Heer EM shoulder straps - Kradschutz or Bau truppen?

[PaulW]

Hi, looking at some EM shoulder straps, both described as Kradschutz. The second pair look exactly that (copper/ Kupfer brown - IMHO).

However, the lighter brown piped pair at the top have the look of Bau (Construction) troops to me.

It's not intended as a criticism of anyone, I know the various shades within hues of Waffenfarbe can be difficult and some people handle a lot of these things and honest mistakes can be made.

(Also bearing in mind that lighting conditions, flash / no flash, well worn items faded in the sun can affect shades!)

Any thoughts?

Regards, Paul

[jacquesf]

Nice straps. There is a third brown shade that causes major confusion, besides the twon you posted. . Here is a very good discussion on brown waffenfarbe http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ght=kupfer+bau

[OSS]

You are correct in your belief that the upper pair is Bau and lower pair is Kradschutzen (imo).

[pauke]

Ditto Bau and Krad.

[longislandercjv]

You are correct in your belief that the upper pair is Bau and lower pair is Kradschutzen (imo).

I agree with you and Gary; both are NOT COMMON, but the true copper brown waffenfarbe (used by Panzer Auflkarungs & radfahr as well) is much more desireable
than Bau (construction troops)

The pre-1936 Signals troops used a light brown that is also not common.

[PaulW]

Thanks all for taking a look - and confirming my thoughts!

Jacques - thanks for the link, a good reference thread.

Best regards, Paul

[PaulW]

Hi, just an update, picked up the light-brown piped shoulder straps the other day. They were sold to me as Kradschutzen, but I bought them as Bau-Pioneer....

I paid a little extra but to be honest I 've been looking for a pair for some time, no-one forced me to buy them (!) and I didn't expect them to be cheap as Bau are also quite rare. My Heer focus is mid to late war and (copper-brown) Kradschutzen straps fall slightly out of my area, and these Bau straps are probably as nice a pair as I will ever find. I have a weakness for Pioneer related items and so Bau-Pioneer are a 'must have'.

The Bau-Pioneer waffenfarbe changed to black effective 11th October 1943 (though I imagine it was seen later, especially at the front with supply issues taken into account). The point of the change was (according to WAF member and author of "German Army shoulder boards and straps 1933-45" Thomas J Suter) "in recognition of their performance in combat" (page 31), despite them being technically 'rear-area' troops. It should be remembered that particularly on the Eastern Front, the front-line was so fluid and the lack of sufficient numbers of front-line troops to man the line mean't that rear-area troops could often find themselves in combat. Historically, you need look no further than the Cholm / Kholm pocket where everyone able to carry a rifle was forced to fight, including "elderly reservists" and "rear-area Police troops" and so on ("Besieged: The Epic battle for Cholm", published 2011). I know that in the UK, the British Royal Engineers act as combat engineers, but also carry out construction tasks (MACC etc), so it seems natural to me!

A few extra pictures of the boards.

Note the identical thread at the front, but minor differences in the thread at the back, and the rear button-hole thread shade differences. I believe that these are typical of the German WW2 production lines, where you see rows of workers working on individual items, in the case of EM shoulder straps of course using scrap materials for the back of the straps where such minor differences in thread colour didn't matter.

[PaulW]

On another note, I always thought that light-brown (Heer) piping was a 'dead Waffenfarbe' after October 1943 and was puzzled as to why you can find late-war type 'M44' Heer straps with light-brown piping, such as this single:-


http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...+rarer&page=13 (#181)

More here on this interesting thread:-

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...&highlight=Bau

Having done further research (and thanks to Johnny R on the WAF who has mentioned it in the past) it seems that light-brown piping continued in use until the end of the war as it was also used by the "Kriegsgefanganen Bau und Arbeits Battalions" (POW Construction and Work battalions, who used this waffenfarbe from 2nd April 1941 onwards), of which there were many, even the DAK had a battalion. These units were comprised of 'screened' POW's, often French and later Russians, but of course many other nationalities who were persuaded to join for better rations and conditions, obviously with German Officers, NCO's and probably EM's to ensure their continuing reliability...

As the war neared it's end some of these POW's attempted to escape these units, as association with them became problematic (i.e they would be considered as collaborators). There is little published (in English) with regard to these obscure units but I have found them discussed on the 'Lexikon der Wehrmacht' discussion Forum, quoting Tessin as a source. They are referred to on the Lexikon itself, but do not have their own entries and are not obvious to spot when looking for them. I also found them discussed on a French Forum where one or two members had been researching relatives who had been members of these units. One typical duty was repairing the damage caused by Allied Air Raids in German cities, but I expect their tasks were quite varied.

I'm not clear as to whether the POW's themselves were actually issued Heer uniforms or just work uniforms (my suspicion), any further information would be greatly appreciated.

I would say that this particular hue of piping can look quite different depending on whether it is viewed in reflected or artificial light (e.g at a militaria fair), or in bright sunlight (or with a flash), perhaps as it was intended to be viewed, where it can be described as a very light-brown.

The pictures below show this quite well.

Looking more closely (see the lowest picture, a close-up of the rayon 'basket-weave' piping), there is even a slight hue difference between the individual Heer Bau straps! Different reel of Waffenfarbe at the production stage? Or just stored / displayed differently for 70+ years - think of a mannequin with one shoulder closer to the window for 30 years for example.

[PaulW]

For interest (on the subject of light-brown piping) I am showing some light-brown piped shoulder straps from my collection. Interestingly, there are variations in the colour of the Luftwaffe straps, although the Waffen SS KZ straps are very similar in hue to the Bau straps.

I know that there is a train of thought that suggests that different branches had different shades of light-brown piping, but I'm not so sure, especially when there are notable differences within Luftwaffe straps themselves! When it comes to other Waffenfarbe red is red, black is black, white is white and so on. What is special about light-brown piping to a nation at war? Are the differences seen simply batch variations, or the differing effects of age, dirt/ pollution/ nicotine, exposure to sunlight and so on over 70 years? Even the individual Heer straps have a slight difference in hue when looked at closely!

[PaulW]

Finally, as I like to see my shoulder straps, here portraying a Bau-Pioneer tunic mid 1943 (on an M42 tunic) to October 1943, or a 'Krieg BuA Btl' tunic from mid 43 to May 45.