Panzerfaust 60

There is, of course, a good reason why I shouldn’t be allowed to go to a militaria show unsupervised. This is it. I went to the Toronto Militaria Show in Etobicoke this weekend and was determined that I would only but something if it was “funky”. The show was filled with masses of German stuff, about half of which was fake. I saw this Panzerfaust 60 (indicating it was accurate to 60 meters which I believe was pretty optimistic) and decided this was the “funky” item. It has been fooled with, there were very few veteran bring-backs of these, who wants to smuggle 10lbs of high explosive home in their satchel? Most of them ended up being thrown into lakes and waterways by the surrendering Volksturm. In consequence almost all of the ones you see are in “relic” condition. This one is far better despite the re-paint and re-stencil job it has had done on it. All of the original bits are still there and it looks awesome!

Commemorative Medal of the Continuation War 1941-1945

This Finnish medal was handed out to all participants in the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union. It was called the Continuation War by the Finns as they saw it as an extension of the 1939 Winter War which they had lost.

This medal was instituted in 1957, not surprisingly just after Stalin’s death. There is a Swedish language version as well for the Swedish volunteers.

Hitler Youth Knife

Here is a Hitler Youth knife that I obtained from Colorado. It’s in absolutely mint condition, suspiciously so. In fact if it wasn’t for the RZM tag still attached to the belt loop I would have said it was too good to be true. As it is this is about as good as it gets except if perhaps there is a mottoed blade out there somewhere.

Hitler Jugend Belt Buckle

I haven’t got into German belt buckles too much. They seem a bit over-priced for what they are. But since I seem to have this little Hitler Jugend collection going on I decided to pick up this minty example from a supplier in Florida. Maybe the Pope wore this one Nothing happened in the war, we were all on holiday!

Erma manufactured MP-40

Here is the most grievously cool bit of militaria in my collection. It’s a 1943 model MP-40 sub-machine pistol manufactured by Erma. The bore has been squeezed to make it a non-firer and therefore legal under Canada’s gun laws. In fact, legally it’s not a gun . My wife said nothing when this came into the house. She said plenty when my firing Sako 22-250 appeared though. This “gun” came from a rather odd guy in southern Ontario.

HJ Award, Kampfspiele Nordsee

This is a winners plaque from the Westerstadione war games held in 1937 in Bremen. It’s made out of zinc I believe and has four holes for mounting. It’s too heavy for a uniform badge so I think it most likely is intended for display on a wall. This came out of a second hand store in Rosseau, Ontario.

Hitler Jugend Field Cap

This is a wartime issue Hitler Jugend field cap. It came out of  militaria shop down at Cookstown. My wife bought it for my birthday, how great is that? For comparison I have included here a photo of our beloved Pope Benedict XVI in the same style of hat. I have a bit of HJ stuff around now, hopefully I can stay motivated enough to get it all on here. The cap has no manufacturers tags inside and is obviously well worn. Some sweaty little teen nazi obviously wore this with pride.