Uniforms of Army Officers Transferred to the SS

[dcdefend]

Anytime you see an SS uniform with the outline of an Army eagle over the breast pocket, it is not considered to be a "real" SS uniform. Last night I was looking at Yerger's Knight's of Steel, Vol. I. It looks to me that the picture of Peter Sommer on page 80 shows the outline of an Army eagle over his right breast pocket. He transferred from the Army in June, 1943.

Wonder what others think of this picture and the existence of "real" Army/SS uniforms.

[Gary Wood]

dcdefend,
I have also seen such pictures period, but these are rare cases, I would not put money into a tunic with an outline of the breast eagle unless I got it from the vet who wore it or the vet who brought it back, and in the latter case I mean first hand not a friend got this from a vet ect ect, I would also get a letter from the vet who brought it back stating all the details and a picture of the vet holding the tunic, a lot of sellers will use this type of information to sell an item, but unless the above criteria are met I would give it a wide berth
cheers,
gary

[Mark Holden]

Hi Dcdefend,

I have a photo of a TK soldier wearing a tunic with a clear outline of an army eagle. I'll ask Gary Wood to post it here to illustrate that it did happen. But Gary is right tunics with fresh eagle outlines should be avoided.

Cheers

Mark

[Gary Wood]

posting picture for mark

[Basil]

It's worth remembering that in the immediate pre-war and early war period, Waffen-SS officers seconded to army units wore both an SS sleeve eagle and an army breast eagle. Their are several photos of this in Schulze-Kossens 'Die Junkerschulen'.

[John P]

Hi everyone,I am the guy formerly known as Mohawkwarrior.Hello Gary,I will have to disagree to an extent I believe there were alot of transfers late in the war and I also believe officers with frugal spending habits bought second hand clothing in some cases especially if it was in good shape.Its not a great sign to find a shadow on a tunic when collecting but it is also not a complete turn off especially if the shadow is very vague and the rest of the insignias are real and have been on awhile.While fakers are good these days the supply and cost of real SS insignias to put on a tunic are prohibitive ,Cufftitles are very expensive and bullion eagles are very very difficult to find.Thus you see many of the good fakes with good quality fake insignias mixed with real in some cases.A friend has a wehrmacht artillery officers tunic with the shadow of a Waffen SS sleeve eagle.Now who would fake that one?It is nice to have a 100% anything and best for investment purposes,but if you are more of an enthusiast historian than an investor it aint so bad.