Update: purple ink marking on gas detection brassards

The photo below was sent to me by Paul Smith. His brassard looks authentic, but he was wondering about the color of the ink of the stamping inside. This was an aspect I had not considered when I first wrote the article. But when comparing his picture to others I have on file (yes, I am one of those tireless auction pic hunters), I found another one with the marking in purple ink. Also including 'SL' in the code. I still have no clue what these codes stand for, except for the month/year part. I surmise that 'SL' is the manufacturer code and that the ink was originally black too, as on the others shown in my article, but that the ink discolored over time. You may have noticed similar discoloration from black to purple on WW2 period documents. So I am putting it down to a different ink used by that particular manufacturer.
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Review: Museum Dezember 1944

I must have been a teenager when I last visited this museum at La Gleize in the Ardennes. It is one of the many museums in the area about the Battle of the Bulge. Most started as private collections that grew into museums open to the public. Some larger than others. All of the ones I have visited have American and German mannequins, but most focus on a particular part of the Ardennes offensive. Dezember 1944 focuses on the battle at and around La Gleize. Nearby is the famous village of Trois Ponts, where the 505th PIR of the 82nd Airborne managed to push back the advance of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler of the 1st SS Panzerdivision.
I visited the museum again last weekend, and found it pretty much as I remembered it. Quite small, but with some interesting pieces. To name a few: 82nd Airborne uniforms and helmets (which were mostly unmarked by the way), M1 and M9 bazookas, a 75mm pack howitzer, a white tongue 101st Airborne patch, some M1A1 carbines, and an SS paratrooper with a spotted camo jumpsmock (Knochensack). I am no specialist at that, but I think that must be very rare. This is the second museum with a repro FG42 on display (the other one is at Ambleteuse in France). This repro is really awesome, and perfectly acceptable to show in a museum, but I think they ought to point out that it's a copy. Anyway, the museum is really worth the 5 EUR visit. But don't buy the guide in Dutch, which is another 5 EUR. The translation is terrible.

Updated: dated Taylor wrist compasses

I always thought that the Taylor wrist compasses were never dated, but Henry Behrendt send me pictures of two Taylor wrist compasses which he opened up. He found out that the spiral inside is marked at the bottom. One is clearly dated JUN 15 1944.
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Link: Para Research Team

Surfing on a snowy Sunday, I stumbled upon the nice web site of Para Research Team by Donald Van Den Bogert. A guy who knows a lot about paratroopers and has put a lot of time (much more than me!) in research. Some very interesting uniform and equipment pictures can also be found on this site.

Also check out my updated Links page. Some sites have disappeared, but I added some new ones too.