#70483
12/12/2006 06:18 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
I got this great Imperial Kraftfahrer Postcard . It is dated 23.3.17 , location given as COELN-SUELZ and states "Eine Rauchpause mit Kraftwagen in Felde" which means : Taking a smoke-break while with the trucks in the field .I think they are out on training .Signed by "Ludwig".
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#70484
12/12/2006 06:21 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
...and a detail shot . You can see the leather tunics , visor caps ,goggles and the small car insignia on their collar tabs . Some smoke pipes and others just cigarettes.
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#70485
12/12/2006 06:23 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
..other close-up of the guys.
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#70486
12/12/2006 06:24 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
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#70487
12/12/2006 06:26 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
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#70488
12/12/2006 06:29 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
In the background was a truck , but it faded away , only the rear wheels with their chain drive can be made out .
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#70489
12/12/2006 06:39 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
The center bunch one more time ,looks like 2 Sergeants-in-charge and they have their regular uniforms on --and NOT the leather tunics of the men .You can make out the silver tresse around their collars and litzen on the one guys cuffs.
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#70490
12/12/2006 06:48 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
...may be a somewhat clearer shot . The reason I enjoy this photo so much is that my Grandfather was in a Kraftfahrer Unit in WWI on the front near the Ypers and the Iser Frontlines . Hope you like this one also .Bernd
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#70491
12/14/2006 04:56 PM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,155 Likes: 5
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,155 Likes: 5 |
Bernd,
I just returned from vacation and saw your posts. Very nice Imperial goodies!
It is interesting that the Kraftfahrer personnel in the Weimar Republic Polizei continued to wear these leather coats and caps. They did not appear to wear the truck collar insignia but they did wear the same coats.
Thanks for showing your goodies.
George
"You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself." Ricky Nelson
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#70492
12/14/2006 11:29 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 6,810 Likes: 13
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 6,810 Likes: 13 |
Bernd, great picture postcard. Appreciate seeing it. Thank You.
--dj--Joe
<BR>
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#70493
07/01/2007 06:28 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151 |
Hey Bernd,
Here's a couple from my collection I thought I'd share.
Tim
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#70494
07/01/2007 06:29 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151 |
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#70495
07/01/2007 11:33 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
Tim : GREAT photos ! Love the one in the field with what seems drivers and their Mechanic helpers : plus one guy with a Red Cross armband ! The other photo must have been taken just after these guys got their brand new leather jackets --see how shiny they still are ! Taken at their training base in Duesseldorf , --a long ways away from the front ! Thanks again for sharing , Bernd .
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#70496
07/02/2007 03:18 AM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151 |
Hi Bernd,
Glad you like the pics. The guys in the second one certainly do look like they have nice new leathers. Do you happen to have a collar device you could post? I've never seen one other than in these old photos. Are they cloth or metal?
Here's a couple more. Unfortunately the exposure was quite dark on this first one.
Cheers, Tim
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#70497
07/02/2007 03:19 AM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151 |
I like this one, nice to see some autos. He's a Kraftfahrer but I'm not sure he's a "Kraftfahrer" if you know what I mean
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#70498
07/02/2007 04:24 AM
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 623
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 623 |
I have literally hundreds of pics like these that I have obtained over the years from this place and that. I often look into their eyes and wonder, "what happened to you? Did you survive the war? Did you have a family?" Stuff like that. It is truly a sad commentary that mankind hasn't, even yet, learned that war is such a damn waste! All soldiers of all nations are brave if they can handle war and it's fury.
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#70499
07/02/2007 06:46 AM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 151 |
Hey Lloyd,
I have several thousand photos and I think the same thing when I view them. I like to see the different pieces of equipment, uniforms, bunkers, etc. but it's the faces and the human element that I find most captivating. I often think which ones could you put an "X" through that died, maybe even just a few days after the photo was taken. Knowing that the front lines were subjected to artillery fire so fierce it sounded like a drum-roll and that men and boys were just pumped in to feed the machinery...and entered the storm knowing they and their comrads were going to be killed... That's it, their lives are over, what a waste.
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#70500
07/02/2007 07:48 PM
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 623
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 623 |
Yeah Tim and I have pictures of myself from when I was in the Army in the early '60s. A young, dumb kid dressed up as a soldier. IF I had re-upped, I would have been in "The Nam" and knowing how dumb I was back then, my name would be on that Wall in Washington! I recently finished reading, "Frontsoldaten" by Stephen G. Fritz and you see from what the German kids wrote, that they were just like I was, young and dumb but with patriotism as I had. The only people who lose in a war are the little guys, the "grunts" as it were. The main reason I loved the book above is it is written by regular troops and not some General. There are damn few Generals that wind up dying as the grunt does. Great pics here and "grunts" too! They KNOW what the REAL war is all about!
Lloyd
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#70501
07/03/2007 11:45 PM
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,881
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,881 |
Jeees....there are some faces in that last picture only a mother could love . Interesting post all the same!.
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#70502
07/04/2007 07:36 PM
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809
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OP
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,809 |
Tim ; I do have the metal collar car insignia that I got from my Grandfather who served as a Kraftfahrer in WW I . I posted a lot of my Kraftfahrer stuff a while back on the wehrmacht -awards , "Imperial Uniforms and Headgear " forum . You can go back on that forum to page 4 and find the following : " K " -for Kraftfahrer Korps " , dated 01-16-2007 , and "Kraftfahrer Visor Cap " ,dated 01-09-2007 ; and " Kraftfahrer-Staffel " armband " ,dated 01-30-2007 . Go and take a look ,--I promise you will find it interesting ! You also will see a photo of my Grandfather in his WW I Infantry tunic. Bernd .
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