thanks for the info. i'm still in the learning process of the german medic; i figured i would get something wrong.
i've heard all the hub-bub of red cross helmets on the german side and i know the all white was rare. which level medic would have used a painted red cross helmet?
i've also read somewhere that the kranken was a stretcher bearer and was able to administer first-aid until the patient could be carried to the field hospital. is that correct?
You get alot of confusion generally from historians/interpreters/accounts because there are two types of the same leather medical pouches. The fundemental difference between the two is the contents. Krankentraeger had pouches marked with a big "K" on the lid - and inside these pouches they mostly had blister ointments and bandages. These guys were kinda like Corpsmen in the American army, only Corpsmen were better trained; nevertheless the krank's were dubbed "Sanis" by the guys in the field, as they were the first point of contact for most medical issues. The thing is, Krankentraeger werent really medics at all. In an infanterie unit, they were guys selected from company level (I think it was like 2 per kompanie supported by an attatched medical orderly/NCO) to go and do a little crash course in first aid - thus bumping them up a higher pay band. They would then see to the rudimentary needs of the troops (blisters, frost bite and so on), freeing up the better trained medical staff for the badly wounded etc.
The real Sani's however, had the same basic pouches as the kranks but with an S on them, and inside they had higher end stuff; like torniquettes and actual pain relief medicines (mostly opiates such as cocaine). To add more fuzzyness to the picture, there is alot of confusion between Sanitäts Abteilung krank's and actually "dicked to do the job" kranks in the fighting units. Certainly, in a medical kompanie, a krankentraeger was the lowest form of medical orderly, and was used for general duties (such as loading and unloading the wounded, sterilyzing bandages etc) - whereas (as previously explained) those that were in a fighting unit, and got dicked to do the job, were not perminantly krankentraeger - but infantry first. And to confuse you eeeeven more, a krankentraeger could be an infantryman who was walking past and was suddenly told to go pickup wounded, given an armband and set to task. Then when he was done, gave back the armband and carried on as normal.
White helmets were a rarity to be honest - troops used to fighting on the eastern front didnt use them, because they knew that it just made you a target. However, having read "citizen soldiers", theres a nice section on German medical personal, that shows that during the Normandy campaign and then later in the Bulge, German medical personal began to realise that the Allies were following the geneva convention (we'll ignore the bit about the USAAF strafing Red cross vans because they had "ammunition and fuel in them" hmmm). So armbands and bibs were donned by German personnel - with the odd account of a white helmet. But again, very rare to see the helmets with redcrosses on. When your doing the job, are you really going to take the time out to paint a neet little red cross on your helmet? Or are you going to use your standard issue armbands and bibs and just get on with saving lives?
Hope that helps buddy. Sorry it was abit long winded. If you cant tell, I used to do a Sani impression.
Tom, no worries on the long post, i am glad to read up on anything i can. the german medical unit seems to be very confusing. i suppose i want to portray the Sani instead of the Krank. i don't like weapons and i'm not religious enough to do the chaplain bit. i will probably keep the white helmet for winter scenarios and pick up a regular heer helmet for the others.
thanks again for helping out, i thought this section was long dead! btw, do you happen to have pics of your setup when you portrayed medic?
Sure no worries. These are a few images that I still have on this computer. They were taken about 5 years ago. I'm the Sani in field-grey. The gasmask canister I am wearing in the photos was painted white with a red-cross on it, but as my impression progressed, I returned it back to its original colour, as again, white gasmask tins were quite rare.
The skizzors are a mixed bunch - some are normal, some have curled tips for opening wounds or for retrieving foreign objects imbeded in the body, and some are for other specialist jobs. The bandage cutting scissors are the big thick shears in the green pouch - these are not curved like modern bandage scissors.