by CollectinSteve Mon Aug 03, 2009 6:11 pm
Ah, one of my obsessions is collecting all of the old and current unit arm badges. There's a lot of them and the rarer ones are quite competitive on eBay. I've seen individuals go for as high as $20, while you can buy 10 of the more common ones for $1.
The edging of the badges has specific meaning. Thin black lines (stripes), usually with a white background, denotes the highest level for whatever that badge represents. For example, if it is a field division then the striped one represents the division. If it is a training section or HQ troops, it represents the highest level of that type of formation. Branch of service colors are used for units attached to these higher level units, such as Lehr and Schule, as appropriate.
Field division badges have (usually) three brigade badges, represented by white, red, and yellow edging (in that order). Each brigade has a unique number, unlike current US Army's generic brigade numbering. Therefore, if the soldier is a member of a divisional sub-unit he wears the striped version. If the soldier is assigned to a sub-unit of a specific brigade, then he wears the colored version of that particular brigade. At least in theory.
In reality a lot of these units have been disbanded, reduced, or amalgamated into other formations. It appears that that some of the remaining brigades now use their former divisional badge (striped) because they are, now, the highest level of that formation. But PzGren Brigade 32 still retains its original colored version. Which is odd also because according to my book, and Wikipedia, the division was completely disbanded in 1992/3 and some of its remaining pieces went to 1st PzDivision. In this case one of the two battalions of PzGren Brigade 32 went to Pz Brigade 2. So it's odd to see the original PzGren Brigade 32 shield listed in a 1997 publication. Perhaps they retained their badge despite being reassigned?
Whatever the case is, the BW has gone through several major reorganizations and those reorganizations continue. For example, the remaining PzGren Battalion from 11th Panzer Division's PzGren Brigade 32 was disbanded in 2003. Other formerly active units are now just on the reserve roster with a "shadow staff" at best.
As for rank badges... a book could probably be written about the different types and styles used since the BW's creation. Very confusing
Steve