I leanrt something new about German WW2 helmets.Apparently the M45 model which was never produced because of the end of the war looked like this: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/attachments/steel-helmets/1162d1193517227-m45-helmets-german-late-war-doll.jpg
When I saw it, I immediately thought of the NVA, the Nationale Volksarmee of the GDR. And in fact their helmet is based on the M45 design which they decided to use for their armed forces in 1956.
Rather than adopting the Soviet helmet like the Bundeswehr did with the US army one in 1956 they went for a German solution which would not remind people of the Wehrmacht but would still look distinctly German in design. Unfortunate that the new , unified Bundeswehr did not retain it in 1991
Here's the last parade of the NVA in October 1989.The last true Prussian-style parade in German history with the Preussischer Paradeschritt also called Stechstritt (The Goose step in English) and Prussian military marches.
Last edited by frinik on Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:18 pm; edited 1 time in total
Frinik... Sorry I don't understand what your question has to do with my remark about the last true Prussian style parade?
Now you have me even more confused with your latest statement.
So what you are saying with your original statement is that the photo you have posted of E. German troops in parade while marching "Preussischer Paradeschritt" style was made up with Prussian state trooper's and that the style of the parade and march is/was only performed in the Prussia state?
Woofie I was talking about East Germany which where what's (mostly)left of Prussia is located. In fact the GRD/DDR was often nicknamed the Red Prussia. What was not clear about what I said? The Stechschritt (goosestep) is a Prussian invention. I was also saying the last one in German history because the Bundeswehr has refused to keep that tradition.
However because German( mostly Prussian) military advisors and officers trained and served in the Tsarist armies this customs was adopted by the Russians and later kept by the Bolsheviks and passed on to all their communist lackeys( through Soviet military advisors) hence why the North Koreans and assorted communist tyrannies use a version of it.
Because German military advisors were also very popular in Latin America countries like Chile and Peru also adopted it and still use it also with the German Stahlhelm(M40) model for ceremonial purposes.
frinik... Yes, I now understand your statement about the Prussian style of march your referring to.
In the town I grew up in, there is a set of buildings that date back to the Revolutionary War on what is still called Barracks Hill Road and on this property were barracks for Hessian & British prisoners of war and also there is still a hand dung water well that was made by the same prisoner's.
http://jsha.org/articles/082-088_Webler.pdf
In the autumn of 1777, following the capture of hun- dreds of German troops at the Battle of Bennington, the General Council issued a similar directive to the Commit- tees of Safety in Massachusetts Counties to take captives as laborers, paying them reasonable wages and providing protection and sustenance.
These captives were taken from their march from Bennington to Boston, from the prison ships in the harbor and, later, from the newly constructed prison camp at Rutland, Massachusetts.
The cost to the state of caring for the captives would be less if some were housed and fed by state inhabitants. A substantial number of the “farmed out” soldiers elected to remain in America, often marrying American women and raising many children in their new country.
All Germans able to march were taken the way of the officers captured at Bennington, along a southern route through Great Barrington, to Springfield, Worcester and Cambridge.
A few German soldiers deserted from the march, some died, while others later ran off from the prison camp at Winter Hill in Cambridge or later from the POW camp at Rutland, Massachusetts.
Since the King of England at a time ( and his descendants today including her Majesty QE 2)was a German he favoured using a lot of German mercenaries mostly Hessians but also Saxons and Swiss Germans ( one of whom brought the first decorated Christmas tree to the New World in 1783).These men were often poor peasants sent by their families to work as mercenaries in order to sustain large families in Germany and Switzerland. They were good, hard working people and good soldiers. A lot of them settled in Canada as well.
Interestingly enough I learned that all the Verners ( that's my last name) in Canada except for us come from a common ancestor, a Johann Verner, who was a Hessian mercenary serving in the British army in Canada up until 1787. That year he retired and married a local woman in Quebec that year and they had 13 children. Some their descendants founded a town in Ontario called Verner and one of them became a famous Canadian painter in the 19th century. I have met quite a few of these Verners; some are French-speaking others English-speaking. They always think I am related to them.
Very interesting story concerning your family history. You are fortunate to have been able to meet your relatives from around the globe during your life time.
My father's parents came to America from Ireland [my grandfather] and Sweden [my grandmother] just before the turn of the 19th century and with only my grandmother who still living when I was growing up did I know.
My mother's father and mother [who had passed away before my time] were English & Scottish and her family came to America in 1623 with the first Pilgrims and eventually settled in what is now the state of Maine and in some of the other New England states, but at the time period Maine was still a Massachusetts territory.
My mother who has since passed away and a number of her family are still members of the "National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims" and the "Daughters of the American Revolution and "Sons of the American Revolution" societies. My mother's family also have written a family book [which I have two copies] which traces their family tree with all of the data and public records supporting their family claim's of being a direct descendant from John Howland one of the first Pilgrims.
So at this time we can date back our family tree claim to the American Revolution on my mother's side to a cook that was part of a Connecticut unit which was part the Revolutionary Army. LoL
Actually they are not my relatives as I said in my story we are not related at all. May be you and I are? My paternal forebears come from Sweden - hence my name Verner which is Swedish - and they moved to and settled in Koenigsberg ( East Prussia )circa 1722.
Oh you can say that you are blue blood and one of those who can almost trace his ancestry to the Mayflower?
Not sure why you call your war of independence revolution since it was essentially about claiming independence from the mother country and going on your own? There was nothing revolutionary about it in the sense that it was not the first time that a country had claimed its independence from another.
frinik... one of those who can almost trace his ancestry to the Mayflower?
No, not at all.
My mother and her family can fully trace their heritage and family roots from legal and public documents such as birth, marriage and death records, these documents are what the family book is written from. These documents are a must and a requirement in order to be vetted into either the "National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims" or "Daughters of the American Revolution and "Sons of the American Revolution".
This is not some old family wise tale passed down from bottle to bottle during family meetings.
But maybe, yes, just maybe our ancestors met on the battlefield here in the New World. Yours holding a rifle and mine holding a chicken leg while cooking soup for the troops! LoL
Except that as far as I know none of my family made it o the new World until the 20th century....Although it's possible that some of my unknown relatives from Sweden may have migrated in the 19th century.
Isn't ironic that countries with the highest standards of living and the envy of the World such as Sweden or Switzerland were dirt poor in the 19th and early 20th century and had to send their sons to the new World to escape poverty? I guess industrialisation changed everything.
frinik... World such as Sweden or Switzerland were dirt poor in the 19th and early 20th century
But how do you measure wealth frinik?
Yes, having some bills in your wallet and bank account is a necessary part of life. But I place more credence in the fact that my wife and I have been married for a little over 40 years and our children who are now in their mid and late thirty's still call home when they go somewhere.
I would give more credit to being wealthy not to the material items we have, but in the fact that if one of us in our family falls down, there is a family member who will drop what they are doing and help us back to our feet again.
Having more wealth is when I receive a telephone call from one of our kids who just wants to talk after a bad day at work.
Again having a wad of bills is great, but having family values is far greater than material wealth, at least in my book anyway.
Musing about how to measure wealth aside( not that I disagree with you .I think family is indeed the greatest wealth of all) I was just using classical standards on how you define standard of living ( not quality of life mind you).
frinik... Musing about how to measure wealth aside
Taking into account that the thread was/is about German helmets, I would venture to say we have philosophically deviated from the true path of subject.
Hem yes of course German helmets which has absolutely nothing to do with hem, Steel Fury, hem obviously... Joke aside that's what fora should be; places where people can engage in civilised debate and exchange of ideas. At least that was the original Greek concept of a forum( which they called agora)
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