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Shoulder Straps - Enlisted
Men
Shoulder straps on German uniforms were
changed with the introduction of the new Field Blouse in 1931. A field grey strap,
similar to those worn in the Great War, was adopted. These straps were pointed at
one end, had no piping, and had the wearer's unit number embroidered onto them in chain
stitch, in coloured thread of the unit's waffenfarbe. Afterwards, there were several
changes.
| In December 1934, the shoulder
straps were ordered to be constructed of field grey uniform cloth. |
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| When the dark green collar was
introduced to the uniform in September 1935, the shoulder straps were also changed to dark
green. These shoulder straps were worn on both the field blouse and the Waffenrock. |
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| In November 1938, new shoulder
straps with piping around the edges and a rounded edge were introduced. |
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| When the new AFV uniform was
introduced, shoulder straps were made in black to match the rest of the uniform. |
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| In May 1940, the shoulder straps
were changed back to field grey. |
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Shoulder straps were attached in
one of two ways; either by sewing them directly to the uniform, or (especially in the case
of the Field Blouse) attached by means of a cloth loop sewn next to the shoulder. In
either case, the top end of the strap was secured by a button.
Before the war, a soldier's unit was also shown by an
embossed number on the shoulder strap button. A Roman numeral indicated a battalion
or battery number, while an Arabic number indicated a company. These buttons were
not used very often after the outbreak of war. These buttons were silver-coloured
aluminum and usually left unpainted. |
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A
Company button bearing the number "1". This shoulder strap also has a
regimental number embroided in 6; the colour (golden yellow) and lack of any other device
identify this as the 6th Cavalry Regiment. |
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A
button signifying the wearer belongs to the Fifth Company. |
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A
very early pattern of pointed shoulder board. Note the field grey coloured
cloth. The lack of piping makes it impossible to determine what type of unit the
owner of this strap belonged to; the 91 could refer to many types of unit, such as an
artillery regiment or an infantry regiment. |
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Prewar dark-green pointed straps; note the underside is
in standard field grey wool; uniform-quality "badge cloth" is only used on the
upper portion of the strap.
NCO's
tress was worn on these pointed straps in the same manner as on the rounded ones. |
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Standard
shoulder strap of the type worn in 1939. Again, dark green badge cloth is used
sparingly, with field grey uniform cloth used on the underside. The underside of the
strap has been strengthened with twill material. |
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