote:Evening All,

a question if I may be so bold, having been researching but can't seem to find a definite answer, I will be portraying a mid to late war FG (43-45) during this period would the FG still be wearing sleeve eagle and cuff title or would they have been removed? Any info that can assist would be greatly accepted.

Ged

HM44, Nr158 of 10 March 1944 required the removal of the sleeve eagle for Heer FG. There are plenty of photos from the Eastern Front and Balkans showing them removed prior to this date as well as still being worn afterwards!

I did a few veteran interviews of Feldgendarmen a few years ago and the cuff titles were either loosely applied or held on with pin (presumably safety pins) so they could be removed in a hurry.

They were also issued a 'tarnsoldbuch' which was a false identity making no reference to the FG and this had a cover with their FG credentials on it. The cover could be discarded if required.