The Himmler's SS (53 page)

SS-Gruppenführer Walter Krüger, commander of ‘Das Reich' in September 1943. He wears the heavily embroidered collar patches and shoulder straps of an SS general.

The SS-Fachführer wore a blank right collar patch and shoulder strap piping in dark-green until June 1942. After that date, piping was in a red and grey twist. If a specialist showed that he was capable of commanding a military unit corresponding to his Fachführer rank, the latter ceased and he continued in his duties as a full officer or NCO of the Waffen-SS.

Waffen-SS ranks were indicated by a combination of collar patches and shoulder straps. The earliest armed SS units were technically on the local Abschnitt staff, and as such members wore blank right collar patches. In May 1933, officers' patches began to be piped in a black/aluminium twisted cord, and those of other ranks in white cord. With the rapid expansion of the militarised SS formations, it soon became clear that some kind of distinctive collar insignia was required for the Leibstandarte and Politische Bereitschaften, and towards the end of the year patches bearing double Sig-Runes, hand-embroidered in silver bullion for officers and white or silver-grey cotton for other ranks, were issued to soldiers of the LAH. In June 1934, the SS PBs attached to Oberabschnitte Süd, Südwest and Mitte were authorised to wear runic ‘SS 1' ‘SS 2' and ‘SS 3' patches, respectively, with the numbers as large as the runes, and three months later non-commissioned ranks in the LAH and SS-VT were further distinguished by being allowed to use aluminium wire embroidery on their collar patches. In October, the piping on officers' patches was changed to the definitive plain aluminium cord, with the black/aluminium twist now being adopted by other ranks.

The rest of the prewar period witnessed the introduction of machine-embroidered collar patches for the field uniform, death's heads and other designs for SS-TV and specialist units, and the adoption of the ‘SS 1', ‘SS 2' and ‘SS 3' patches, this time with small numbers, by the ‘Deutschland', ‘Germania' and ‘Der Führer' Standarten.

When army-pattern shoulder straps were introduced for the armed SS in March 1938, it was apparent that the wearing of dual rank badges on both the left collar patch (SS rank) and shoulder straps (army equivalent) was unnecessary. However, Himmler decreed that SS ranks should still be displayed. The situation was exacerbated at the outbreak of war, with the LAH, SS-VT and SS-TV being given specific roles alongside the Wehrmacht. The ordinary German soldier was bemused by the SS rank system, and was at a loss to know which SS men he was supposed to salute and whose orders he was obliged to obey. It therefore became absolutely essential, for practical and disciplinary reasons, that Waffen-SS rank badges should correspond to those in the armed forces and be easily recognised as such. Consequently, during the formation of the first SS field divisions in the autumn of 1939, it was decided that their personnel should not wear SS rank patches. Instead, they received matching collar patches with the runes or death's head on both sides. Their ranks were indicated solely by shoulder straps, in the army style. However, prewar Waffen-SS officers and men jealously retained their existing collar patches, showing their SS ranks.

The increased use of camouflage smocks, which covered the shoulder straps and, indeed, all insignia except the collar patches, led Himmler to rescind the matching collar patch order on 10 May 1940, and reintroduce the SS rank patch for all Waffen-SS members. At the same time, the need for security during the invasion of the Low Countries and France rendered obsolete all SS-VT and SS-TV collar patches bearing numerals or letters, which were ordered removed. The result was that for a short time during the western campaign-personnel in the SS-Verfügungsdivision wore no collar patches at all. From then on, the basic SS runes collar patch became standard for all German and Germanic Waffen-SS formations except Totenkopf units, whose members continued to wear the death's head, now produced in a horizontal version more suitable for use on the closed-neck field tunic. In August 1940, the black/aluminium twisted cord bordering other ranks' patches was abolished, leaving these patches unbordered for the rest of the war.

