Marusin Kar98 and Waffen SS Unforms/Gear
 

Mein Herr,

Note the two types of tunic...one being the M40 and the other Being the HBT Reed Green Summer Tunic....



Questions/Comments?

Nice kit. Very well done!

Excellent. You've done your homework an' wear the uniform like a true soldat should. A few more weeks an' those seams should just disappear an' you won't have that Fresh from the depot look. :D

What do the different patches and medals stand for? Awards, units etc?

Awesome, just awesome. Where did you get the helmet? is it a repo or original?

Very nice work Komrade. The uni is very nice and you did a good job on the gear.

Two small notes for you, look at the camera and try to have some sort of expression on your mug when you get the picture taken.

The second one is that an SS soldier or officer would almost undoubtedly never use the expression "Mein Herr". The SS were a political force representing the culmination of the national socialist revolution. The expression "mein Herr" smacks of the old army traditions and the use of this term was generally regarded as indicating the individual had not fully embraced the revolution. Very bad form.

Keep up the great work, and pity you are not in ON.

LD

In reply to the medals and badges etc...on the M40 uniform is the Ribbon for Iron Cross 2nd class and Eastern (Russian) campaign ribbon worn through the 2nd button hole of the tunic. Above the left chest pocket is the Close combat bar in Silver, below that is the Iron Cross 1st Class, to the left of that is the Infantry Assault Badge in silver and to the right is the Wound Badge in black.

Iron Cross 2nd Class - official criteria for the badge was a single act of bravery in the face of the enemy or actions that were deamed definately above and beyond the call of duty

Iron Cross 1st Class - in order to recieve the 1st class, heer or SS men would have to perform 3 or 4 further acts of courage from the one that earned them the 2nd class.

Close combat bar in Silver - badge was awarded based on 30 days in close combat.

Infantry Assault Badge - awarded for combat with the following criteria being met:
- to have taken part in 3 or more infantry assaults
- to have taken part in 3 or more infantry counter-attacks
- to have taken part in 3 or more armed reconnaissance operations
- to have engaged in hand to hand combat in an assault position
- to have participated on 3 separte days in the restitution of combat positions

Wound badge in Black - for one or two times wounded by hostile action or air raid, or frost-bite in the line of duty

The Helmet is a refurbished M1935 original shell.

In response to lawdog who wrote:

"The second one is that an SS soldier or officer would almost undoubtedly never use the expression "Mein Herr". The SS were a political force representing the culmination of the national socialist revolution. The expression "mein Herr" smacks of the old army traditions and the use of this term was generally regarded as indicating the individual had not fully embraced the revolution. Very bad form."

I would have to respond:

The Waffen SS were not a political force as you may think. The Waffen-SS were the armed units of the Schutzstaffel, better known as the SS. The SS were the protective guards of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) - or the "Nazis." The military branch of the SS at this time was first known as the Bewaffnete SS, and later Waffen-SS. Many soldiers in the Waffen-SS distinguished themselves in combat, and in a small number of cases, became notorious for their atrocities.

My hope is that the stories of how those medals were won aren't lost to time.

Very Nice impression Oberst!
Looks like you got a nice, pricey Zeltbahn.
Blurred Edge?

Do you speak German by any chance?
I would need some help for filling out a SoldBuch...

Very nice kit. Well put together.

Comment on the SoldBuch

http://www.dererstezug.com/LandserItems.htm <--Soldbuch Anatomy Part 1-3. There are some other good sites out there to familiarize yourself with them as well.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand

THANKS!

I appreicate the precis on the origins and purpose of the Waffen SS. :p

However having two family members who served with the Waffen SS and having written my undergraduate thesis on the Waffen SS I can assure you that is was considered very bad form to use the expression Mein Herr in the Waffen SS. In fact I saw it mentioned the other day in a reference text I was consulting on putting together my own SS impression, and if I see it again I will be pleased to post it here.

While many people try to play down the "political" nature of the SS, political and other ideologies were an essential part of SS training. One of the reasons the SS were so effective in combat (and suffered very high casualties) was their fanaticism and belief that they were superior to their opponents. That fanaticism did not simply come from having the coolest collar tabs. :)

Arising out of Memel's comments, I am curious as to whether or not they are originals or repros?

