Militaria

Recently I went through a storage unit with my mom and brother, and found a few boxes of my old militaria.  This was just after watching the Lemmy video – the Motorhead bassist lives in L.A. in a rent-controlled apartment full of Nazi memorabilia.  Sometimes he wears Nazi uniforms, but where the swastika would be under the German eagle, is a meaningless three-pointed symbol clearly meant to replace the offensive swastika with something other than simply a blank circle.  Brian Jones caused a scandal dressed in an Allgemeine SS black uniform, supposedly a joke suggested by his then-girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg (who seemed to be passed around from one Stone to the next).  Neither Jones nor Lemmy are Nazis, to my knowledge.  In Lemmy’s case it’s simply an interest in WWII, with a particular focus on Germany.

 Those who know me, know my intense interest in the military, despite my lifelong civilian status which – due to my hearing – is very much a permanent thing.  But that hasn’t stopped me from collecting military gear of various types over the years, with an obvious preference for WWII German items.

 Unique Imports/Collector’s Armory.  When we moved to France, we had no idea about WWI or WWII, but we learned quickly.  Our friends the Winkers had catalogs from this company, which was actually located in Alexandria – on one home leave we visited the place (it’s not there anymore).  This place mainly sold replica guns and knives, no actual uniforms, but we did get some helmets: my German helmet which I still have.  They’re still in business, but they don’t seem to have a customer-accessible showroom anymore.

 Optas.  In high school I met my friend Jean (John), who alerted me to this militaria shop in Paris, a few blocks north of Gare St. Lazare.  I bought a WWII German jacket, 1943 pattern, with Wehrmacht insignia.  Later I had my father replace it with Waffen SS insignia.  Unfortunately this jacket must have been a 38 chest size at most, as by college I could no longer fit in it.  I know I got several other items here, including the Mauser ammo pouches, MP40 magazine pouches, jackboots, an SS sidecap, and the Mauser bayonet.

 National Capital Historical Sales.  In college I learned about this place from a friend who was heavily into WWII re-enactments.  His deal was British Commandos.  This was a large warehouse in Lorton/Newington.  Apparently it’s still in business but without a customer-accessible warehouse.  This place sold lots of replica uniforms for re-enactments as the original uniforms were (A) too rare, (B) too expensive, and (C) because of A & B combined too valuable to risk running around in forests shooting blanks at each other.  Even so, even the replica uniforms were kind of pricey.  I recall scoring some German WWII grey uniform pants which must have been 40 waist, always way too big for me…better suited for Sgt. Schulz (“I know NOZZING!”).  I also got a pair of SS collar patches which I put on a blue denim jacket; the left tab was blank, meaning SS general staff.

 At The Front.  This is more like it.  The guy who runs this site is a riot: always busting on his customers as fat-ass weirdos insisting on perfection which even the Nazis never accomplished.  “I’ve seen legitimate original SS uniforms and they all have these issues – face it, they were made by concentration camp prisoners who weren’t as obsessed about quality control as you lot seem to be.  And no, we don’t sell XXXXXL paratrooper uniforms.”  Having said that, I’m extremely pleased with the dot cammo Waffen SS jacket I bought from him.  Excellent work!  I’m tempted to get a 1936 pattern Waffen SS uniform jacket, which I’ve always wanted, but unfortunately with authentic SS insignia on it – with the swastika on the left arm and SS runes on the collar tab – it wouldn’t be something I could wear outside my own apartment. 

 Mr. At-The-Front seems to know a lot about the replica business and his competitors.  Apparently after WWII many companies opened up producing what they claimed was authentic WWII militaria.  Since even this stuff is now 50 years old, the fakes are beginning to look authentic simply by virtue of being old.  He admits his stuff is replica, he just asserts – and so far as I can tell, reasonably so – that his copies are closest to the original.

 Schipperfabrik.  This is a different company, with a different owner (website has no snarky comments) with a focus on WWI instead of WWII.  They have the Kratzchen German WWI pillbox hats, various German WWI uniforms (early war, Bluse, etc.) and the 1916-18 German helmets.  Briefly they had some replica pickelhaubes (German spiked helmets) but it seems they didn’t sell well enough to make the endeavor commercially practical.  Again, even if you weren’t offending anyone – “damn it, my grandfather was shot at by Huns!” (actually, mine was!) – where can you wear a pickelhaube?  I’m tempted to buy the US WWI tunic, but haven’t done so yet; it’s only $250 (!).

 Surplus stores.  I’ve ignored mentioning this until now because surplus stores are everywhere, and it’s fairly simple and easy to get US cammo of various types.  Moreover, these surplus stores have the same load of East German stuff all the time.  Although I have purchased jungle boots and cammo outfits (US Army) these to me are not nearly as interesting or challenging as finding SS dot cammo or WWI or WWII militaria which is not of US origin.

Re-enactments.  I never did do this.  There were several reasons.  First, they all use genuine WWII weapons, simply firing blanks.  The weapons are extremely expensive, as you can imagine.  Last I checked, MP-40s cost $30,000.  Even my Mauser 98K was $350.  Second, as noted above, even the replica uniforms are expensive, and for a re-enactment you have to have the complete uniform, not just a jacket and helmet.  I had managed to get the belt, belt buckle, ammo pouches, gas mask in canister, Y-straps, jackboots, way-too-big pants, bread bag, canteen, and helmet, so I suppose I was most of the way there, but even that took years to accumulate and I still didn’t have the gun itself.  Third, re-enactors are full of history buffs, and they all want to be in elite units:  SS for Germans, Guards for Russians, Commandos for British, and Rangers or Airborne for US troops.  That leaves no Wehrmacht or general infantry units, merely a group of wanna-be crack units fighting each other, which everyone agrees is unrealistic…but no one wants to back down and be the regular soldier.   And none of the SS units were anywhere near me.  Fourth, using blanks puts you on the honor system.  I recall from being a kid playing war games at the Compound in Neuilly with our friends and having replica guns.  No one wants to lose, no one wants to “die”.  And with no real way of “hitting” someone (even with something like a paintball) you just end up in arguments.  “I shot you, you didn’t even see me.”  How can a sniper operate if he needs his victim’s consent to achieve a kill?  “Please admit I blew you away.”   If re-enactors have started using paintballs – not such a bad idea if their uniforms are replicas anyway – I’d love to hear about it.  The WWI re-enactors say, “this is the Great War – everybody dies!”

            From a cursory Net search, I’m getting the impression that most of the re-enactors in my area (Northern Virginia) are…Civil War.  While I’d be happy to put on a blue uniform and traipse around Gettysburg – firing blanks at the Rebel yahoos re-enacting Pickett’s Charge – I’d rather be in grey-green in a trench or WWII simulation.  But I will keep looking…