The last word on army uniforms in the Bw is the volume I attached in the post above.
The last word on army uniforms in the Bw is the volume I attached in the post above.
Of course, the nationale Volksarmee of the DDR used field grey, sort of, as did the Austrians, further from the 1950s onwards. The Austrian dress uniform of today is kind of field grey, but no one calls it thus.
The spooky looking chap here in the Grenztruppen der DDR uniform is not really a DDR Grenzer, he is just dressed as one. The Austrian pilots did I wish were my friends.
When the over aged Bell helicopters of the Bundesheer failed in a military support to the civil power amid a natural catastrophe some years back, the Austrians bought Blackhawks in numbers from the US. They are flown by these chipper your women. The Austrians do not adequately spend on defense, of course, but their personal equipment is top flight, as are many of their weapons and materiel. They are scrapping their armor, too, which is quite sad, as has the Bundeswehr.
The original order from April, 1934 states: "A new field cap, (bivouac cap), is introduced for the SS. From SS-Mann to Obertruppfuehrer the cap is worn without a peak, (Kraetzchen), and from Sturmfuehrer with a peak".
The distinction in this case is rank and is a useful expedient in the field where an officer needs to be readily identified visually.
The cloth covered peak was quite the fashion for field caps in the early thirties and was worn by many organisations. It was designed to be practical in the field and thus could be folded or worn under the helmet; which was not possible with leather and fibre peaks.
This photograph shows the two caps being worn.
d'alquen
very nice image, dear colleague.
The Shea Beaver book includes the later field cap for officers in black with the Gehirnbremse. Examples of the field grey cap with the Gehirnbremse have also appeared on websites, actually.
HPL2008,
Thank you for the image. I have always been interested in the early outfitting of the SS-VT and have not seen that particular shot.
Here is one of the best views I have have managed to find that shows the malleable nature of these caps.
Interestingly, the grey version of this cap seems to have been worn by all ranks in some units during 1934/35, whereas the black version seems to be strictly an NCO model.
d'alquen
Thanks for the interesting material. You can understand from the early training done with what was the most elite infantry unit (I.R.9) in the Reichswehr how, in turn, a taste for military fashion of the old stripe would operate with these SS recruits, despite the attitude of Heini H. that the soldiers and officers of said unit were hide bound aristocrats, and defenders of the estates in what as to be a Volksgemeinschaft, with a new elite. I had not realized that I. R. "Graf" 9 had such a role, but it makes sense because of geography. Many of the figures eventually associated with the 20 July 1944 plot to kill Hitler came from this unit.
Last edited by Friedrich-Berthold; 07-05-2011 at 06:13 PM.
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