Article about: This is F-B's bailiwick, but this is the first white RZM tag I have seen used in 1937. I had always assumed that this type of tag was phased out sometime in mid-1936 at the latest.
This is F-B's bailiwick, but this is the first white RZM tag I have seen used in
1937. I had always assumed that this type of tag was phased out sometime in mid-1936 at the latest.
“Show me the regulation, and I’ll show you the exception.”
I often wonder how did so many pristine examples of the black service cap end up in the homes of Allied servicemen from all over the world but mostly, I think it's fair to say, from the United States. Such hats must have tucked safely away in lockers and wardrobes far from the front line. That is, if they were ever issued at all.
The factors are as follows: the SS grew rapidly immediately before the war, leading, no doubt, to contracts for many caps, whereupon with the war's outbreak the black uniform was curtailed, many wearers of same went into military service, ergo the overhang. The Allgemeine SS hardly vanished in September 1939, though. The cap here was surely issued. In many cases, others were not; but such is also more or less true for caps of other branches, in turn; or the extra cap of an army officer was that left behind, and was, for all intents and purposes, in a wardrobe far from the front, too. Many of you are too young to recall these things were to be found in hock shops, second hand clothing stores and the like in their number. Also, in the U.S. zone, the occupying forces made the locals turn in all uniforms as part of demiitarization and denazification. A generation earlier, in the '14-'18 war, it is also true that Pickelhauben were made in large numbers, whence the steel helmet was introduced in 1915, and these leather helmets became surplus in warehouses, to be dispersed in U.S. bond drives or in post war events. Such formed the basis of various collections known to me in my youth of collectors who began in the interwar period.
Once upon a time, these items had little value in the wake of war and were plentiful by today's standards. This Mueller cap is a nice one. The 1937 stamp is intriguing.
The cap in this file is more interesting than many of the somewhat later, and more common caps, because of the white tag, as well as the Verwaltungsamt SS issuance stamp with the date.
Last edited by Friedrich-Berthold; 03-10-2012 at 08:56 AM.
Also, in the U.S. zone, the occupying forces made the locals turn in all uniforms as part of demiitarization and denazification. It is also true that Pickelhauben were made in large numbers, whence the steel helmet was introduced, and these became surplus in warehouses, to be dispersed in U.S. bond drives or in post war events.
I'm indebted to you as always, I did not know this.
It would be either a brave or naive German to hand in an SS uniform at War's end though would it not? Much safer and easier to just destroy it.
The factors are as follows: the SS grew rapidly immediately before the war, leading, no doubt, to contracts for many caps, whereupon with the war's outbreak the black uniform was curtailed, many wearers of same went into military service, ergo the overhang. The Allgemeine SS hardly vanished in September 1939, though. The cap here was surely issued. In many cases, others were not; but such is also more or less true for caps of other branches, in turn; or the extra cap of an army officer was that left behind, and was, for all intents and purposes, in a wardrobe far from the front, too. Many of you are too young to recall these things were to be found in hock shops, second hand clothing stores and the like in their number. Also, in the U.S. zone, the occupying forces made the locals turn in all uniforms as part of demiitarization and denazification. A generation earlier, in the '14-'18 war, it is also true that Pickelhauben were made in large numbers, whence the steel helmet was introduced in 1915, and these leather helmets became surplus in warehouses, to be dispersed in U.S. bond drives or in post war events. Such formed the basis of various collections known to me in my youth of collectors who began in the interwar period.
Once upon a time, these items had little value in the wake of war and were plentiful by today's standards. This Mueller cap is a nice one. The 1937 stamp is intriguing.
The cap in this file is more interesting than many of the somewhat later, and more common caps, because of the white tag, as well as the Verwaltungsamt SS issuance stamp with the date.
Here is such an example from the Great War:
“Show me the regulation, and I’ll show you the exception.”
Stonemint,
Don't forget that the tag and the stamp were employed by quite different entities and at different times in the supply chain. It is not impossible for a hat made in 1936 with an appropriate tag from the RZM system to then pass through the SS supply system (VA) sometime later.
d'Alquen
Stonemint,
Don't forget that the tag and the stamp were employed by quite different entities and at different times in the supply chain. It is not impossible for a hat made in 1936 with an appropriate tag from the RZM system to then pass through the SS supply system (VA) sometime later.
d'Alquen
Very sage observation. This point is also made more immediate by the budgetary evolution of the SS, particularly the armed units. The para military formations, whose financing and, one guesses, uniforms and equipment, was paid out of widely different sources (state versus party).
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