General Photos Topic For 1950 to Todays Bw, Please Add Yours Here.

[Rakkasan187]

Here are pages from a 1973 Bundeswehr booklet that I have..

 

There are about 60 pages in total and it shows the various organizations within the BW.. Army, Navy and Air Force with some pictures of some of their equipment and uniform insignia..

 

 

Here are a few scans of the booklet

 

Leigh

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Back of the book with the information

 

[Rakkasan187]

Some of the uniform accoutrments

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Insignia

 

 

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Some of the Armored vehicles in the field

 

[Rakkasan187]

Some line drawings of the armor.. Notice the 113, M42 Duster and some of the other US made equipment..

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy

 

Leigh

[Proud Kraut]

Very nice pictures, Leigh! I have never seen this booklet before.

[patches]

Thanks for the additions Leigh.

 

I use to have some kind of Bundeswehr book, it was official, can't remember the name of it now, Kalender??? It was of small size but fairly thick, and had lots of great stuff in it, it was from the early-ish 60s, and either was a monthly periodical, or yearly??? Wish I still had it, It was from so long ago that in the rear there was a special section for Heer Reunions of WWI and WWII, each notice in most cases depicting the unit's symbol, like a few WWI ones if a Regiment, had Shoulder Strap Cypher's where applicable, the WWII ones were usually division vehicle signs, you like this HERE and this HERE ETC.

[Proud Kraut]

The vehicle in post # 4 of this topic is a M7 "PRIEST". There seem to be different variations of this self propelled howitzer as well. Here are some pics of the M7 displayed at the German Arty School museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Great follow up pictures of the vehicle in question..

 

One of the pages in the booklet that I didn't scan was the location of BW schools..

 

Some of the schools/locations I went to during my time in Germany.. Idar Oberstein, Hammelburg, Mittenwald were some of the schools/places I attended..

 

Will post the list and scans later tonight..

 

Leigh

[patches]

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Here is the page in the above posted booklet that has the BW schools listed.

 

The only school that I did not see listed was the NATO NBC school which was in Idar Oberstein. Since the book was printed in the 70's, maybe the school had not yet opened. I went to the NBC School in 1987, and as I think about it maybe since it was a NATO school and not specifically a BW school that is why it was not listed...

 

What I really like seeing are the locations of many of the schools.. I did a lot of training in some of those areas and Sonthofen was the site of the US Army's first Non-Commissioned Officer School after World War Two...and it was used by the BW NCOs as well during phase 1 of their training...

 

 

 

Leigh

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

This page shows the Air Force and Naval schools for the BW..

 

You will notice for the Air Force that the Missile School was at Fort Bliss..

 

We still have a small contingent here today at Fort Bliss, Texas.. Every day when I come on post to go to work I pass by the German Air Force School...

 

 

 

Leigh

 

 

[Proud Kraut]

Very nice booklet, Leigh. I think the ABC-Abwehr Schule Sonthofen is already listed (with a rather uncommon translation) as "NBC First Aid School in Sonthofen" on sheet # 1. Great post!

 

P.S.: Since we have mentioned Sonthofen. Here´s a picture of the NCO Academy´s cuff titles worn from 1964 until 1990.

 

[Rakkasan187]

Those are great cuff titles..

 

There was a base I went to in 1988 at Vogelsang. It was an old TR school and I believe there was a Vogelsang Cuff title from WW2...

 

Leigh

[patches]

A current photo, would love to see ones from the 60s-70s.

 

Six German Air Force officers graduated from the TCO course at Fort Bliss, Texas, USA

[patches]

Holloman Air Force Base, New.Mexico. "The German Air Force has been training its aircrews throughout the United States since 1958 before it was moved to Holloman in 1992"

 

 

 

 

[Proud Kraut]

I´m adding two more pictures from a 1969 Bundeswehr recruiting booklet dealing with the officers careers in the different Army branches . Depicted are 2 Gebirgsjaeger (mountain troops).

 

 

 

[patches]

Here's one from the 50s when the BW was still using some U.S. Weapons, we see the M1919A6 MG and the M2 Carbine, so just what other U.S. Weapons did they use? BARs, the M1 Rifle, the M3 Sub Machine Gun (The Grease Gun)?

 

 

[Proud Kraut]

Good picture! I know for sure that the M1 Garand was in use as well.

[patches]

Good picture! I know for sure that the M1 Garand was in use as well.

A Alpine setting, perhaps they are Gebirgsjaeger.

[Proud Kraut]

A Alpine setting, perhaps they are Gebirgsjaeger.

Yes, probably, they seem to wear mountain boots (Bergstiefel).

[Proud Kraut]

Here´s another picture from the same booklet. Two tankers ars wearing the early OD beret. Note the silver star on the lower sleeve of the Unteroffizier´s uniform indicating that he´s an officer candidate (Fahnenjunker).

 

[Rakkasan187]

Here are some 1980's photos of the German Air Force contingent that was stationed at Fort Bliss. Some of the pilots flew F-4 Phantoms from Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM which is about 90 minutes North of Fort Bliss..

 

The Luftwaffe plane would land at El Paso International Airport. Directly at the end of the East/West runway is one of the main entrances to Ft Bliss and the location of the German Air Defense School is located there...

 

The German Air Defense Students training with the Hawk Missile and other systems would practice tracking the F-4's on radar and simulate firing exercises..

 

 

 

I will post some other pictures as well...

 

Leigh

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Here are some members of the Luftwaffe outside of their headquarters building at Fort Bliss in the 1980's. The headquarters building used to be the barracks for the Cavalry troopers in the 1930s.

 

These barracks are still used today by mobilizing Soldiers..

 

The Soldier's receiving training on the Hawk Air Defense Missile System..

 

 

 

Leigh