LD

WOW.

Very convincing. Nice job :)

I speak a bit of it. Maybe I could help.

Lawdog,

It would be of great pleasure to me to be able to debate the origins of the Waffen SS with you as you seem to be very knowledgable in this area as well. Myself, having one member of my family serving in the Waffen SS, one in the Artillerie, one serving for a brief time on the Bismark, as well as two Grandfathers serving in the Heer, I have done very considerable research into the origins of the SS as well as other "organizations" during this era. I have been facinated with the Wehrmacht since childhood as well as the political organizations during the Nazi era. Having said this, you and I being of the same generation as well as age, can appreciate the trials, tribulations and sacrafices of all men serving in all branches of the German military during this era. Again I would love the opportunity to debate this with you however this is perhaps not quite the right forum. I do appreciate your comments however.

As for the originality of my kit, the following items are real named originals:

Entrenching tool
Bayonet
Gasmask and Canister
Canteen
Ammunition in pouches(deactivated ammo from Kar98 dated 1938)
Iron Cross
Wound badge
Refinished Helmet

The remainder of the kit is high quality reproductions.

I do have original medals from my Grandfather that he was awarded during the war as well however those I would not display on this uniform.

As for speaking German, yes I do, not quite as well as when I was a child as I was fluent, being brought up in a "traditional" German household. I do understand German completely and can write albeit not so well.

Great job.

Awesome kit, beautifully put together and looks damn sharp. I just have to say though valiant fighters doing there duty. The SS and Nazi's were horrible people, being a decendent of a Auschwitz-Birkenau (Auschwitz-Birkenau became the killing centre where the largest numbers of European Jews were killed. After an experimental gassing there in September 1941 of 850 malnourished and ill prisoners, mass murder became a daily routine. By mid 1942, mass gassing of Jews using Zyklon-B began at Auschwitz, where extermination was conducted on an industrial scale with some estimates running as high as three million persons eventually killed through gassing, starvation, disease, shooting, and burning.) worker I know the horrors of what was done, even before The Death Camps.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure, in the late 1930's the Nazis killed thousands of handicapped Germans by lethal injection and poisonous gas. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, mobile killing units following in the wake of the German Army began shooting massive numbers of Jews and Gypsies in open fields and ravines on the outskirts of conquered cities and towns. Eventually the Nazis created a more secluded and organized method of killing. Seven extermination centers, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Dachau(Dachau was the first concentration camp established and was opened on March 22, 1933. The camp's first inmates were primarily political prisoners(Communists or Social Democrats), habitual criminals, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and anti-socials (beggars, vagrants, hawkers). Others considered problematic by the Nazis were also included (Jewish writers and journalists, lawyers, unpopular industrialists, and political.) and Tremblinka; were established in occupied Poland where large-scale murder by gas and body disposal through cremation were conducted systematically. Victims were deported to these centers from Western Europe and from the ghettos in Eastern Europe which the Nazis had established. In addition, millions died in the ghettos and concentration camps as a result of forced labor, starvation, exposure, brutality, disease, and execution.

Nazi's destroyed my peoples culture, they destroyed our people, they hummiliated and de-humanized us blaming all there problems on us. They burned our children, gased our wives and daughters, killed our sick, took our money, took our homes and possesions. They exterminated us, and for that I will never forgive the German people who stood by idly as the Facist's took over our Fatherland and soiled the great name of the German people.

My point being, what was said about the actions of a few was a dramatic understatement. Six million Jews can't possibly have been killed by a few Nazi's, As for children destroyed by this "Select Few", Most estimates range as high as 1.5 million murdered children. This figure includes more than 1.2 million Jewish children, tens of thousands of Gypsy children and thousands of institutionalized handicapped children who were murdered under Nazi rule in Germany and occupied Europe. My grandfather has told me that all the German people of that time were like that. It wasn't only the Nazi's.

Now that thats out of my system... Doubly awesome loadout, it that Kar98 all plastic? or did you modify that to?