With the increasing recruitment of non-Germans into the Waffen-SS after 1940, Himmler became concerned about the use of the SS runes insignia by those not racially suitable for full SS membership, and he instructed that such recruits should wear some other form of badge on the right collar patch. The SS thereafter designed and issued a range of appropriate (and sometimes inappropriate) collar patches for its foreign units, and pending the distribution of these insignia blank patches were often worn in new units as an interim measure. German SS officers and NCOs serving in foreign formations were still entitled to wear the SS runes collar patch and, from July 1943, if they chose to identify with their men by wearing the distinctive unit patch, they were obliged to sport the SS runes embroidered below the left breast pocket instead. The latter insignia was identical to that worn by SS men in the German police.

The wearing of collar patches did not always conform to regulations. Matching patches and vertical death's heads, although prohibited in 1940, continued to be worn well into 1942, and officers often used other ranks' patches in the field, or removed the cording from their own patches. In 1943, machine-woven versions of the SS runes and horizontal death's head patches were produced, but the earlier embroidered examples were still being issued at the end of the war. Recruits under training often wore no collar patches at all.

The table on p. 253 lists all SS-VT, SS-TV and Waffen-SS unit collar patches which have been confirmed by contemporary photo-graphic or documentary evidence as having been worn. They were produced in embroidered versions only, unless otherwise indicated.

A number of other strange patches were designed for foreign SS formations, primarily the eastern divisions, but these were never worn by the personnel concerned, remaining in storage at the Dachau clothing depot.

Foreign SS collar patches. These were designed, but never issued to the units concerned: A – Danes in ‘Nordland'; B – 14th Division/30th Division; C – ‘Horst Wessel'; D – ‘Skanderbeg'; E – 29th Division (Russian); F – 29th Division (Italian); G – ‘Wallonien'; H – 30th Division; I – Tartars; J – Caucasians; K – Indian Legion.

Members of the armed SS wore standard Allgemeine-SS shoulder straps on the right side only until 1935, when the earth-grey uniform was introduced. In July of that year, SS-VT officers were ordered to wear their Allgemeine-SS straps on both shoulders of the grey uniform. Other ranks received army-pattern straps made of plain earth-grey material, or earth-brown for SS-TV troops. In 1936, these enlisted men's shoulder straps were replaced first by a round-ended black version piped in black/aluminium twisted cord, then by an unpiped black type with pointed ends. None of these early straps identified the wearer's rank, as that was shown by his collar patches.

In March 1938, army-pattern straps with black underlay and gilt stars were issued to all armed SS officers, and NCOs began to wear aluminium lace, or Tresse, and white metal ‘pips'. Rank was thereafter clearly indicated by the straps. From December 1939, officers sported coloured Waffenfarbe piping between the aluminium braid and black underlay, and other ranks received their definitive Waffenfarbe-piped black straps with rounded ends. A large number of unit identification insignia were worn on the shoulder straps. For officers, these numerals and ciphers were initially in gilt metal, then bronze after 1940. Other ranks had them embroidered directly on to their straps or on to removable slip-on tabs from 1940. The table on p. 255 lists the various identification badges known to have been used on Waffen-SS shoulder straps.

Waffen-SS collar patches. These are known to have been issued and worn by the following units during the Second World War: A – all German and Germanic Waffen-SS formations; B – SS-VT Standarte ‘Deutschland'; C – Totenkopf units; D – SS-Polizei-Division and police regiments; E – specialists and foreign units not allocated other patches; F – ‘Prinz Eugen'; G – ‘Nordland'; H – ‘Handschar'; I – 14th Division; J – 15th Division; K – Latvian Legion/15th and 19th Divisions; L – 20th Division (official patch dating from June 1944); M – 20th Division (unofficial patch dating from October 1943); N – 20th Division (official patch dating from October 1944); O – 20th Division (unofficial patch made in Tartu, February 1944); P – ‘Maria Theresa'; Q – Dutch Legion/'Nederland' (official patch dating from November 1941); R – Dutch Legion/'Nederland' (unofficial patch); S – ‘Nordwest'/Freikorps Danmark/Flemish Legion/'Langemarck'; T – ‘Landstorm Nederland' (unofficially continued from the Landwacht Nederland); U – Dirlewanger Brigade/36th Division; V – Non-SS concentration camp guards.

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