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handschar reenactment

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:23 am
by BENNY
hello please could anyone tell me if they know where you can get hold of repro handschar division fezs and i would love to go to a show as a handschar ss soldier. thanks for your time.

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:33 am
by John Wilson
A red/maroon fez should be easily found in your local joke shop, a green one will be harder to find though. From what I've read the green ones were meant to be used in combat(a steel helmet would be better really though :D ) and the red ones were meant for walking out dress, but this was changed later in the war.
Confused? Welcome to the world of Third Reich regulations :lol:

Fez

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:03 pm
by pzrwest
I once made a nice SS fez out of an old Shriner's fez. The Shriner stuff had been carefully removed by someone. I took the fez and soaked it in nice hot water then stretched it over a tapered cookie jar that had the correct shape then just let it dry on the form. Then I hand stitched a sweat band inside it and added the SS insignia and put the tassel back on. Looked pretty good.

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:47 pm
by Willi Heydrich
Oh please, send in the pictures when you´ve completed your outfit! It shall be a rare treat!

Willi

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:52 pm
by Baumer12
If you PM Der Spiess on here he has a wealth of info on Handshar uniform as he put one together a couple of years ago.

Not sure where he got the fez but I'm sure he can help.

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:41 am
by Franz repper
There is one guy in the 39/45 society meet him at the SVR weekend one of only 7 germans who turned up

handschar reenactment

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:01 pm
by BJ
Yes we got lots of good feedback at Beltering we usually do 85th Gebirgsjager but we also from time to time wear Handschar. the field grey fez is from http://www.militariacollection.com/ hope this helps..BJ

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:06 pm
by crossofiron
Antiques markets, collectable/vintage shops are always good for that, i got a really old one from a rag mill!

Re: handschar reenactment

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 9:35 pm
by Kononov1941
BENNY wrote:hello please could anyone tell me if they know where you can get hold of repro handschar division fezs and i would love to go to a show as a handschar ss soldier. thanks for your time.
They wore squat maroon fez with Waffen SS hoheitsabzeichen and skull & bones for "dress" uniform, and squat feldgrau fez for use in the field (with usual Waffen SS eagle and skull woven, or embroidered, insignia). The bright green fez offered by some less reputable militaria dealers as "authentic" are quite fake. Period color photography bears this out.
Of course this was only worn by the Bosnian moslem cadre, and German officers and NCOs who wanted a different look, or for whatever individual reason. Most German personnel wore the usual Waffen SS headgear (schirmutz, feldmutz etc.). Seems some of the Waffen SS German NCOs weren't too crazy about the "exotic" moslem personnel, and were quite brutal in their dealings with them at the training post.
References: Foreign Legions of the Third Reich, Vol. 3 by David Littlejohn
Uniforms, Organization and History of the Waffen SS Vol.3 by Hugh Page Taylor

Re: handschar reenactment

Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 3:27 pm
by Salacious Crumb
On the Wehrmacht-Awards.com forum the general conclusion is that only officers and some NCO 's wore the red fez. They've never seen a picture of a plain soldier with a red fez.

Re: handschar reenactment

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 12:49 am
by Kononov1941
Salacious Crumb wrote:On the Wehrmacht-Awards.com forum the general conclusion is that only officers and some NCO 's wore the red fez. They've never seen a picture of a plain soldier with a red fez.
Oh dear, they need to buy some books. Many many period photos are in print of Enlisted (SS-Mann & up) personnel of Handschar.

Re: handschar reenactment

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:07 pm
by Salacious Crumb
And your point is...? They have many books concerning the subject otherwise they don't come to such conclusion and the persons who made the conclusion are owner of original Handschar pictures and militaria. An other strong point is that one of them interviewed 4 veterans: one officer and 3 enlisted. The officer thold him he got 2 red fezes and he could get a green one if he needed one, but never did. The 3 enlisted thold him they never got red ones.

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/ ... =Handschar

Re: handschar reenactment

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:21 pm
by Kononov1941
Salacious Crumb wrote:And your point is...? They have many books concerning the subject otherwise they don't come to such conclusion and the persons who made the conclusion are owner of original Handschar pictures and militaria. An other strong point is that one of them interviewed 4 veterans: one officer and 3 enlisted. The officer thold him he got 2 red fezes and he could get a green one if he needed one, but never did. The 3 enlisted thold him they never got red ones.

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/ ... =Handschar
Um, chill out; I have many references on foreign units; and there is, I repeat, ample period photography (AND film footage) of large formations of maroon fez-wearing Moslem Bosnian Handschar personnel. This is seperate and distinctive from the feldgrau fez photgraphy and footage. I have no idea who the veterans are who you mention, BUT it really depends on the TIME FRAME they were posted to 13. Waffen Division der SS "Handschar". If they meant "no maroon fezzes" in FIELD use, I would humbly concur with them.

Re: handschar reenactment

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:53 pm
by Bergführer
http://img176.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... 184ms7.jpg

Here is my new Fez repro, it's a little bit darker than the photo shows, and I'm really proud of it. I'm going to put bevo insignia (will buy them on Saturday I guess), but I had only those (they are still nice, no funny-looking skull etc) and wanted to see how it looks with insignia ; ) It was hand-made on my special order by very old company that makes woman hats (since 1912 )

Re: handschar reenactment

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:12 pm
by Kononov1941
It looks pretty darn good, man.