That marushin K98 is stock which means it is a mix of real wood, metal and plastic. The plastic parts being the bayonet lug retaining spring, reciever, and trigger guard.

Perhaps there is a better place for your hate propaganda. General condemnations of the German people are about as valid and useful as general condemnations of any other religious/ethnic group. IF you planning to "never forgive" and carry those personal burdens into your conversations, this is really not the place for it.

Russ

It's the creases he'll want to disappear. If the seams disappear, the clothes will fall apart. :p

Exceptionally nice kit! I'm not into the play acting kind of airsoft, but I truly admire your dedication to get your gear and the accuracy of your details.

Cool... I may be wrong in hating the Germans of that Era, but I don't see how people could have stood idly by while a whole race of people were almost whiped off the face of the Earth. Never-the-less the Nazi's and what they did where horrible. What I said about the German people who stood by and watched could never be compared to the atrocities of the German's. My statements weren't hate, the Nazi's were hate.

Thats hating hate while condoning it yourself. that doesn't make any sense. That would be like killing all the Germans for something that happened when 90% of them weren't even alive. Hitler despite being a horrible person was a very smart person. He got Germany out of the economic slump. He was considered a hero. Its no wonder people followed him. Its like in the states people think bush is the end all be all. Shit happens and humans are fucked but whats done is done. My great grandfather died because of that war but I dont hold a grudge. Fear can do interesting things. If you were told to follow or you would be tortured then gassed you would likely follow.

I think I have a pretty good idea of hate speech when I see it.

I'm a free speech kind of guy, but I don't think this was the right place for your rant. Personally I find you rant offensive, and I'm not even of German descent. You got some ill-informed political axe to grind, you might want to consider grinding it elsewhere.

You comment about "our fatherland" particularly has me scratching me head.

Perhaps most importantly, since you are here to post I guess that your claim that a whole race of people was wiped off the face of the earth is factually inaccurate.

Russ

nice kit does the tunic get warm?

Yeah, lol. I did mean that. I didn't feel like editing it since, well the general idea is easy to figure out :D

Confucious Bean.. lol.... Our Fatherland meaning, since I'm of German decent my homeland would be Germany, The Fatherland, well thats according to my Grandfather. I do respect your thoughts and opinions but stand by my own, I am not i'll informed I know not all the German's were like the Nazi's, as a matter of fact I do believe there were attempted resistances to the powerhouse Whermacht. I probably shouldn't have included all the German people of the era under the defination of Nazi, but I think my points were clear none-the-less. In case they weren't hers a re-cap.

Any soldier(Including those of Germany in World War 2 who, I feel, were just following orders (including killing innocent Jew, Gypsys, Communists, Social Democrats, Gays, Coloreds, poor, homeless)= I respect and honour for putting there lives on the line for a country and its leader, Nazi Party(Thats not including the army, I was driving at the people who gave the orders up high.) =Bad, This one's wrong but i didn't think it through at the time lol Jew's killed by a few Nazi's= Understatement but now I just realized it wasn't because it was only a select few in the government that issued the orders to exterminate all those people, Most of the German people of that era (Including the Army)= partially at fault for standing by idly. Most of these are no brainers however, I just used them in the argument. I think I was correct with a couple of my points lol though the main one was wrong.

Please for the good of all of us: Take a History Class!

I took 5.....

Then take better ones. You have a funny opinion of "at fault", but the bottom line point is, you should probably not have used this thread as a place to vent your personal problems relating to WWII. Blaming people who stood by, and likely were not aware of what was going on, is pretty close to blaming the victims themselves.

The purpose of the study of history is to learn from it, not to feed your ethnic grudge to allow the hate to slide down into generations who were not even there.

Russ

I guess only the Jewish people of the era would absolutly understand why I was raised the way I was.

Err..you'll still ranting...

Geez you make it sound like they were the only ones suffering.

I could rent hours about the Russians in Hungary.

Guess what! I don't hate Russians, I got good Russians friends.


And I think Russian chicks are hot :D.

Its also very inconsiderate to start shitting in other peoples constructive thread.

I agree with what Mr. P-trap says about the threads, but the uniform is awesome. Good job.

Cyrax, it's time for your 'aliya'!!

