The Waffen-SS

Előszó

Introduction This rewritten and re-illustrated revision of my originál MAA title published in 1971 incorporates much new material, but still does not pretend to be more ihan a précis. I hope that at its own level it will prove a useful and inexpensive introduction to a vast and complex subject, which is covered in far greater depth in the source works listed in the bibliography. The commentaries on the colour plates are so arranged as to form a brief generál description of the normál W-SS uniform and insignia practices, as confirmed by photographic evidence. There is obviously no space here for the many variations, but common areas of variadon are mentioned. I believe that virtually all major uniform items and types of insignia worn by frontline troops are either illustrated or described. The authentication of individual insignia, such as coll ár patches and cuff titles, is a jungle in whose tangled depths researchers better qualified than I may be heard thrashing about. Wartime regulations were complex, sometimes self-contradictory, and often bore little relationship to physical realities. Supply shortages were common: local manufacture at unit level was not unknown; somé items were authorised in writing, even illustrated, but never manufactured, while others were made but never issued. The lucrative forgery of these insignia for post-war collectors has muddied the water still further. For the purposes of this book I have illustrated in the plates only those insignia whose use in wartime can be confirmed by authenticated photographs and I am well aware that retouching of originál photos to lend spurious authority to post-war fakes is not unknown. Where areas of doubt exist, they are identified. In preparing the colour references I was at somé pains to avoid 'composite' figures in combinations of uniform items ancl badges assembled from different written and pictorial sources. I have taken somé small liberties, since my aim was to illustrate as many items as possible; I have sometimes combined on one figure items worn by two different men of the same unit at the same date, where such combination violates no known SS-Stubaf. Max Wünsche, whose distinguished career with the 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' in Russia brought him a regimental command in the 12. SS-Pz. Div. 'Hitlerjugend'; he was seriously wounded in Normandy. His film-star good looks, instantly recognisable in any wartime photo, are set off here by the officer's version of the W-SS pattern black Panzer uniform, and a private-purchase black shirt. Note officer's silver tunic collar piping. Vissza

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