Croatian SS-buckle

[Ric Ferrari]

Just to offer another opinion about :

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...1&postcount=20

Best

Ric

[John T]

I believe this buckle has nothing to do with the Waffen-SS but rather the ES in Croatia. The design is very similar to an ES badge from the era with the difference being the swastika was on the shield instead of the hooks and the hooks elsewhere on the badge--I used to have the badge but sold it many years ago. I will post pictures of the badge when I get a chance. This buckle could be of Croatian construction due to the look of the prong bar and they had often the catch as a piece that was part of the prong bar, it is missing here....others of this style looked to have the catch cast into the back of the buckle with a non-German style look to the catch. Why it was found in an area not near Croatia I do not know, however a ground found piece would make sense as many Croatian buckles are indeed ground found either from massacre sites such as deep caves, anti-tank ditches that were filled in with bodies and covered with dirt, or even discarded in Austria by their original owners so as not to be identified when going into captivity under the Partisans in the closing days of the war.

Cheers,

John

[John T]

Croatian WW2 buckles have larger dimensions than the German buckles of the era...it would be interesting to know the dimensions of this example.

John