help with id'ing these guys.

[otisaxe]

hello all. am new to this site but have been collecting for a while. i have quite a few photos i think may interest some of you that i hope to post a link to soon. can anyone tell me anything about the guys on this photo ? sorry about the quality but not too good with all these gizmos. any views welcome all help appreciated. can ANYONE read whats on the back ?

[Hiltraut Tieden]

Here is my deciphering (I'm afraid it does not help you much as far as id'ing):

Saufst stirbst,
saufst nit stirbst a,
also saufst.

roughly translates to:
you booze, you'll die
you don't booze, you'll still die,
so booze.

[HeinrichFrey]

Hello,
according to the (written) dialect the author came from the south of Germany, mayby Franconia border to Baden or Swabia. Soldiers of a Luftwaffe unit coming from the Wehrkreis XIII. Are there more related pictures available?

[ghp95134]

[quote="HeinrichFrey"]...Soldiers of a Luftwaffe unit coming from the Wehrkreis XIII. ...quote]

Luftwaffe???? Those are Police!
http://www.german-helmets.com/Police%20 ... 20Main.htm

--Guy

[Gebirgsjaeger]

Hello,
according to the (written) dialect the author came from the south of Germany, mayby Franconia border to Baden or Swabia.

That´s not true in my opinion. It sounds more likely like dialect from upper bavaria - and the verse "saufst, stirbst - saufst ned, stirbst a" ist still very much in use here in upper bavaria where I live. Maybe in parts of Austria, too.

[otisaxe]

Wow thanks guys. I thought they were police due to the cap badges. the translation is great ! picked the photos (3) up in Warsaw but not sure they are a group as the others do not appear to be police. any idea if they are early/late war ? as i said i hope to post more of my photos soon. thanks again for the help

[HeinrichFrey]

From upper Franconia to upper Bavaria: . The "nit" told me the region but I can fail too. In my own dialect I say "ned". The "a" instead of "auch" is used mainly in Franconia AND Bavaria whereas the "nit" in different pronounciations like ni(e)t or ni(a)t even could mention into direction of Thuringia.
Hello Otis: 40 is no age. Are there buildings on the other photos? Be so free to put them in. And could I have a closer look at the cap insignias? At a first glance I thought it was Luftwaffe. Maybe Guy is right.

[ghp95134]

I think it is an early photo: note the kokard and compare to this image I found on a Google search:

Oberst Walter Fritsch, Leiter der SA-Feldpolizei von 1933 bis 1935.

Photo source HERE

Cheers!
--Guy

[HeinrichFrey]

Hi Guy!
Indeed. Two of the men probably were horse-mounted (beritten). Does this fit?

[Gebirgsjaeger]

Hi Guy!
Indeed. Two of the men probably were horse-mounted (beritten). Does this fit?

The "Reitstiefel" (riding boots) point to that.