SS Camo Cap

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Very nice. Thanks. We are grateful that David Delich has been so helpful here.

[Panzer Crewman]

You folks that have talked about these caps don't mention me, yet most of the cap photos are from my cap'
Dave Delich
Me (Willi Schumacher)
There is one in Denmark
There is one in UK, as mentioned above
Bob Hritz

I think there is a lot of confusion concerning this insigniia. Somebody mentioned '14 Days', yes, but that is the number of days that they were sewn onto the caps, but the manufacturing and process took much longer:
A 'request for proposal' would go out from the SS-Hauptamt to insignia manufacturers. Some would respond in the allotted time with bids. SS-Hauptamt would announce the winne of the competition and award the contract to the winner. The response to the RFP would include how the company would manage the process.
The winning bidder would have to work things out with thread manfacturer to make two colored thread. Then the thread would be shipped to the insignia manufacturer, who now made special insignia using this green and dark-brown threads.
Once the insignia was completed, it was shipped to the SS-BW located at Dachau just outside of Munchen.
Now Dachau had to make changes in its production line(s) that put insignia on each side of the cap. This insignia was block cut to alleviate backups during manufacturing. The caps had to be transferred from where they were made over to where the insignia was added. There was a process developed in the proposal. Not all of the caps were Early Planetree, but most were. Next, transportation had to be arranged to get the caps from Dachau to the correct clothing depot. These completed caps were most likely issued to troops of the Wiking Division, coming together at that time. After 14 days of manufacturing, SS-Hauptamt pulled the plug on the camouflage contract for these caps. So it looks like they were made in 14 days; not when you put in the lead time required to get the ball rolling. Somewhere on here I posted a Waffen-SS tropical overseas cap with the rare Autumn insignia on it. Out of the 4 pieces of camouflaged insignia, you are more than likely to encounter the green skull, but those are very rare too.

Because of a recent unexpected reduction in my monthly salary, I will no longer exhibit my collection. Therefore, I am offering it for sale. This is NOT my Waffen-SS collection, but my exhibit collection: Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine.
If you collect Wehrmacht, send me a request for my list. Note: I am not hurting for money so I dont need to sell anything.
Willi Schumacher
'dltbgyd2003@hotmail.com'

[rbminis]

You folks that have talked about these caps don't mention me, yet most of the cap photos are from my cap'

Thank you for posting Willi!
Not quite correct though, you are mentioned in post #2 that the photos in the Beaver book contain the cap from your collection.
Ralph.

Well , actually these pictures taken from page 141 of the Beaver book on SS camouflage uniforms , state that the cap is from the Willi Schumacher collection .

The one owned by Mr. Delich is pictured on the very next page .. !

( As far as I know , in total 4 authentic examples are known , the 3rd one being in the collection of - no surprises there - Mr. Bob Hritz .. )

[Panzer Crewman]

Sorry about that. I think most of the photos are of my cap. Toncar only has the front of one cap, with the insignia on each side. I think the history I provided is somewhat correct. It's been awhile since I explained it. The 14-15 days of authorized application doesn't take into consideration all of the work by hundreds of people to get approval of the design, color, size, etc. and all the people it took to acquire the colored thread and create this insignia. The brown is often confused with the tropical, but when put side-by-side, there is no doubt as to which sample is the Autumn camouflage.

Happy Hunting
Willi