Need help identifying this ?WW1 uniform please?

[geoffro316]

G'day...

Have just been given a photo of my Great Grandfather Beck who appears to be in some sort of military uniform but we can't find any records to confirm what country, or army he was involved with! Does anyone here recognise this uniform?

Details we know;

Surname: BECK

Country of birth: Her headstone reads "BORN YUGOSLAVIA" 1919

Date of photo: Unknown for sure but thinking around 1923 to 1927?

Other: My Grandmother (a child in this photo) was born in Europe in 1919. She gave us a ceramic dinner "plate" with an etching showing a town called "VELBERT AM OFFERS" inscribed on it (VELBERT is in the NW part of Germany). We always thought this was the town she was born in however we've always been under the impression she was Croatian/Yugoslavian so maybe she had lived in VELBERT at some stage? She did speak fluent German at home however this may have been because of WW2 (her husband, my Grandfather was Yugoslavian but was in the Nazi Waffen SS).

Any help would be appreciated.....

Thanks in advance!!

[purlin]

The uniform does seem to be that of the Serbian Army,  have a look at the following link.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/479281585317035023/

[KGarrad]

There is a street in the town of Velbert, called Am Offers?

[geoffro316]

Thanks for the replies, will check them both out...   

[Regorian]

I don't want to confuse matters, but this uniform could have started out life as Austro-Hungarian Army. Evidently your family were Volksdeutche with a name like Beck. Pity there's not a headress in evidence, that would have been a giveaway.

Certainly the Germans were keen to raise a force of Yugoslavs in WWII even if it was as small as a hundred men. Don't know whether it came to anything. There were the Cetniks, loyal to King Peter or Tito's communist partisans.

There were three Croatian divisions in German Army (369, 373 and 392) wearing their uniforms but with red/white chequer board shields on one arm.

All foreign troops were transferred to Waffen SS in time. 

 

[geoffro316]

Interesting you mentioned Beck being a Volksdeutsch name! My Grandfather (surname Stegh) was living in Jarmina Yugolslavia and enlisted in the Waffen SS Mountain Infantry during WW2. He ended up being on the run after the war and met my Grandmother (Beck) in Austria where they married. They then emigrated to Australia and that's pretty much where my story starts!

I don't really have any information about my Grandmothers family (Beck) other than she being born in Mitrovic or similar (her father is wearing the uniform in the photo). Same goes for my Grandfather, all I have is a photo of him wearing a Waffen SS uniform with an Edelweiss patch on the arm, and bearing the rank equivalent to a Sergeant. I think his family may have been Danube-Swabians but not sure? I believe his father, and Great Grandfather were also born in Jarmina but again, I have very little info and don't know how to go about getting more? I'd love to see his military records but I'm assuming they would have been destroyed during the war?

I was adopted at birth so my biological familes have been a big mystery for the last 44 years!!

Cheers

Geoff
Australia

[Regorian]

Numbered 7. SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division "Prinz Eugen" from Feb '44, established 1st March 1942.
Recruited from Southern European Volksdeutsche.

Personal records could be at Freiburg, Koblenz or Berlin, but I don't know.

[geoffro316]

Do you know if theres a way to search for them online?

[Regorian]

I doubt it. Best write to BAMA Freiburg and ask if and where such records are held. They have websites and no doubt addresses.