Bundesgrenzschutz Hosengürtel und Koppelschloss, BGS Leather Belt and Buckle

For my first posting of the new year, I'll be showing off an often overlooked piece of the Bundesgrenzschutz uniform, the standard leather service belt.

The Bundesgrenzschutz belt and buckle are nearly identical to the old WW2 German belts and buckles, and the two can often be mistaken for each other.  

The BGS belt is heavy leather with a short stretch of double holes on the tail end.  The buckle is cast metal with two prongs and a pebbled finish.  On the belt that I have, it appears that there is the light remains of a light olive-gray paint in the low spots and on the back.

These belts were worn on the uniform pants and over the top of the Field Camo Jackets and Dress Uniform Jackets.  They were used to carry pistol holsters, magazine pouches, etc........ Here is an interesting bit of information that I received from a friend and former BGS officer in Germany.  Prior to 1999, the BGS troopers were only issued one leather belt.  When the belt was worn over the jacket or parka, a light cloth belt was worn on the BDU pants.  After 1999, the BGS issued 2 leather belts to each trooper.  I have one of the light cloth belts that I will show off in a future posting......

There is not much more that can be said about these belts, other than they are probably one of the most constant of all the BGS uniform items through the years.  I'll let the photos show the details:

And to finish up this posting, here are a few historic photos of some BGS troopers wearing their belts.