The Himmler's SS (51 page)

Even the fur-lined winter combat uniform could not always provide sufficient warmth. This miserable-looking Waffen-SS machine-gunner on a static position in the Toropez Forest at the end of 1943 has had to resort to wrapping a blanket around his legs and feet.

The standard footwear of the early armed SS troops comprised two pairs of high marching boots or ‘jackboots', one of which was for daily use and the other for parades. From 1934, Leibstandarte non-commissioned personnel were also issued with a pair of the shorter army field service marching boots, the so-called Knobelbecher, or ‘dice-shakers', and a pair of lace-up ankle boots for barrack duties. Officers generally wore high black riding boots which were privately purchased and so were not of a standard pattern. The first wartime economy measure to hit SS footwear was the reduction in the height of the marching boot in November 1939. The distribution of Knobelbecher to replacement and reserve units ceased completely in November 1940, and from July 1942 a standard lace-up ankle boot was issued to most Waffen-SS personnel instead of the marching boot. However, the very concept of short boots and gaiters was hated by the majority of German soldiers, who spoke of ‘retreat gaiters' and retained their traditional high marching boots for as long as possible. In fact, the latter made the wearer very prone to developing varicose veins, and many a Waffen-SS infantryman had cause to curse his prized jackboots in later life.

The boots issued to mountain troops had a specially designed lace-up ankle and thick studded soles to aid climbing and skiing. In the summer of 1943, the Waffen-SS developed its own style of mountain gaiters based on the old Austrian army ‘Styrian' pattern. These were made from various types and colours of leather and canvas, covered the top of the boot like spats, and laced on the outside. Styrian gaiters were widely distributed to the ‘Prinz Eugen' and ‘Handschar' Divisions in the Balkans during 1943–4. A number of heavy duty items of footwear, including overboots in compressed and moulded felt, leather or thick layers of plaited straw, were devised to combat the sub-zero temperatures which regularly prevailed on the eastern front. During 1944–5, the quality of issue footwear declined dramatically, and by the end of the war it was not uncommon to see Waffen-SS soldiers wearing captured enemy boots.

While Waffen-SS uniforms were in many ways distinct from those of the other Wehrmacht forces, the Waffen-SS was issued with the same weapons and equipment as the German army during the Second World War. This equipment encompassed everything from belt leathers, straps and small arms, to mortars, armour and heavy artillery. Initially, ordnance and vehicles were painted field-grey or slate-grey, but by 1943 these shades had proved impractical when used on fronts with different terrains. Consequently, a dark sand-yellow was universally adopted throughout the Wehrmacht as the standard base colour for metal equipment. During the remainder of the war, tanks, assault guns, Panzerfausts and even hand grenades left the factory painted dark yellow, the idea being that a secondary coat of any appropriate camouflage paint could be applied locally as required.

A 42 mm-wide black leather waist belt, or Koppel, with 1931-pattern SS ‘box' buckle in nickel-plated steel or matt grey alloy, was issued to all Waffen-SS NCOs and other ranks and was worn with all orders of dress. Since the belt was traditionally removed for safety reasons when a soldier was placed under close arrest (in case he hanged himself with it), its absence came to be regarded as a degradation, and the only non-commissioned personnel allowed out of barracks without wearing their belts were those in military hospitals or convalescing. The SS officer's buckle, which was circular in shape, was devised for peacetime use and tended to break or come undone in action. However, all attempts to modify it were rejected outright by Himmler on the grounds that it had been ‘designed by the Führer himself, and based on his own sketches'. As a result, many officers adopted either the sturdier rectangular other ranks' SS buckle or the basic two-pronged open-face army buckle when in the field.

Most enlisted personnel in front-line SS units were armed with 7.92 mm Kar.98k rifles and M84/98 bayonets, while NCOs and assault squad leaders had MP38 and MP40 submachine-guns. Other semi-automatic and automatic weapons on common issue to the Waffen-SS included the MP28, MG34, MG42, MP43, MP44 and StG44. Entrenching tools, gas masks, bread bags, back-packs, fighting knives, map cases and binoculars were standard army issue, albeit some items of field equipment were made for the SS in their own concentration camp and prison factories. Pistol holsters were usually bought or issued with their accompanying weapons. The service pistols of the Waffen-SS were the 9 mm ‘Luger' Parabellum PO8 and the Walther P38, although at the beginning of the war large numbers of obsolete weapons such as the ‘broomhandle' Mauser and captured Czech and Polish pistols were frequently carried as well. The preferred officers' side-arm was the handy 7.65 mm Walther PPK, which could be purchased from the local SS Kleiderkasse on presentation of the officer's identity papers. According to an order issued by Himmler on 1 January 1943, the pistol had to be worn on the left hip, barrel facing to the back, when in the operational zone and on the right hip, barrel facing to the front, when on home territory (i.e. when the sword or chained dagger might be worn on the left side). In October 1944, SS officers were instructed to carry loaded pistols at all times when in public, and reminded to take extra care to ensure that they were not stolen when frequenting railway stations, dance halls and the like.

