As a former member of SEGMC (Society of East German Militaria Collectors) until it's dissolution and contributor to it's newsletter, I'm glad to see fellow collectors!
That is a State Organ of the Recovery of State Property I had not read of for many years....they did much good work in the early days of the sacred task....😉 Those Work Gloves turn up used as part of the Winter FDA is some photos. You are not wrong about the Brown Leather Officer belts. The neck wallet carries Licences, membership cards etc... except your personal ID, that is in your left breast pocket Die Spiess! Some good kills.... best stick to western bands .... East German Reggae is not good.... trust me.
East German 'Railway troops' was somewhat fulfilled by the Komapanie der Transportpolizei (the'VPB/BePo of the TraPo' if you will) - and you're lucky enough to know a few people who have the KdT uniform set ups in their collection ;P
When I refer to railway troops here I'm talking about elements of the NVA specifically, involved in railway construction and operation, rather than the security role provided by the KdT. That said I am very interested in the KdT, I'm at a loss to find many photos of them on exercise etc.
Do you have both summer and winter variants of the strichtarn uniform? Could possibly be an interesting video to show the differences of the uniforms and how they were worn.
There's a 5 season system in the NVA for the field service uniform (FDA) The summer uniform is a thin cotton, winter thick and padded. High summer you wear just the summer uniform open collar Transition period 1 - service uniform underneath the summer camo uniform Transition 2 - winter uniform on its own I think Winter 1 - winter uniform open collar and service uniform underneath Winter 2 - winter uniform, with fur collar, ushanka etc and service uniform underneath. There are some diagrams online showing the 5 'periode' and their appropriate uniforms, but it should be noted that the Transition ones are a but iffy as I have heard it that the ONLY occasion any field uniform was worn closed collar was when the poor sod was on guard duty at night in winter
Thanks for the explanation. I saw a RU-vid video of conscripts with their grey tunics and collar insignia showing under the winter uniform. It would have sucked to have a single layer of DDR thermals plus field uniform under winter clothing in the middle of winter. With or without a scratchy collar and a ushanka.
German ebay is the best bet if not UK militaria sites in general - am yet to find a specialist dealer for BRD kit. A fair amount of BW kit from the moleskin era is 'reproed' (the trousers and parkas of note) for 'civil fashion'; if you're after BGS stuff then good luck as that is ery pricey and desirable, BW stuff gets VERY expensive for the 50-60s, and the 'parade jackets' tend to be very cheap. cold war BW boots tend to be an issue too but not insurmountable.
