"Wehrmacht officer with Luftwaffe Camouflage" Topic

Found a nice photo of a Wehrmacht officer wearing a Luftwaffe camouflage smock with the Luftwaffe breast eagle on it.This is one I haven't seen before and very clear. Robert

Robert, how do you know hes not a Luftwaffe officer? They had several Field Divisions and many scratch defence and alarm companies…

Yep, I would guess he is the latter, and possibly from the Hermann Goering Division, but could be from a Parachute unit too.

Greetings

He's probably not a Luftwaffe officer because they wore rank badges on their tunic collar. He might well be a Heer officer in a Luftwaffe Feld-division using a camo smock. Alternatively the smock may have been salvaged.

Regards

Edward

Neither Hermann Goering Division nor parachute unit members wore army litzen.

One of my great-uncles was an officer in the Hermann Goering Division and we have several photographs of him in uniform, all of which show luftwaffe collar tabs.

Interesting photo, thanks for posting.

Regards,

J. P. Kelly

well he could well be a wehrmacht officer in a FD(L) after they had come under Wehrmacht command at the beginning of 1944. many of the less effective officers and NCOs were replaced by Wehrmacht men, this bloke may well be one of these men..

LFD adopted Heer insignia and uniforms wholesale after their incorporation, but often had odd bits of LW gear left too (they particularly liked their snazzy LFD jackets).

LFD collar tabs were one of the first things to go.

16th LFD prisoners captured in Normandy look just like Heer troops apart from the odd LW chest eagle.

He could course just be a Heer officer who has a acquired a 'cool' jacket. Denisons were popular with all sorts of British troops who had no obvious claim to one.

My guess would be that he is from a Luftwaffe Field Division after they had been incoroprated into the Heer.

However, I would point out that, despite what Cardinal Hawkwood says, the Luftwaffe Field Divisions were always under Wehrmacht command as the Luftwaffe was part of the Wehrmacht.

yes ok Heer control from 1944 onwards pedant awards 1st class all round

To add even more confusion to the mix, some German units wore Italian Camo., instead of their regular issue gear, since they thought it looked nice, and was perhaps more effective than what they were originally given.

Cardinal,

It is not pedantry, but a desire for accuracy; the two are different.

Jurgen

Mako11,

That is very true; a couple of the pictures of my great-uncle show him wearing what is quite clearly a field jacket made from 1929 Telo Mimetico pattern cloth in both Italy and Poland/East Prussia.

Jurgen

Thanks all for your opinions. I had thought of the Luftwaffe Field Division but wasn't sure. Its still a nice shot. Robert

The Luftwaffe was part of the Wermacht! Perhaps you mean he's an officer of the Heer in a Luftwaffe tunic.

So is the Kriegsmarine too. I realize that the Heer is also part of the Wehrmacht. Most just associate the Wehrmacht to just mean the Heer. Robert

flecktarn, I am totally with you, just a bit more amused about it..I don't recall any people other than SS wearing SS smocks except for the Herman Goerings in 1943.

Thanks all. Does anyone know of any other similar photos?Robert

Cardinal,
It is well known that we Germans are not equipped with a sense of humour:). As far as I am aware, only some sub-units of the HG Divn acquired SS camouflage gear.

Robert,
I will ask my cousin to scan and email me the photographs of my great uncle in his Italian camouflage. That should be of some interest to a few people. He was quite an interesting character, narrowly escaping being arrested and executed by the SS on one occasion.

Please do Flecktarn. I would be very interested in seeing. I like seeing the different camo parts being worn. Robert

A fair few LFD pics on the 18th LFD re-enactor site.

link

I am especially fond of this motly crew:

Thanks for that Martin. IIRC I even think I've posted that one here before . Robert

It is almost impossible to tell that these guys are LFD from the uniforms.

I like these two cheery chaps

Ditto, I know what you mean. When I was in the USAF stationed in Thailand one of my hut-mates was a supply officer. Thanks to him, when the weather turned chilly I had a nice warm flight jacket to wear, even though I was not a flying officer, and half a pup-tent to use as an extra blanket on my cot.

Those are some of my favorites Martin. Robert

I remembered where I had seen some of those photos before.In the "Difference between Luftwaffe and standard paratroopers."
Thread. Robert

TMP link

As has already been suggested, the Luftwaffen-Feld-Divisionen came under Heer control in Nov 1943 and were re-designated as Feld-Divisionen (L). Heer uniforms were also adopted at this point, though supply was slow and mixed dress was apparently quite common if photos are anything to go by. The Jaeger Regiments of such divisions wore green waffenfarbe (as they had done in Luftwaffe service).