In addition to these, there were several other items of personal equipment commonly carried by the Waffen-SS, including field torches, goggles, compasses, pencils, maps, prescribed spectacles and sundries such as tobacco and army condoms. On a cord around his neck, every SS soldier wore an oval zinc identity disc which was divided in half by perforated holes and bore details of his service number, unit and blood group (the latter also being tattooed under his arm). In the event of his death in action, the disc was broken in half, the portion on the cord remaining with the body and the other half being taken away for recording purposes.

While the majority of wartime Waffen-SS uniforms were made by SS-owned economic enterprises, the insignia attached to them tended to be manufactured by long-established German private companies. That arrangement necessitated strict standardi-sation and quality control, the administration of which was entrusted to the Reichszeugmeisterei, or RZM, a body which had been set up as early as 1 April 1929 to supervise the production and pricing of all Nazi party uniform items. The basic functions of the RZM were to see that NSDAP contracts went to Aryan firms and to ensure that final products were of a high standard yet priced to suit the pocket of the average party member. It also acted as a ‘clearing house' between manufacturers on the one hand and wholesalers and retailers on the other. On 16 March 1935, contract numbers were introduced and awarded to every RZM-approved company, and after that date RZM numbers replaced makers' marks on all NSDAP accoutrements. Thus the buttons, belt hooks and so on of the Allgemeine-SS, which always remained an organ of the Nazi party, consistently featured RZM marks. Those of the Waffen-SS, however, which was in effect a state arm during the war, very seldom did.

Waffen-SS insignia, like that of the SS in general, fell into several distinct categories according to manufacture. Metal badges such as eagles and death's heads for the peaked cap, Totenkopf buttons for the 1934-pattern field cap, shoulder strap ciphers and rank pips were made in a variety of materials, dependent primarily upon date of production. The most common combinations were:

1.
Plated brass or Tombakbronze (1933–6)

2.
Copper-plated aluminium with a surface wash (1936–45)

3.
Bare aluminium (1936–45)

4.
Plated or painted steel (1939–45)

5.
Plated or painted zinc (1942–5)

6.
Bare zinc (1944–5)

In general terms the quality of metals used declined as the war progressed, but despite that a good standard of overall finish and appearance was always maintained.

Cap eagles and death's heads, which were common to both the Allgemeine-SS and Waffen-SS, normally bore RZM marks, either individually stamped on to the badge reverse or embossed into it as part of the die-striking or casting process. Typical examples were ‘RZM M1/52' (Deschler & Sohn of Munich) and ‘RZM M1/167' (Augustin Hicke of Tyssa bei Bodenbach). Some items also bore the ‘VA' inspection stamp of the SS Ver-waltungsamt. During the war, the format of RZM codes used on metal SS insignia changed, deleting the ‘M1' prefix and adding a year suffix, e.g. ‘RZM 499/41'. No list of these later codes is known to have survived, and so they have never been deciphered.

The earliest SS cloth badges were hand-embroidered, and this form of insignia was worn by soldiers of the armed SS during 1933–5. Hand-embroidery could be in white or silver-grey cotton thread, fine aluminium wire or heavy silver bullion, with the latter two styles normally being reserved for officers. However, in September 1934 non-commissioned and enlisted ranks of the LAH and SS-VT were also authorised to wear aluminium wire insignia with the black uniform, to set them apart from their colleagues in the Allgemeine-SS. No two hand-embroidered badges were ever identical, since they were individually made. Badge companies generally employed women to do this work, or farmed it out to local seamstresses.

A selection of Waffen-SS cloth insignia: A – 1943-pattern horizontal death's head collar patch, BEVO machine-woven in silver-grey cotton thread; B – SS runes, or Sig-Runes, collar patch machine-embroidered in silver-grey cotton; C – 1938-pattern SS arm eagle with curved head, machine-embroidered in silver-grey cotton c. 1942–3; D – vertical ‘death's head/13' collar patch, hand-embroidered in aluminium wire; E – rank collar patch for an SS-Untersturmführer.

In 1936, by which time the RZM had become effectively organised under Reichszeugmeister Richard Büchner, machine-embroidered insignia began to be produced and widely distributed for wear by SS enlisted men and NCOs. This form of embroidery was cheap and quick to execute, and had a tightly formed and raised appearance. The producers of machine-embroidered insignia were normally fairly substantial firms, as only they could afford the expensive equipment involved in the manufacturing process. Such companies were rigidly controlled by the RZM, and their products had to carry labels bearing the relevant contract numbers. In addition to the standard RZM paper tags used by all NSDAP formations, a system of small black and white woven labels was devised specifically for SS items. Each bore the RZM symbol and SS runes together with the maker's contract number and year date, an example being ‘RZM 21/36 SS'. Where a firm was engaged only in embroidery work, the letters ‘St', denoting ‘Stickerei' or ‘embroiderer', were incorporated into the label, for example ‘RZM St 459/36 SS'. It was not uncommon for two such labels to be attached to a single badge, particularly a cuff title, if two separate firms were involved in its manufacture due to sub-contracting. One label would refer to the maker of the backing cloth, and the other to the embroiderer. It was also quite common to find the addition of another tag reading ‘Vom Reichsführer-SS befohlene Ausführung', indicating that the item in question was made in accordance with SS uniform regulations. Because of all the foregoing, machine-embroidered insignia has come to be known as the ‘RZM style'.