Post by horsesoldier176 on Mar 27, 2009 22:30:00 GMT -5
Comrades;
My primary impression is a Red Army soldier, but our unit has a German sister unit from the same general area.
From time, to time I have done events with this German unit, but since I do not want to portray a "fascist invader", I portray a Ukrainian Cavalryman who was wounded, and captured as a result of Operation Barbarossa.
As many of you know, the Red Army lost many thousand troops in the early days of the GPW, but what you may not be aware of is how the Germans differentiated them. All, or most ethnic Russians were taken to POW camps, and used as forced labor. Ethnic minorities from the Soviet Union were often segregated from the Russian POWs, and treated differently. I am aware of a man from my home town who was a Red Army soldier in 1940, who was captured by the Germans, but because he was Latvian, not Russian, he was given a choice. Fight for the Germans, or die in a ditch. He choose to fight, in hopes of survival, which somehow he managed to accomplish.
I am looking to put together a similar character, so I can go to certain west front events with my local German unit, without being a German soldier. I know that the German Army formed a unit, referred to as the "Ukrainian Legion", which served initially under Army command, and in 1944 was transferred to SS command.
My question is this. Does anyone have, or know what the regulations were regarding the uniform worn by the YBB (Ukrainian Legion)? I have only found one photograph, and it seems to suggest that they wore a standard German Army uniform, but with no swastika, or German insignia of any kind. Instead, they had a shield patch with the yellow, and blue of the Ukraine, and the Cyrillic letters YBB above, sewn half way between the elbow, and point of the shoulder on the left sleeve, and the same patch sewn on the left side of the M-43 style field cap. For rank designation, they appear to be wearing Soviet M-43 style pogori (shoulder boards), but it is clearly not a German style shoulder board.
If you have any other, or additional information, pictures, or regulations, please let me know.
Spaceba
Leshod
My primary impression is a Red Army soldier, but our unit has a German sister unit from the same general area.
From time, to time I have done events with this German unit, but since I do not want to portray a "fascist invader", I portray a Ukrainian Cavalryman who was wounded, and captured as a result of Operation Barbarossa.
As many of you know, the Red Army lost many thousand troops in the early days of the GPW, but what you may not be aware of is how the Germans differentiated them. All, or most ethnic Russians were taken to POW camps, and used as forced labor. Ethnic minorities from the Soviet Union were often segregated from the Russian POWs, and treated differently. I am aware of a man from my home town who was a Red Army soldier in 1940, who was captured by the Germans, but because he was Latvian, not Russian, he was given a choice. Fight for the Germans, or die in a ditch. He choose to fight, in hopes of survival, which somehow he managed to accomplish.
I am looking to put together a similar character, so I can go to certain west front events with my local German unit, without being a German soldier. I know that the German Army formed a unit, referred to as the "Ukrainian Legion", which served initially under Army command, and in 1944 was transferred to SS command.
My question is this. Does anyone have, or know what the regulations were regarding the uniform worn by the YBB (Ukrainian Legion)? I have only found one photograph, and it seems to suggest that they wore a standard German Army uniform, but with no swastika, or German insignia of any kind. Instead, they had a shield patch with the yellow, and blue of the Ukraine, and the Cyrillic letters YBB above, sewn half way between the elbow, and point of the shoulder on the left sleeve, and the same patch sewn on the left side of the M-43 style field cap. For rank designation, they appear to be wearing Soviet M-43 style pogori (shoulder boards), but it is clearly not a German style shoulder board.
If you have any other, or additional information, pictures, or regulations, please let me know.
Spaceba
Leshod