Flak/Arty Shoulder Straps - opinions please.

[TK GUY]

Hello,

New to shoulder straps/boards. Are these faded Heer straps, Luftwaffe Flak, or outside chance of the correct grey for assault gun? First set of photos is natural light, second set is under a lamp. Some differences in the manufacturing - would these have been worn together, or do I have two singles?

Thanks for your time,

Paul

[TK GUY]

p2

p2

[OSS]

They appear to be two singles of the same rank (Oberfeldwebel) which have had the pips, lower tresse and tongues removed. It's possible they had been worn on the same garment.

[Schulterklappen]

Assault Gun

Heer Artillerie shoulder straps (EM/NCO) and shoulder boards are what was to be worn on field grey wrapper StuG; since, they are "Assault Artillery". What will differentiate them to be StuG is a shoulder strap slide, or metal numbers that are for a specific StuG unit. This being said, there were always "exceptions" as to what was actually worn. Too, you have StuGs being used to replace tanks in some Panzer Divisons.

Another thing to note, the field grey wrapper went from being a specialized piece of clothing to a widely worn piece (field grey fits right in). You will see it worn by the 1. Ski-Jaeger Division personnel, Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadiers and even veterinarians! As the supply situation deteriorated later in the war, it became what was available to be worn in many cases.

Hope this helps, you can see it is a never ending source of fascination; especially, when you find photographic anomalies. I have seen pictures of the field grey wrap being worn with black panzer shoulder straps and vice versa. Also, you have photos of the same soldier wearing a black wrapper and a field grey wrapper. Scott's books will help you flesh out the details and books by Bob Edwards and Mike Pruett are some of my favorites too.

[Schulterklappen]

1. Skijaeger Division

Great shots of the wrapper being worn by the 1st Skijaeger Divison:

http://www.sixtharmygroup.com/portal...c796cf907b44b2

[Schulterklappen]

Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadier Regiments 901 and 902

Fantastic colorized photo of Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadiers around the time of the Normandie invasion.

[Schulterklappen]

StuG boards and straps

Here are some link to threads with specific StuG unit boards and straps:


http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...uG#post6942191

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...uG#post6840479

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...uG#post6639987


http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...uG#post4936227

[TK GUY]

Thank You

Thank you gentlemen for the great information, photos and links.
I appreciate your time.

Paul