Another post on SA uniforms got me wondering about something that is just taken as fact - that the orginal SA uniforms were surplus Imperial German tunics or shirts from the pre-war colonies. Has anyone ever proved this true or is it just a myth? If you go to the great website www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk you can see khaki/brown tunics used in the colonies, but I don't recall seeing photographs of SA wearing them.
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I read a book authored by a former SA man and he stated that the shirts were pre- war colony surplus hence the color brown. -
Hello.
I have read it many times and although it could be an urban myth, it seems logical and believeable. I have read the warehouse was in Austria not Germany.
Remember, the stock didn't last long and shirts were being made by tailors in Germany very early on.
Regards,
Chris.Comment
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Austria-Hungarian tunics then? Now they should be easy to spot in early SA pictures because they had the scalloped pockets. A-H had troops in Palestine and Gallipoli and a few other places during the war so a warehouse of tropical uniforms is not so hard to believe. But I'd really like to see a picture from the early 20's showing these in use.
On a side-note, what is the earliest attributed SA uniform in a collection?Comment
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According to Wilfred Von Oven (SA Mann), Goring had an Adjudant named Gerhard Rossbach, Rossbach knew of a store of Imperial Army shirts destined for General Von Lettow-Vorbecks troops in Africa, they were never shipped to Africa due to the war ending, Rossbach did a deal with a friend Edmund Heines, who he fought with in the Ruhr. Through the firm Sportversand Schill owned by Edmund Heines the shirts were bought, Heines went on to join the SA as we know.
This was 1924, according to Von Oven the shirts were referred to as "Lettow shirts".
Hitler according to Von Oven also, didnt like the colour Brown, SeanComment
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It looks like pre 1924 there were no set uniforms for the SA? Those involved in the march on Coburg for example, the SA men were wearing their street cloths.Comment
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This is quite plausible, Sean. Gerhard Rossbach was the leader of Freikorps Rossbach and an early member of the NSDAP; he participated in the Beer Hall Putsch. Edmund Heines was a junior officer in the Great War and an adjutant to Rossbach. Like many veterans, they maintained contacts and relationships within the post-war Reichswehr and von Oven's reflection on the origin of the SA-Traditions Brown Shirt may indeed be correct. Thanks for sharing this.
Br. JamesComment
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Rossbach must have fallen out of favor with the party because he was not awarded the BO. It could have been due to him being gay. Nothing to do with this subject, just interesting.Originally posted by Br. James View PostComment
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It's certainly the most plausible I've found, I can't fathom why brown would be a natural choice after the great war, I'd have expected field grey due to the amount of ex soldiers in the ranks. Von Ovens memoirs state the meeting in 1924 regarding uniforms was held in Salzburg, SeanComment
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Yes, an interesting observation, Erich. According to his bio on Wikipedia, Rossbach was arrested during the aftermath of the Night of Long Knives, though he wasn't put to death...unlike his former adjutant, Edmund Heines, or the SA-Gruppenführer of Berlin, Karl Ernst. All three were apparently close friends of Röhm.
Br. JamesComment
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