Gross Deutschland - general discussion

We all think Stlaingrad woul be great however there is one hug e issue to get over.

Russian kit.

We could fill up 30 - 40 german places easily, however i think i know of four airsofters with soviet kit.

The only real way of doing it would be to insisit on brown or grey greatcoats as minimum kit but that could be hot to soft in even in winter.

Sites perfecte, germans easy, russians problematic.

*however* if we can find ways to source the right amount of russian kit cheaply (as we didd with brit airborne) and built up a core group of players who could and will kick start the enthusiasm then its more feasable.

At the moment its just a pipe dream of ours with no foundation other than 'wouldnt it be cool if'

Dont get your hopes up guys.

And as i said a few times before its only the predominantly eastern front role of the GD that stopped me going down that route.

My Brandenburg kit has arrived, just need to sew those 'kreta' and 'afrika' titles on the sleeve to show how much those guys really got about!

Howdie peeps

Having changed my avatar - now on my third since joining the forum - I thought it would be nice to share some piccies of me in my GD Recon 'softing' impression -

PS: Can anyone tell me how to upload my photos the right way round - They're saved the right way round on the lappie -

** Mod sorted for ya! Open and save your image in your favourite image editing program - your originals just have a bit of code in them that say they should be upright. Re-saving them will make them upright. Chomley. **

Good looking load out , but reckon those boots need some work

Thanks for the complements and the tip re the photos CW. When you say the boots could do with a bit of work, what did you mean - do you think they need to be darker? Any tips?

Wedding bands - never even occurred to me they may have had different customs regarding that, but rest assured I will be checking it out -

Tally ho -

Ain't t'internet a truly marvellous ting?

Charley November, you are absolutely right - checked it out within seconds of leaving the forum. Germans do indeed wear their matching bands on the ring finger of their right hands - an unimportant detail maybe, but an interesting one and, for living history purposes at any rate, one which adds that little bit of authenticity to the overall impression -

Thanks for the tip - I will be wearing it like that from now on whilst 'on duty' -

Me again!
We have an association called AFRA (click the Beamte bar in my sig) - in it we have TWO GD groups - one can be found here.
http://www.grossdeutschland.org/
and the other here.
http://www.gd-uk.org/
Now as you can see these lads a bit "top end" but they are friendly and always willing to help.
The Füsiliers are more Living History and have been around for 20 years.... They are quite low key and high end collectors - but they know their stuff.
We (re-enactors) have come over here to help and to do that we need you to ask us questions where your research fails you.
We've also come over here to learn and to get involved in airsoft.
Anything you want - PM or ask openly - We'll do our best.
Oh - and these lads have three halftracks between them!!!!!
we also have the replica StuG and another halftrack along with kubels, Flak guns, you name it.... it's just a different kind a fun......

Talking of GD - have any of you seen these photos before? And do you know when and where they were taken?

Note the cufftitles and uniform details...

Nicks not GD is he, last picture note the cufftitles blah blah blah, I had a great time at victory taking in everyones badges and seeing who had the same badging up as me I cheated though I used an old picture rather than a reenactor to base mine on, and failing that am female anyways so farbier than a farby thing in farbsville

Note I will agree he's quite right on the kit of the lads mentioned above, I've found them most useful for talking to ... well some of them

Victory show! Great photos!

some original bits of my collection, enjoy.-- attachment is not available --

Wow, nice mate.

note the Mkb42(H) in the background......

I believe there are three regulars that are badged up as GD. Whether anybody wants to encourage others to do GD is up to them.

Was the GD cross unit or just a Heer thing? please excuse my ignorance, but the reason I asked is that there seems to be a lot of Axis forces in Southern UK and I was wondering if there was something that we could all use to badge up and show we're proud southerners? I just think that the South is not represented enough by the sites down here as WW2 venues.

Gd were a Heer unit and almost all their combat was on the Eastern front. Not such a great load out for airsoft where the number of Soviets is small, but growing.

Did the Panzer Lehr divission have any insignia ?

Did the Panzer Lehr divission have any insignia ?

Just an "L" cipher on the shoulderboards. usually stitched in the appropriate waffenfarb for EM and in silver thread for officers or sometimes in metal.

The divison also heavily used the M40 special field grey panzerwrap across all branches including the panzergrenadiers. Also one of the few units who did actually use a lot of splinter helmet covers.

And the 'L' insignia are a bugger to find. I was looking to fit out one of my grey wraps as Lehr and stumbled at the insignia level. I found the correct green backed litzen but the embroidered boards or cyphers were not about. It might be different now?
That is one of a series of posed photos of the Lehr in the back of a 251. All new in their wraps and splinter helmet covers.

And the 'L' insignia are a bugger to find. I was looking to fit out one of my grey wraps as Lehr and stumbled at the insignia level. I found the correct green backed litzen but the embroidered boards or cyphers were not about. It might be different now?

Correct. I've searched high and low myself.

I've been trading PM's with warren recently about casting some metal officers ones [bronze/gilt coloured], and he seemed happy to do so. If anyone else is interested that increases the chances of it going ahead. They could ofcourse be painted silver for NCO level officers.

As for embroidery, I dare say there are companies that would do them on request. I think i've seen one re-enactment group who had a batch of shoulderboards done and they looked great.

Might be better to go for a 116th Windhund impression as per Poachers avatar. Their PzGr also used a fair bit of the fieldgrey panzer wraps and the Windhund cap badges are available, I think Anthony has them.

well, me being a newbie here , i have been reading through the most recent threads but this one caught my eye.

It shocks me to think that this GD impression is not picking up due to the constraints of eastern front only,

With grossdeutschland being a perticuler favourite subject of mine here, i know a considerable amount about this regiment/division/korps.

yes, there are limitations if you want to portray the Panzergrenedier regiment/division 'grossdeutschland' . But it doesnt limit you when the grossdeutschland division became a Korp in 1944.

When the division became a korp in 1944, it was formed up of dffirent units to meet the strength of a Korp.

Creating :
Panzer Grenadier division Brandenburg
Fuhrer Begleit Division
Fuhrer Grenadier Division
Panzer grenadier division Kurmack

and including the Panzer Grenadier division Grossdeutschland.

For anyone who knows a little about GD history, will know that the FGB (fuhrer grenadier division) transfered to the western front on the 16/12/44 under the command of oberst kahler, and takes part of the last german offensive in the ardennes area, and carried on the western front in fierce withdrawal actions after that.

So, can GD be protrayed in the western front ? yes but only in the ardennes and after that.

If any of you have questions regarding GD, events, uniforms and eqiupment. Ask below and i will awnser for you

regards
Tom