Everything starting from post #17 should be shovelled into the trashinator.

Meh............ *****! :D

The irony.
Palastinian plight
Granted it's a one sided tale but it's a side we don't hear about in the mainstream media. We hear about stupid fanatics who run a checkpoint with bombs.

As I said this vid is one sided, but I've see a lot of evidence on this issue, it's a mess over there.

I've got two words for both sides.

DROP IT.

Ok, I think we need a thread clean to get this back on topic. If you guys want to argue, might I suggest openin' a thread in a more appropriate settin'

Hey, not trying to steal the thread but some of you may be interested. I have a large collection of WW1 WW2 militaria including some German. I have a few real demajnsk campaign shields as well as some-other Hitler era stuff. I'm not looking to give this stuff away. so please if you don't know what the stuffs market value is please don't ask for pictures. I have around one-hundred pis of the collection and they are high res. So if you are serious and want some pics tel me what your interested in German/British/Canadian. And if you have the newest MSN i can open a sharing folder. Once again sorry for the thread high-jack.

Fantastic uniform. Good job i soon will start my impression.

If you don't like it leave! No one asked you to come here and post your thoughts its totally out of context. The thread is about an individual showing off his impression, that is very well done.

Take this topic to some political debate website that people like to talk about for thousands of years.

As T.Smith says drop it.

That is a great outfit, I'm definatly jealous. Nice work, I'm sure it must have taken alot of time, money and effort to get everything.

The original photo is an inspiration to anyone creating a WWII German impression, too bad he's on the left coast.

And yes, Russian chicks are hot.

LD

Looks good, now needs to be placed in game so that you can scuff it up make it look better as if it was in battle. But I really like the kit.

To all those that appreciate a nice kit I say thank you. For those that would like to debate or spread hate mongering, I myself will not get drawn into such conversations or debates. I do not judge history nor do I wish to. This forum is strictly for the purpose of showing an impressive collection/impression. I believe the german uniform and kit of the WWII era to be the most strikingly impressive of all nations. For this reason, I chose to collect and set up this impression. I do not participate in the game of airsoft, although I would be interested in doing so. I am a historian of the German Wehrmacht, my fascination lies particularly with the Heer and SS. I have considerable knowledge of the uniforms and equipment and enjoy discussing this with others whom have similar interests. Let us enjoy collecting and not be involved in the political aspects of the era. Again thanks to all those that truely enjoy viewing my impression.

Oberst39. I have to say well done on the kit as well as impression. T.Smith is more knowedgeable than I. But from the photos. Nicely done.

Whatev peeps whatev....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...4/retarded.jpg

thats all i have to say about that, I think i'll just leave this one for the field. You guys got this. Sweet I'm verified now.

.......Yeah.
Being an unbiased observer and having read the entire thread I'd just like to point out that it's you who have been arguing, not the other 'camp' so to speak.
I probably shouldn't have butted in, but I thought that was worth your attention.


Getting back to the thread at hand, forgive my ignorance but where does one usually find such nice bits of WWI/II gear?
Swap meets? Chance meetings? Or are Surplus stores really just that much better elsewhere in Canada?

For two weeks last summer I had the privilege of joining a mass re-enactment of some of WWI's most terrifying battles for a CBC project.

I had a chance to meet the few German re-enactors and I was greatly impressed by their knowledge of history, their enthusiasm, their good nature and of course, the gear!

I would love to put together a late WWI kit over the next few years as well as a few allied kits, so a nudge in the right direction would be excellent (or maybe bad, considering the cost. We'll see :) )

internet

....................http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...1221500546.gif........................................ I know....

The reproductions listed in my original post were purchased from various sellers on the net. I only try to purchase the most high quality reproductions I can find and usually undertake considerable research on the production and assembly of these reproductions as I want to recreate my kit as close to possible to the original. The original pieces in my kit, I puchased either through ebay, surplus stores, swap meets etc. It has taken me approximately 2 years to put the kit together as you see it in the pics. For those of you putting together kit, I would suggest that you stay away from the cheap Chinese imiatations, the only exception being Keith at www.ww2militaria-kcs.com. His reproductions are of superior construction and as close to detail as you can get. The most notible sites in my opinion is "Lost Battalions" and "Military Tour". Again these are my opinions only. Again thanks to all those that appreciate a good impression.

