The Ask Jeeves Thread!

[S.Vestae]

How many Waffen SS shirmmutzes NCO and OFF ( all pipe color ) are "alive" today in 2012 ?

[Danmark]

My question relates to M38 feldmutzen - the waffenfarbe "normally" finishes with the ends tucked into the cap just above the lower edge - I understand and see from many period photos that this was official issue. BUT, I have also seen seriously genuine caps with the ends wrapping over the edge. They pass the tests ( UV, burning, shape etc.. ) but are they private purchase or what?? Oh, the examples I have seen were NCO & officer ones.
THanks, Dan

[BenVK]

Such criteria has been set in place over the years by the collecting community. "Normal", "textbook" or "accepted" details of hat construction will forever meet their nemesis sooner or later.

In other words, I wouldn't dismiss either the tucked in soutache or the wrap around the edge styles.

[N.C. Wyeth]

Any and all questions about cloth headgear can be posted here.

No question too simple or too complex so ask away.

Thanks to Tony for coming up with this idea.

Fire away gentlemen.

For a cap with a visor that is begging to come free, what is the best technique for re-stitching it back to the cap? Care to demonstrate?

Sorry - Couldn't resist . . .

[Friedrich-Berthold]

For a cap with a visor that is begging to come free, what is the best technique for re-stitching it back to the cap? Care to demonstrate?

Sorry - Couldn't resist . . .

Send it to Ben VK and he will fix it. Be sure to pay him in advance, too. His work deserves a generous stipend.

[stuka f]

Verrry intresting question!!
;-)
|<ris

[stuka f]

The other piece here is that the officer corps of the Waffen SS was never very large, and that of the SSTV and SSVT was quite small. ..... .

Could you or some one else, put a number on that statement?
And / or compare to WH , LW and or KM?
|<ris

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Could you or some one else, put a number on that statement?
And / or compare to WH , Luftwaffe and or KM?
|<ris

I will find you some numbers. We have included elsewhere the size of the SSTV in tables of statistics of the era, and its size was miniscule. The Dienstalterlisten in the years through 1938 often included statistics on the various cohorts in the SS, and it is chiefly this data that caused me to make this generalization. Also, in comparison with armies of today, the German armies of yesteryear had a very small ratio of officers to soldiers. Present day armies in NATO, and those in the Warsaw Pact of blessed memory, are and were top heavy with officers.

PS The table at the back of the 1938/9 rank list for the SS reveals that the officer corps of the entire SS was around 14,000 persons in December, 1939.

[BenVK]

[SIZE="3"][FONT="Verdana"]For a cap with a visor that is begging to come free, what is the best technique for re-stitching it back to the cap? Care to demonstrate?

I'm working on it!!

Do you know how difficult it is to hold a cap and a needle and thread and a video camera at the same time!

[BenVK]

Such criteria has been set in place over the years by the collecting community. "Normal", "textbook" or "accepted" details of hat construction will forever meet their nemesis sooner or later.

I thought these images might be of interest.

Firsty, some nice clear images of the what you expect to see.