Ski boots...axis or allied???

[someone]

Been a while guys, but now i think i again lost to my addiction of bying wwii related junk

This is something thats puzzling me a little.

I found these ski/mountain boots, and as stupid as it sounds, i really cant tell weather they are German or Allied. The price was very very low, so i took them on. Hell, for £5, they would have been a curiocity on the shelf if nothing more.

It seems that allied and axis ski boots were very simular. I saw some pictures and researched it, but i really cant tell what these are. I think they are definetly wwii looking at the age, or thereabouts, maybe just post war.

They look like they are brown leather dyed black, but im not entierly sure. They have square noses and square toe caps, like ski boots. They are 8 eyelets hight, with 4 holes, then 3 hooks, then a hole again. They have a pullstrap at the back. They have no markings exept stampings on the insoles, both match, saying 8 672. I thought they were british and 8 was a size, but these are tiny, about size 6 brit maybe. I thought, if they were american they would have the manufacturers name, of they were brittish they would have the arrow mark, if they wer Swedish they would have had the crown, and if they were post war german they would have had a serial/issue number stamped in the tounge? but they dont have anything like that. Just that number on the insole. Just like my later war combat jackboots had.

They have a brown leather lining inside, and have one single strap/buckle going across them, which is white leather, not sure if its a later addition or not.

Sole is layered leather with a stich-through full lengh welt, however, they have been resoled with this...plastic type material. Like the 'last ditch' german resoled boots, where the outer sole is basically made of some kind of recycled plastic or something.

They have heel and toe plates and mountain side-plates nailed onto the sole.

Unfortunatly i cant post any pics at the moment because my computer is playing up for some reason. But i will try to post some tomorrow.

But from what i described, anyone know what the hell these are? Would be very interasting to find out. Are there any features which can tell wwii german ski boots appart from other ones?

Thanks

[someone]

Here are some pictures









Any ideas anyone?

Can anyone at least suggest some kind of features to look for to eliminate allied boots or post war boots? WWII era footwear isnt my area of expertise...but there must be someone on here who knows these well enough to know the little diteils?

All suggestions welcomed.

[Fraulein Valkyrie]

Hello someone,

I'm not sure what the boots you bought are--Allied, civilian, or postwar. But the overall shape (more squared toe) and upper construction are different from a pair of WWII German Bergschuhe I've posted photos of below, along with the left and right elastic wool wraps. Notice also the band of feldgrau wool sewn around the top of the boots, a distinctive mark of WWII German mountain boots.

Also see the third photo from Alpenkorps im Angriff (Schützen-Verlag, 1940) for an original photo of upper design and cleat and nail placement. Unfortunately, many of the nails have been lost on the pair in my photos because of shrinkage of the sole leather, but the pattern of them is still clear.

~FV

[phylo_roadking]

They COULD be of German manufacture - if not military issue. And not necessarily wartime either. In the rear view pic, the stitching on the rear and the is HIGHLY reminiscent of German MkIII para boots - and I'm looking at a pair as I type this. Especially the double-row stitching just above the ankle bone stitching the two layers of leather together.

[Fraulein Valkyrie]

Are the extra buckle straps across the top of the instep military? Years ago, I had an old pair of (what, as far as I knew were) women's civilian ski boots with a similar strap for support. They also had the lacing hooks instead of grommets up the top part of the closure.

~FV

[Simon Orchard]

They're civillian boots but the wearing of civillian ski boots by members of the army wasn't uncommon. I've seen photos of soldiers wearing cross strap style boots.

[Simon Orchard]

Like this photo taken in early 1945 of Hauptmann Johann Krautzer, last commander of I./GJR 143