Heer belts and holsters

[wolfcastle]

Hi. Almost every army belt I see is black. What I am trying to figure out is why there are numerous brown holsters out there. I'm not talking about the brown Femaru and Browning Luftwaffe holsters that go w/ Luftwaffe brown belts or brown political leader holsters, but ones for the Luger, HSc, Hi-Power and CZ27 (early) etc that are often WaA marked and would seem to be for the army. I can't imagine an officer wearing a brown holster and black belt (maybe I'm wrong) or did some army officers wear brown belts? I'm just trying to match up a belt and holster correctly. Thanks!

[John A.]

Good question!

[Kris]

I don't know it all by heart but here's what i remember.
Some branches had different colours through the years. Luftwaffe had brown and army black.
Sometime during the war years an order was given that all leather equipment (holsters, belts, pouches,..) should be painted black. That's why you see brown holsters painted black but often these show their original brown color at the backside or under the beltloops. As always this order wasn't followed always and everywhere.

[wolfcastle]

I don't know it all by heart but here's what i remember.
Some branches had different colours through the years. Luftwaffe had brown and army black.
Sometime during the war years an order was given that all leather equipment (holsters, belts, pouches,..) should be painted black. That's why you see brown holsters painted black but often these show their original brown color at the backside or under the beltloops. As always this order wasn't followed always and everywhere.

That sounds right. If you look on legacy-collectibles website, they have a Radom holster for sale that is black in front and brown in back!

[Kris]

Indeed. I'm sure someone will have or know the details or period documents.