Waffen SS in action

[Gary Wood]

even the armoured cars has the SS on the number plates covered

[Gary Wood]

the armoured recognisance units wearing black army style panzer jackets with there insignia covered

[Gary Wood]

LSSAH officer again with cuff title and collar patches covered

[Gary Wood]

in this picture you can see the runic has made an impression on the cloth covering it

[Gary Wood]

blow up of the photo above

[Gary Wood]

Its also worth noting that there are plenty of oddities in photo's that sometime seem strange for example the photo below, middle of winter and these TK guys are wearing the herringbone fatigue jackets!!!!!!!!!!!

[Perry Floyd]

Gary why would you say the decals were left uncovered?

[voodoo]

Just an observation, but if the insignia are indeed covered, someone took the time to tailor the exact covering for the insignia. Nice and neatly sewn. One would expect something a little "shabby" if it was done in haste.

And Perry, I was wondering the same about the decals.

[TWP]

Gary thanks for showing us Panzer Meyer's photo album. That is really amazing. I am sure its worth a fortune. How did you ever come by it? Would it be possible to see some more interesting photos?
Also, I would like to ask the same question. Why arent the WSS troops not wearing the camo smocks? I thought that this would have been the norm or did WSS troops frequently not wear smocks in their campaigns as much as they did wear smocks?

[Akira Takiguchi]

What an album! The license place thing has been well known, but I did not know that they also hide the collar insignia...

these TK guys

Don't know much about it, but aren't they from SS-Kavallerie-Brigade?

[PaulR]

Nice and revealing set of photos. I thought that the SS covered their insignia only during the Polish campaign. Now I know better. Who is to say whether or not the first photos were training or not? I was not there and there is nothing to prove or disprove either theory...that I can see anyway.

My opinion is that that photos where the member's insignia were removed were taken in a Combat Area of operation.

Paul

[Gary Wood]

"Just an observation, but if the insignia are indeed covered, someone took the time to tailor the exact covering for the insignia. Nice and neatly sewn. One would expect something a little "shabby" if it was done in haste.

And Perry, I was wondering the same about the decals."


The cloth covering's look well done as you can see in the photo's, and this i guess would have been done before the operation,why this was done and not the helmet decals or for that matter the insignia on the panzer beret, I would guess to hide what SS unit they were from rather than to hide the fact they are SS.

As to the first photo's that started the thread, they look more like combat shot than training shots to me, I have plenty of photo's of training and most are posed shots, are these posed shot's??????? who knows.

Regarding camouflage smocks they were used in both training and combat theatre, I do not think the use or non use is relevant as there are plenty of photo's of ss troops in combat where they are not wearing full camouflage gear.
cheers,
Gary

PS having been thinking about this today at work! the covering of the insignia to hide the regiment, which seems logical, at this time other ss regiments were removing the vt collar insignia to hide who they were yet wearing cuff titles,
Then helmets still with ss decals, yet the rune's on the number plates covered,
also as the ss were known to wear camouflage and the army not at this time maybe this is also why they are not wearing camouflage to look more like ordinary army units
so more question that answers

[Peter Wiking]

AJ
Mius on the back ?
Thats a river.
On July 30 1943, Reg. Deutschland had to dug in there as the Russians where shelling them.

Peter Wiking

[Jean-Loup]

Snowy month of july then? If Mius is actualy the place where the photo was taken, and there was only fighting there in july 1943, the conclusion could be that these are not combat photos... Maybe...
JL

[JaimeH]

Cool photos! the Panzer soldier holding a broom handle mauser with what looks like the wooden carrying stock. Also the first pictures, it would seem the soldiers are dressed rather in light clothing considreing how cold it must be to have that much snow. No great coats?