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[CurtD]

What do you think, gentlemen?

Thanks

[CurtD]

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[JPhilip]

Hello,
looks like a nice prewar infantry sew-in shoulderstrap for an Oberfeldwebel.
Too bad it lacks the cypher.

[NickG]

Hello,
looks like a nice prewar infantry sew-in shoulderstrap for an Oberfeldwebel.
Too bad it lacks the cypher.

I agree BUT the cypher could have been removed war-time as a security measure...
So even though its incomplete with holes showing... it could be totaly accurate (not tampered with) to be displayed "as is".
Enlisted shoulderstraps (with embroidered unit cyphers) often had these removed war- time for the same reasons... a part of history...

[JPhilip]

Hello Nick,
as it is a dark green sew-in shoulderstrap meant for the Waffenrock, i'm not so sure concerning the security reasons...but who knows ?
As for EM slip-on ones, there were also mobilization shoulderstraps that didn't have any cypher on them, so no need to unstitch. Also many soldiers who owned prewar chainstitched shoulderstraps did cover the cypher on the field with loops, but wanted the cypher back once far from the frontline...a question of prestige...

[NickG]

Hello Nick,
as it is a dark green sew-in shoulderstrap meant for the Waffenrock, i'm not so sure concerning the security reasons...but who knows ?
As for EM slip-on ones, there were also mobilization shoulderstraps that didn't have any cypher on them, so no need to unstitch. Also many soldiers who owned prewar chainstitched shoulderstraps did cover the cypher on the field with loops, but wanted the cypher back once far from the frontline...a question of prestige...

True! Good points! Who knows? Many straps were stripped of unit info for a reason, regardless if they were slip-on (combat) or sew-in (dress) styles...
Other reason besides security could be transfer or even unit redesignation...
so assigned a new unit (Reg) number after it was destroyed or rebuilt or merged etc...Who knows?
I guess my message is that the lack of such cyphers does not make the strap incomplete...its an evolution so the bare holes don't bother me at all.

[JPhilip]

you're right concerning transfers and unit redesignation, the only problem being to know when the cypher was removed....by a soldier due to a unit transfer in 1940, or by a collector who thought that he needed the cypher for something else in 1965....?
Even if the lack of cypher doesn't bother me that much, the question remains again and again....
thanks Nick