WIP: Propagandakompanie Kriegsbericther

[huxy]

Hi all

I am currently building a Propagandakompanie uniform, and I chose to have a separate thread for this project as it will become rather picture heavy, and I'd like to aquire information from the several knowledgeable members on these boards.

I always dreamed of having such a uniform. Propably for 14-15 years. I'm 22 now. I always had a thing for cameras, and am now a photographer by proffesion. Even though I use digital cameras at work, nothing beats film!

The uniform will be an early war one, but should work from 1940-1945. It's a Heer with Propagandakompanie cuff title sown on the left arm (as several photographs shows, this varied a lot from either the left or the right arm). It will have signal yellow piping on the shoulderboards, as my research shows several men from the Propagandakompanie used troughout the war. The 1943 change to the light grey piping seemed to mostly happen to officers and not enlisted men. For litzen (collar tabs), I'm going for the generic late war type for time being, as I have that available and currently am not too sure what was used around 1940-1941. Any input here would be nice.

Here's the jacket for the time being:




But what is a kriegsberichter without a camera!?
Three years ago I introduced myself profesionaly to the world of analogue photography using film. This all began with a gorgeous Altix V from the fifties. It was great fun, I learned a lot about processing black and white film at home and it was generally just very, very entertaining. I put different kinds of film in different kinds of cameras, learning more and more. Maybe it was time to get the camera I really, really wanted? It's the legendary Leica III. Which often was nicknamed the Leica Wehrmacht for reasons. And I got it. A 1939 made Leica IIIa in a most gorgeous condition. This was roughly two years ago, and in that time I've used the camera for everything. It beats the hell out of my 4000$ DSLR I use at work. It's really just the best camera I've used! If I put B&W film and process it myself, the pictures comes out pretty cool and vintage. If I put color film in it and have it processed at a lab, my pictures comes out clearer than the mentioned DSLR! I love it. And it's perfect for period re-enactment.

Examples WW2 photos taken with the Leica IIIa:









I also take photos of the other WW2-guys for them to use in their soldier's ID book or similar - at no cost, of course!



Here's a picture of my very own Leica IIIa:





What's the next step for me?
Getting the jacket done, recieving other gear for the kit and I'm good as a photographer for the Propagandakompanie. I have also gone to the measures to get a period 16mm film camera and rolls of Kodak 7222 B&W film. Seeing brand new WW2 footage indistinguishable from the real stuff will certainly be very amusing to play with. Hopefully this will arrive before the next game which is in the middle of march. But I also have a backup, and that's as simple as Super8. Watch this space for more!


Hope you do find this interesting. I do believe it will be the most extensive Propagandakompanie/Kriegsberichter kit there is in modern WW2 re-enactment!
-Huxy

[insterburger]

I happen to know someone personally who actually served in the Propagandatruppen, from 1940 straight through to the end, so just a few observations based on what he told me:

--In five full years, he said he "never" saw a Propagandakompanie cuff title. "Maybe a few senior officers when they came to visit," but "no one" in his unit (PK637) or any other units they worked with wore them. Obviously some were indeed worn, as photo evidence shows, but from what he tells me cuff titles were extremely uncommon among Propaganda troops. He was in the Propagandazug, but he did work personally with the photographers/film cameramen in his unit, and they most certainly did not wear them. The most historically correct option (even if it's less fun!) would probably be to not have the cuff title.

--The Mausgrau Waffenfarbe did indeed make it to the rank and file, at least in his unit and those he worked with. There was a transition period, but everyone had it by the end of '43.

-- I would recommend strongly against using the late war generic Litzen with yellow-piped shoulder boards. That combination would have been very, very unlikely to happen, as any issue of new uniforms with late war Litzen would have likely switched out the shoulder devices at the same time. Likewise, while there were probably some grey-collared tunics worn with earlier war devices (you may have some photos showing such), the more likely combination would be yellow Waffenfarbe with early war style tunics, and a late war tunic with Mausgrau Waffenfarbe. The cufftitle, inasmuch as it was worn at all, was phased out entirely by the time the Mausgrau Waffenfarbe came into use, so those shouldn't be worn together. Definitely DON'T put a cuff title and generic Litzen on the same tunic-- those two were very VERY unlikely to have coexisted. I hope that's not as confusing to read as it was to write!

So simply put, for maximum historical authenticity, my recommendation (based on my research and many, many conversations with an actual PK soldier) would be to have two tunics, as follows:
-- An early war (preferably green-collared, but yours is OK) tunic with yellow signals piping on the shoulderboards and Litzen. Cuff title optional, but not recommended... basically an early war Nachrichten tunic is your best way to go here. I know having the cuff title is tempting (it IS way cool), and wearing one would certainly be correct and in no way, shape, or form be "farb," but straight from the mouth of someone who knows what he was talking about (having been there), it seems they were much more the exception than the rule.
-- A later-war tunic with late-war generic Litzen and Mausgrau piping on the shoulderboards. No cuff title-- they were eliminated from the regs with the introduction of the distinct PK Waffenfarbe.

If you're looking to complete your tunic shown above, I would recommend putting yellow-piped Litzen on it, definitely not the generic.

Hope that's helpful! I commend you for your work on this impression, especially your use of the Leica! Digital pictures can never quite duplicate the effect of a true film emulsion. Other models than Leica were also used-- Robot brand cameras were popular, if you can find them.

I've done quite a bit of research on the PK, not just their uniforms but their structure and operations. If there's anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask!

[huxy]

Insterburger, thanks a lot for your comment here. Most of the things you said are stuff I have read myself. The cufftitles were indeed not common, but it's just "too" cool not to! I also feel that in the field, they help distinguishing from those doing Signals.
About the litzen, I do agree. It's not my intention to have the late war ones on, but those are the only ones I have available as for now, and got a game coming up the 15th of march. Now if yellow piped litzen would be the most correct option, that's what I'll get. Eventually.

About the transition to mausgrau, I have read several accounts (mainly the book "Propaganda warriors") that the officers changed overnight, whereas the enlisted men got them gradually, and some wore the yellow one up until the war. I also do remember reading that becuase of this, the cufftitles were also worn up until the end of the war. I'm not too sure if I remember the cuff title part correct however, so don't quote me on that!

The Leica III was the most modern Leica. The Leica M didn't come until after the war - and the Leica II is basically a III with very minor changes. I have also seen Vöigtlander "accordian" medium format (120 film) being used as well as TTL and more. Seems to me that "any" camera that is period was used.

I am very interested to ask you how propagandakompanies were set up - especially for the film/photographers men? Did they have assistants with them, and if so, what was their job? And the guy you know who served in the PK, does he remember anything from using the Arriflex 35 cameras? Seeing as it's still used in blockbuster hollywood films, I could only imagine them being very fond of it. And where did the photographers store their film? I've heard rumours about map cases being used...


Thanks for your informative comment!

[insterburger]

Huxy,

I will try to answer some of your questions as I get time, and look into those I don't have a ready answer for.

As far as the cuff titles, my thought is this: The PK were not exactly the most spit-and-polish soldiers in the field (for obvious reasons, many of them were brought in from creative fields) so from the aggregate of the evidence it seems that while cuff titles were in the regs, there was no real effort made to get them on to uniforms. Clearly they were available and used, but the fact that they are worn so haphazardly would indicate: a)There were not enough around that wearing it on one sleeve or the other would look "wrong" compared to any one else wearing one; b)Apparently no one even particularly cared what was "correct." My guess is that if a guy wanted to wear one for whatever reason-- even just for flair-- he was welcome to get it sewn on, and if not, that's cool too. And let's face it, the kind of guys who would become combat photographers would also tend to be guys with a little flair, so I would say you are 100% correct in wearing one "just because."

To your other point, since the PK were not regulation-happy, I don't think it's impossible that a few cufftitles made it in use until the end of the war. But seeing as they were quite on the uncommon side before '43, and no longer issued or a regulation item after, what few guys who were still in yellow piping at the bitter end would be unlikely to have any cuff titles among them. I doubt they were forbidden in practice, but I would think they would have become exceedingly rare, if not possibly non-existent, by 1945.

The guy I know from the PK was in the Propagandazug, so he didn't handle official photographer duties (though he had a personal camera)-- he could probably tell a thing or two about their generators, sound equipment, and printing presses, not so much cameras. He did work directly with some photographers, and I know for a fact that they had assistants, though not necessarily in the field. On the Eastern Front, the photographers apparently used local Russian photographers as darkroom assistants and general help, and even as supplementary photographers while behind the lines. I strongly doubt they would have been brought along into a combat situation, though. I can't speak to the West, but I suspect things were probably similar. Given that they did use locals as assistants, that would make me tend to think assigned German Army photographer's assistants were unlikely, but I'll research that and see what I can find. It could also be that they were technically assigned assistants, but in point of fact they just used locals and their "normal" assistants went and did something else. Will try to get more info.

As far as film storage, I think the answer would be "whatever they could find!" A map case would probably be entirely appropriate. Again, I'll see what I can dig up.

Does you Leica take cartidges? As I expect you know, a lot of the photo cameras back then did not-- fresh film was kept in metal cannisters (like a "modern" plastic cannister for a 35mm cartidge), and then wound manually into the camera, somehow without exposing the film to any light whatsoever. Photographers who used those kind of cameras would have special bags that would let them manipulate the film and camera while keeping it in darkness (several different designs existed). Then, after the roll is shot, the camera had to be put in the bag, the film pulled out of the camera, put in the metal can, and a new roll taken out, rolled on to the spindle, and the camera closed and removed again. I feel sorry for the guys who had to do that under fire! Luckily, I think by then the trend was toward cartridge-ready cameras, for obvious reasons.

I'm glad you're assembling this impression, and that you're sharing it in this thread! Keep me (and everyone else) up to date as you go forward, and I'll see what I can dig up that might assist you.

[huxy]

Thanks a lot for your comments here. They help a lot!

How about the cufftitle that says "Kriegsberichter des Heeres"? Wasn't that "released" along with the mausgrau waffenfarbe in 1943?
And for the yellow piped litzen - are we now talking about litzen with the backing with yellow piping, or yellow color inside the piping it self?

Yes, my Leica does take cartridges. The standard 135-cartridge. The lead has to be modified slightly, but it's no problem. Where I load the cartridge already has instructions! And I can't say I agree with what you say. "All" cameras from the change of the century could be loaded in daylight. Even the Kodak Brownie, released in 1900, had rollfilm. Rollfilm has a thick paper backing protecting the film for light, allowing it to be loaded in daylight. The only types of film that would require loading inside a changingbag is large format film and motion picture film. But these were loaded into magazines that were loaded in the camera in daylight whenever needed. And even motion picture film is possible to get on daylight spools, allowing loading of the magazines in broad daylight.

I chose my setup to have an early/mid war PK-kit that would also, under some doubt, pass for a late war one. A specific late war one will come another day.

Again, thanks so much for the information you provice! It's really helpful!
Kind regards

[huxy]

Here's an update.

I got the yellow shoulderboards and sowed on the late war generic litzen. I won't be able to get the correct ones before the game coming up, so I choose wrong litzen rather than no litzen. I also got the mapcase which I'll be using and the Keystone A7 16mm film camera along with Kodak Double X B&W film. Looks really good now.




Insterburger, how about armament? I suppose some would use pistol, other would carry a rifle. No?

More updates to follow, thanks for checking in!

[huxy]

So, this is how it ended up looking during the game that was last month:





Was real fun!

Have not yet had the film developed, but it will be posted here as soon as it has been!

Still investigating in those litzen. Stay tuned!

[insterburger]

Looking good! That is some awesome period equipment you have, and the impression is coming along famously.

Also trying to get more info out of my PK contact for you, but he's in failing health and increasingly hard to communicate with. I did get clarification about the winding of film directly on to the spindle and from a cartridge that he described to me, and as discussed above: Seems there were controls over distribution of the film cartridges, but the bulk loading equipment was accessible, at least if you knew the right guys. So when the non-photographers in his unit wanted to help themselves to film for personal use, they would just load their cameras directly without a cartridge and get some free snapshots on the Reich's tab. FWIW.

[LϟϟAH1944]

Looks great! Just shape your feldmutze, give it a jaeger pinch.

[insterburger]

I dunno, Issah, have you seen pics of PK guys? They were heavy on overseas caps, but when you see them in M43's, more often than not they're unshaped with no "jaeger pinch," just the way huxy is wearing his.

Guess the Propagandatruppen were just a bunch of farbs! Someone needs to go back in time and explain to them about authenticity standards.

[ssgjoe]

I've seen quite a few pictures of lots of soldiers wearing feldmutze without the pinch too


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[LϟϟAH1944]

Nonetheless, it should have a less solid shape, more worn in. www.dererstezug.com/ImprovingYourM43Cap.htm

[huxy]

Thanks guys!

I'm aware of the "pinch". But why? I'm a lazy combat photographer who just want to take pictures and get the hell out. My uniform is new, and will be worn in in the end! And indeed they were all farbs. Running around with american cameras. Gosh!

And awaiting super-duper info from you, Insterburger!

[ssgjoe]

Where did you pick up your feldbluse huxy?

[huxy]

Didn't notice your question before right this moment, Joe! I'm so sorry.

This particular feldbluse is a Sturm one from what is regarded as his best batch, back in 2006. It was stored for a long time and I got to buy it off from the owner.

[insterburger]

I have just come into possession of a boatload of negatives (no firm count, but I'd say at least 1,000 images) taken by a PK guy. Most are of things that would be of limited or no interest to your typical armchair historian, but there do appear to be at least some rear-area and even field photographs that may prove enlightening to this discussion. Will advise.

[huxy]

Very interesting! I can imagine it holds quite a lot of out-of-focus shots. Isn't the easiest of cameras to work with!
Can't wait for more