Interesting FJ pics

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These pics were labeled as having been take in the Ardennes in 1944. Notice that the FJ on the left still has the First pattern (side lace up) boots. Never seen that in photos from this late in the war, at least personally. Also he is carrying a Sten. Makes sense though because it uses the same 9mm ammo as the MP38/40. I don't see anything else but does any one notice additional things out of the ordinary?





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[Jager.Drü]

It was by this time in the war that alot the the "FJ" werent FJ at all. The 6thFJR was the last jump trained regiment of the war, they were still doing training exercises when the Invasion started.

Also by this time they were pulling people out of the Field Divisons and useing all the stocks of smocks, boots, equipment etc. In other pictures you'll see FJ wearing feld divison jackets, wearing the standard stalhelms, carrying gas mask cans. The saying of only vets wear the green step-ins is untrue as there were stocks issued out late late in the war.

Those men are from Kampf Gruppe Piper, they're riding a King Tiger.

[Gerry]

Some of them are wearing Green Smocks. I also notice a lack of sidearms and 100rd bandoleers other than the officer/NCO in the middle which further confirms the lack of jump trained men at this point of the war.

[flectarn]

Could these men possibly be SS FJ? Or are they already confirmed something else?

The bottom picture raises my curiosity especially. The WSS panzercap sets it off as well.

[binarypunisher]

Aug 30, 2008 13:35:43 GMT -5 flectarn said:

Could these men possibly be SS FJ? Or are they already confirmed something else?

The bottom picture raises my curiosity especially. The WSS panzercap sets it off as well.

IIRC, those are 9FJR. They are definately not SS FJ.

The guy with the peaked hat is probably a Panzer crewman...they were riding on SS Panzers and had been attached to KG Peiper.

[Gerry]

The officer in the middle has Luftwaffe insignia not SS on his collar tabs, they are not SS FJ.

[Adler69]

Aug 30, 2008 13:35:43 GMT -5 flectarn said:

Could these men possibly be SS FJ? Or are they already confirmed something else?

The bottom picture raises my curiosity especially. The WSS panzercap sets it off as well.

Those FJs are members of 1. Fallschirmjäger Abt./9. Fallschirmjäger Rgt , they are riding on top of King tigers belonging to s.SS.PzAbt.501 , during the opening stages of the Bulge the 9th Rgt advanced a lot faster than other units and they stopped at a small village to rest and wait for the rest of the German forces to catch up with them , in the meantime PzAbt.501 had lost it's infantry support in city fighting so Peiper ordered the FJs to jump on to the Tigers and give support to his armor . The man wearing the ss black M43 is actually a dispatch driver , who traded rations and cigarettes with the FJs on top of the Tiger while the column of tanks stopped for resupply .
Also the reason why so few of the FJs carry Bandoleers is because only a handfull of them where armed with K98ks , most of the members of FJR 9 where armed with G43s , M41 Mausers and Submachine guns , like Stens , MP40s , M41s and one (1) M1 Thompson, there where also some STG44s and MG42s.
The FJs of FJR 9 also had a mix of jump smocks , the early war Green ones , Splinter smocks and Marsh Pattern smocks , also some of them wore the Heavy padded reversible winter suits both in "Mouse Grey" and Splinter camo.

[Adler69]

Here's some more pics of FJs during the Bulge Offensive







and here's the full pic of the FJs and the dispatch driver