Dot 44 SS Camo in Korea and Vietnam??????

[Irish1965]

Hi everyone,

On Ebay I camo across something weird. For sale is a Dot44 SS camo field cap. Maybe that's not weird but in the description was stated that this was a Rare Korean Chinese camo hat from Vietnam war, bringback, from deceased officer. That's weird.







After some research I found out that in the Korean war there was a Taskforce Kirkland. Apparently the US-UN supplied the South-Koreans with captured stocks of SS depots in Germany. They were issued with SS eagles.

The UN/US Army advised, trained and supported anti-communist partisans that escaped the North Korean invasion. The partisans were under UN/US command and conducted unconventional or guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The UNPFK activities and actions contributed to the creation of modern “Special Forces”.

The unit was renamed to United Nations Partisan Infantry Korea, UNPIK in 1952.

Interesting note: In the beginning, most partisans did not have uniforms, and were afraid of being tried as spies if captured by the communist forces. So the US advisers requested uniforms through United Nations. Upon opening the care package, much to their surprise, some of the partisans and US advisers received WW2 German Waffen SS Dot 44
Erbsenmuster uniform.

(Source Facebook: Mighty Mega Max)








(Source: Task Force Kirkland - Scannon - 3rd PIR | 8240th AU)


If the cap is original, I do not know. And how it ended up in Vietnam is still a question. But it led me to a interresting story.

Cheers Paul

[Willmore]

Very interesting, I had never heard about this before unit before, thank you.

I have seen quite a few photos of French forces in Indochina wearing uniforms made from captured German camouflage material.

[AZPhil]

Possibly from former SS who fought for the French Foreign Legion in Vietnam.
"Devil's Guard" is an interesting semi fictional book about the subject.

Semper Fi
Phil

[Fred Green]

Hello,

I am to understand that a Dot pattern field cap was never made.

Fred

[reneblacky]

The cap is a repro and the camo pattern is not an accurate representation of the pattern.

[Anderson]

The cap that started the thread is definitely post war. The story about tunics ending up in Korean war is correct, and that black & white photo is authentic. The US seized a lot of German supplies at the end of WW2 and these probably ended up at Fort Bragg. Certainly in proxy cold war conflicts some of this stuff re-emerges. but there were no "dot 44" caps.

[Fred Green]

Hello,

Thanks for the confirmation.

Fred

[Paul D]

Can't see the US issuing the South Koreans with SS Arm Eagles in the post war period !!

[Anderson]

"Can't see the US issuing the South Koreans with SS Arm Eagles in the post war period !! "

Probably not intentionally. These were secret war type operations run by the CIA and special forces advisors and numbers were relatively small. Also known as "Donkey squads" and Wolf packs, there is quite a bit of research out there and photographic evidence. Quite likely the tunics came from a pile of camo and some may have still had sleeve eagle. No one at that level would have cared.

[Danmark]

Nothing would scare the communists like the old swaz !!!

And considering the "kill 'em all" patches that came later in Vietnam, the SS eagle would be pretty tame.