Flammenwerfer Totenkopf

[mike kelso]

I was very surprised this last Friday when offered a long sought after cloth insignia. That cloth badge was this Flammenwerfer Totenkopf worn by flame thrower operators. A very scarce badge with only three known in US collections. I was particularly interested in an example to place with my small group, including his Soldbuch and Militarpass, to a trained flame thrower operator Hermann Briest.

Briest enlisted in June 1917 assigned to 2. Garde-Pionier-Ersatz-Bataillon trained as a Flammenwerfer (flamethrower combat engineer). In April 1918 Briest was transferred to the elite Jager-Sturm-Bn. Nr. 3. he remained with JB3 through the end of the war. He was discharged om May 12, 1919.

In my collection, also, is the battalion flag to Jager (Sturm) Bataillon Nr. 3.

Thanks to Steve McFarland for enhancing my collection. It is most appreciated!

 

[Khukri]

Mike,
This is excellent! Thank you for sharing!
Last year we visited the Wehrgeschichtliches Museum in Rastatt, Germany.
-This is displayed. Officers and Other Ranks sleeve insigna.
-Awarded after the units 150th Flammenwerfer assault.

 

[Jeff R]

Outstanding pieces Mike - thanks for sharing!

 

[2nd.Leibhusar]

Amazing !
That is a very rare beast !
Thank you so much for showing, Mike

 

[cptbob]

Great find. Bonus to get the documentation to go with it. Congratulations SgtMajor!

 

[MAP]

Wow!! Congrats. Great display too!

 

[John Josef]

WOW That's a great piece it's enough to bring a tear to my eye.

Absolutely love it. Congratulations Mike

 

[Steve Nick]

Mike:

Thanks for sharing that display. I've never seen a real example of one of these badges.

 

[KAGGR#1]

Mike,
This is excellent! Thank you for sharing!
Last year we visited the Wehrgeschichtliches Museum in Rastatt, Germany.
-This is displayed. Officers and Other Ranks sleeve insigna.
-Awarded after the units 150th Flammenwerfer assault.

Francis
Thanks for the post and the photo.
The Totenkopf patch on the top appears to be silver Metalica thread
That would be for an officer .I have heard of these but never seen one in person.
I think that there was an officers out in Calif some years ago. It was traded or sold
it is not known where it is now. Maybe Dennis can tell us something ?
Also Baldwin had a uniform with one on it ?
Steve

 

[KAGGR#1]

Great find. Bonus to get the documentation to go with it. Congratulations SgtMajor!

Bob
So you know Mike's rank !
Steve

 

[KAGGR#1]

I was very surprised this last Friday when offered a long sought after cloth insignia. That cloth badge was this Flammenwerfer Totenkopf worn by flame thrower operators. A very scarce badge with only three known in US collections. I was particularly interested in an example to place with my small group, including his Soldbuch and Militarpass, to a trained flame thrower operator Hermann Briest.

Briest enlisted in June 1917 assigned to 2. Garde-Pionier-Ersatz-Bataillon trained as a Flammenwerfer (flamethrower combat engineer). In April 1918 Briest was transferred to the elite Jager-Sturm-Bn. Nr. 3. he remained with JB3 through the end of the war. He was discharged om May 12, 1919.

In my collection, also, is the battalion flag to Jager (Sturm) Bataillon Nr. 3.

Thanks to Steve McFarland for enhancing my collection. It is most appreciated!

Mike
Great post and a great display
I enjoyed your visit on March 21
It was time to pass the torch
now with the J B 3 flag
you did a great job finding all the correct streamers for the flag
you have 2 torches
Steve

 

[Khukri]

Francis
Thanks for the post and the photo.
The Totenkopf patch on the top appears to be silver Metalica thread
That would be for an officer .I have heard of these but never seen one in person.
I think that there was an officers out in Calif some years ago. It was traded or sold
it is not known where it is now. Maybe Dennis can tell us something ?
Also Baldwin had a uniform with one on it ?
Steve

My pleasure Gentlemen. Very interesting.
The picture [p 96] of these in the Rastatt book on the Rangabzeichen exhibition has the blue marked dots: those items are from the Klaus-Peter MERTA collection.

 

[John Josef]

Also Baldwin had a uniform with one on it ?
Steve

I remember this tunic I was hanging on and bidding for a little while.

It's one of my all-time favorites and looking back should have done more to get it but we all know how that can go the winner may have felt the same way and who knows where it would have ended. Maybe divorce

 

[KAGGR#1]

I remember this tunic I was hanging on and bidding for a little while.

It's one of my all-time favorites and looking back should have done more to get it but we all know how that can go the winner may have felt the same way and who knows where it would have ended. Maybe divorce

My collector friend in Belgium once told me ;
" Steve , I do not regret the deals that I have done ,
I only regret the deals that I didn't do. "
Steve

 

[John Josef]

My collector friend in Belgium once told me ;
" Steve , I do not regret the deals that I have done ,
I only regret the deals that I didn't do. "
Steve

Steve my man that is a fact.

I can still remember just about everyone that got away but sometimes like the great Harry Callahan once said, " A man's got to know his limitations" .

 

[Doug B]

That is a mind blower! Fantastic!

 

[southsando]

That is a great display!

 

[JzPf]

Beautiful, Mike. Great display, congratulations!
Cheers
Dennis

 

[JzPf]

Francis
Thanks for the post and the photo.
The Totenkopf patch on the top appears to be silver Metalica thread
That would be for an officer .I have heard of these but never seen one in person.
I think that there was an officers out in Calif some years ago. It was traded or sold
it is not known where it is now. Maybe Dennis can tell us something ?
Also Baldwin had a uniform with one on it ?
Steve

Yes, I owned one, probably the late ‘90’s and it did use silver metallic thread. It was in very good condition. I sold it unfortunately. Hindsight is always 20/20. Wish I still had it. So now just have an OR patch that I’ve had for years now.

 

[poniatowski]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing.