What is that?or maybe who?

[Klaus_Arzt]

indeed, speaking of these reenactment photos (with all due respect to these guys) the one can always see that a great deal of them is not in a very good shape, yeah.
but you know, on one hand it still could be a VERY GOOD Photoshop work but on the other as you've already mentioned - everything is correct.
so i'm completely confused here...

[phylo_roadking]

IF digitally modified, I can only assume another soldier could have been taken out of the middle and the bear put in. I can't see that there's any scope in a posed group shot like this for doing anything else - the two prone figures on the ground greatly limit the scope for messing about with what's "behind" them It makes it next to impossible to play with lateral spacing or alteration, was in effect that "shape" in the middle is locked on THREE sides - left, right...and bottom by the two figures on the ground.

Given THAT major limitation - I can't see why.

[pak]

Just been having a closer look at the pic, the guys in it are definitely in "parade" dress - single pouch, no Y-straps, leather gloves; NO automatic weapons, the officers have no sidearms. And interestingly NO medals or ribbons at all.

Some sort of passing-out/end-of-training lark??? I wonder what or where "Feldpost 43208 D" is???

I think Phylo is on to something when he thinks it is some sort of passing-out/end-of-training thing.

I was thinking about placing this in time, and got a friend to look at the picture and see if he could come up with some kind of timeframe for when the picture was taken, based on unifordetails etc.

We both noticed that the guns looks longer that the Kar 98K. Does that indicate some sort of reserve unit?

- Only one ammo-pouch, seen used by secondline units. My friend has not seen anything about only one pouch used at parades.
- Double decal helmets, indicates pre mid 1940, unless it was a field unit.
- Unpainted buttons and buckles was usual before the war, especially aluminum buckles which these seems to be.
- NCOs and even corporals wearing "peaked caps", indicates prewar, because this was disallowd after the breakout of the war. (Even though rules are to be broken)
- There are no difference between the uniformparts (blouses and trousers) which indicates a unit recently supplied with uniforms.

All of these details makes my friend think it is recruit training, latest mid 1940.

But what about the polar bear? Could this be for a unit with a polar bear in its unit markings?
Like ID 24?

My two cents

[Klaus_Arzt]

Thanks pak for your detailed explanation, but what about ID24's unit markings? quite frankly i can't recollect this

[pak]

Thanks pak for your detailed explanation, but what about ID24's unit markings? quite frankly i can't recollect this

They had a polar bear in their unit markings, see http://www.feldgrau.com/InfDiv.php?ID=24

[Klaus_Arzt]

aha thx i got that, well, still it's rather hard to tell what Div this guys in the photo are from.
but admitting this is the case (that they're from 24 InfDiv) - may be u r right - they wanted to somehow honor or i donnaw, point out that the polar bear is not only their Unit Emblem but also kind of mascot.

[sebastian]

it definately is reasonable thinking,and very assumable from pak!

[tigre]

Hello pals ; another bear, this ones from the (F)./ 22. See the bear's emblem on one of its Ju-88 and the bear itself.......

Source: ebay auction (expired)

Cheers. Raúl M .

[Klaus_Arzt]

sweeeeet! :-)It looks like they've got a new crew member.

[Klaus_Arzt]

Is this the very bear from the first photo that i posted on this thread? I can't help but lough look at him

heerbear.jpg (42.95 KiB) Viewed 3573 times

[phylo_roadking]

It's certainly like his grin - and THIS time it's obviously a costume...

[phylo_roadking]

Is it just me or is the polar bear costume+grin the exact spitting image of the one that chases 007 in the ice rink scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service???

[Klaus_Arzt]

The bear looks way toooo happy, may be they gave him smth? he's goona be on drug, yeah, they gave him Amphetamine but i guess it has some side affects on animals, oooh bear, pore bear

[Klaus_Arzt]

i've just found this one on the web, still the same costume??And by the way it's said this photo was aken in 1948??? I don't get it, there's smth bizarre with this bear i have to admit...

bear0003.jpg (14.72 KiB) Viewed 3395 times

[phylo_roadking]

Not unless someone ran a lawnmover over it! It looks a bit too well "barbered"...