3 Of My Original SS Tunics

DaveDavis

DaveDavis

Well-known member
Purchased over 30 years ago in Germany when I was stationed at Kirchgoens with the 3rd Armored Division.

Note tunic in the middle is a Heer style tunic. Heer style tunics that went to the SS, DO NOT EVER have a Heer depot stamp, because they never went to a Heer depot for issue. And yes, the Waffen SS used Heer style tunics increasingly, as the war progressed, because they could not produce enough uniforms themselves, to keep up with the rapid expansion of Waffen SS units.

The Waffen-SS expanded further in 1943: in February the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen and its sister division, the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg, were formed in France. They were followed in July by the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland created from Norwegian and Danish volunteers. September saw the formation of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend using volunteers from the Hitler Youth. Himmler and Berger successfully appealed to Hitler to form a Bosnian Muslim division, and the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian), the first non-Germanic division, was formed, to fight Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslav Partisans. This was followed by the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) formed from volunteers from Galicia in western Ukraine. The 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Latvian) was created in 1943, using compulsory military service in the Ostland. The final new 1943 division was the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, which was created using the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS as a cadre. By the end of the year, the Waffen-SS had increased in size from eight divisions, and some independent brigades, to 16 full divisions.
 

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Here are 6 I own.

Note the 2nd from the left began life as a Police tunic [ 4th SS Police Div. ] 3rd from left was a Heer style that went to the SS. The far right tunic is out of confiscated Italian wool material.

Not being able to buy guns in Germany I bought uniforms and other stuff, during my 3 tours there .....
 

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DaveDavis said:
Here are 6 I own.

Note the 2nd from the left began life as a Police tunic [ 4th SS Police Div. ] 3rd from left was a Heer style that went to the SS. The far right tunic is out of confiscated Italian wool material.

Not being able to buy guns in Germany I bought uniforms and other stuff, during my 3 tours there .....
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Wow, very impressive :hail:
 
jack944 said:
Nice tunics ! You did well to pick them up.
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Thank you / by today's standards they were cheap / I got to know some Turks that worked as rag pickers, Germany has been recycling for many many years, and employed Turks as guest workers, to labor in jobs no German wanted to do. The Turks would recover WW2 clothing, etc and sell the items at the old Frankfurt Flohmarkt. Although good Moslems, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label was the magic key to some great deals. They knew me as Herr Sammler Mann.
 
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BMWMilhist said:
Great tunics Dave, thanks for posting! Must’ve been a very interesting time over there.

Cheers,
Brandon
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Well the Cold War was in full swing, which meant alerts all the time [ code words were " Lariat Advance'', which you heard when you picked up the phone, at 04:00 in the morning ].
Too much field training, and gunnery at Graf [ Grafenwöhr ], the most miserable place in the world in winter. But the beer and schnitzel were great !!!!!!! Flea markets every Saturday and in the winter Glühwein !!!!!!!
 
DaveDavis said:
Well the Cold War was in full swing, which meant alerts all the time [ code words were " Lariat Advance'', which you heard when you picked up the phone, at 04:00 in the morning ].
Too much field training, and gunnery at Graf [ Grafenwöhr ], the most miserable place in the world in winter. But the beer and schnitzel were great !!!!!!! Flea markets every Saturday and in the winter Glühwein !!!!!!!
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Sounds like you definitely took the good in with the bad! :happy0180:
 
mauser1908 said:
Nice tunics Dave! What are some of the differences between heer and SS Tunics? Outside of the obvious.
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There were different models of WSS and Heer tunics. For the most common M43 Heer has 6 buttoms versus 5 for SS. Heer has 3 holes for belt hooks versus 2 for SS. There are some differences in a liner: Heer has two step versus three step for SS in the lower pocket area. For Heer button hole in the first aid pocket is vertical. Most SS but not all have horizontal hole. Since most SS tunics were made in concentration camps markings will be different and sizing norms were a bit different too.

Jack
 
tokarev38 said:
There were different models of WSS and Heer tunics. For the most common M43 Heer has 6 buttoms versus 5 for SS. Heer has 3 holes for belt hooks versus 2 for SS. There are some differences in a liner: Heer has two step versus three step for SS in the lower pocket area. For Heer button hole in the first aid pocket is vertical. Most SS but not all have horizontal hole. Since most SS tunics were made in concentration camps markings will be different and sizing norms were a bit different too.

Jack
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Thanks for the great info!
 
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