Nice loadout, but imho it still looks too new, like (don't get me wrong) a showcase soldier.

my grandfather has an iron cross second class. i also have in my family a german combat knife with the swastika still on it, a fully functioning luger and a german helmet.

Hang on to those items! Trust me.

Years from now you will be thankful



**Nice sig, good song

Now, I know that i just kinda revived a dead thread, but i was curious if, when you aren't playing Waffen SS, if you turn yourself into a kind of resistance fighter thing, as in the french, polish, german resistance? It should in theory not be to difficult to do since you have the guns for it.

Totally agree! I wish people who praise 'everything nazis' could be put in place of those civilians who suffered from them.

My grand father, father and uncle served in WW1 and WW2 in the Canadian army. Someone elses family shot at them and were as courageous as they were. At most I honor the hardship and courage of the individual persons who had to endure very hard times. Now back to playing war:)

The aim of creating a WW2 kit (or any kit) is not a political one, we are like actors with no political association. I have a WW2 101st airborne kit and a Fallschirmjager kit, am I good then bad, no just having a good time on the field:)

Very nice kit! My only suggestion is to lower the helmet on your head. You should not have more then the width of a finger between your eyebrows and your helmet band. Just untie the center cap and retie a little bit looser and the helmet will come down and do a better job of protecting you. It will also give you a more martial look:)


http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6237/ww2sswithtank.jpg

Regarding the "Herr" thing. There was precisely nothing preventing an SS soldier from using "Herr ____" in private life. However, the SS as a consciously classless organization rejected referring to other SS soldiers while on duty by "Herr" followed by their rank, as practiced in the other services. It was considered a regressive remnant of the Prussian aristocracy. This was part of their mission to eliminate class distinctions and divisions between officers and men. So, you would not address your officer as "Herr Untersturmführer", just "Untersturmführer". The SS aggressively corrected members of other branches who mistakenly "Herr"ed them, as confirmed in many memoirs and first-person accounts. Hope that clarifies things.

And, in case anyone feels like dredging up the "other" part of this thread...yes, we know Fascism is bad. We are reenactors keeping alive the memory of an important period in history, without active or implied ideological support for the regimes of the period, nor apologies for their excesses. All serious reenacting organizations have an inflexible zero tolerance rule for extremist or hateful acts or beliefs from their members and prospective members. Our interest is in uniforms and history, not nutbar politics or revisionism. So, no need to get excitable.

Speak for yourself, without 'revisionism' there is stagnation in the historical record.

Take for example the French expedition to climb Annapurna in 1950. The leader, Maurice Herzog, made the other climbers sign a document that forbade them to write about the expedition for five years. So, for a period of time there was one version of the story for public consumption. When the others finally wrote their books, the extra details and different perspectives altered the 'official' story so as to make it almost unrecognizable. Would any sane person label the other climbers by a moniker to discredit them......no, why would they? So, why do it in this context?

As a famous person once said (can't remember who), ''History is just an agree upon set of lies''. If a writer or historian wants to swim against the current of 'conventional truth' why is it attacked. Go to any decent used book shop and buy a dozen books on the Kennedy assassination. You'll get twelve different 'revisions' of the official Warren Commission conclusions. Should those authors be labelled with a derisive name too?

I suggest, insist rather, who is interested in participating on the subject of the Waffen-SS to look at and read the book 'Wenn Alle Brüder Schweigen'.

Dude. I don't think anyone who knows me has every accused me of having conventional, stereotyped views about the war. When I say "revisionism" I mean the really egregious stuff like Holocaust Denial, not admitting that German soldiers were human beings :/

Anyway, let's try not to derail the useful portions of this thread.

Wow, 6 year old thread still causing a shit storm.

The time span of this thread is longer than the bloody war itself.

It's a costume to wear at a game or an event.. Some guys do it better than others. It's really not much more than that regardless of whatever waffleplop flys out of your yap.

Never saw this thread until today. Nice enough impression. Nice mix of repro and original.