SS Kriegsberichter Tunic

[münster]

Hi

1st SS Tunic I have handled, all I can say comparing to Heer is quality is top notch. I will have better pics on it in the next 2 days (cam ran out of batteries).

The sleeve eagle is Heer which I believe is accepted and there is absolutely no sign of any breast eagle ever being present on the breast. Also the collar tabs are the size of SS tabs and not Heer collar tabs.

I looked in a book with another Kriegsberichter SS tunic and besides the cufftitle it looked a twin to it.

The Shoulderboards look correctly attaches as a Heer tunic would and appear original to me.

I know the pics are terrible as of now but any other opinions.

Best
Dion

[münster]

3

[münster]

5 Crappy shot,,I will have much better in the next day

[NickG]

Nice Parisian made tunic with Heer insignia. The ghosts of collar tabs on the collar DO appear to be Heer size...more rectangular than Waffen SS ones.
I think somebody moved the eagle over...If the eagle was hand stitched on the breast it could have been removed with little or no signs of it ever being there...(unless there is fading of course)
The waffenfarbe (signals) is also incorrect for Kriegsberichter...(light blue). Nevertheless a nice named foreign tailored tunic.
If you can chase the owner's name to a unit, you'll erase any doubt of its origins and the branch service.

My hunch remains Heer at this point based on the collar ghosts...and the damage on the Heer pattern shoulderboards indicate the presence of a Heer unit cypher (no pip inprint) on the boards at one time...(not an SS practice). These were sometimes removed for security purposes...

[münster]

Nice Parisian made tunic with Heer insignia. The ghosts of collar tabs on the collar DO appear to be Heer size...more rectangular than Waffen SS ones.
I think somebody moved the eagle over...If the eagle was hand stitched on the breast it could have been removed with little or no signs of it ever being there...(unless there is fading of course)
The waffenfarbe is also incorrect for Kriegsberichter...Nevertheless a nice named foreign tailored tunic.
If you can chase the owner's name to a unit, you'll erase any doubt of its origins and the branch service.

My hunch remains Heer at this point based on the collar ghosts...and the damage on the shoulderboards (no pip inprint) indicate the presence of a Heer unit cypher on the boards at one time...(not an SS practice)

Thanks Nick, I will go get better pics of the collar tabs in the next days. Ill take it out in natural daylight and photo it all properly up. I was in a no sun light room but did hold the breast section up to light and there is absolutely no signs of anything being there nor stitching.
Best
Dion

[Lasse L]

Hello,

I read the name as Glaeser, right? And in that case I have only been able to find one SS-officer by that name, Oscar Glaeser who was SS-Ostuf in april 1945. Which seams a bit late for him to get his hands on a SS officersuniform sewn in paris, dosent it? Also he dident serve with the SS-Standarte "Kurt Eggers".

[münster]

Hello,

I read the name as Glaeser, right? And in that case I have only been able to find one SS-officer by that name, Oscar Glaeser who was SS-Ostuf in april 1945. Which seams a bit late for him to get his hands on a SS officersuniform sewn in paris, dosent it? Also he dident serve with the SS-Standarte "Kurt Eggers".

Thanks Lasse, that helps a lot. Ill tell the bad news to the original owner. It wont make his day but its best he knows. I would think then it was a very nice tailored Heer tunic that the eagle got moved. I will make pics anyway to seal it up.

If you do have time on one final grasp would be maybe to run the name with the German Umlaut Ä which I think would be Gläser and not Glaeser.

Best
Dion

[Johnny R]

For "Gläser" there is one Heer officer that was Infantry in the Ranglisten but was a Hauptmann in 1939. There are 630 KIA/MIA listed.

Nick I am not sure where you saw that SS-PK waffenfarbe as Light Blue? As far as I know, like the Army they wore signals piping. Angolia lists this as the branch piping as well. In anycase it is Signals, I am not sure how to ID a PK tunic without the CT or more info on the owner etc.

[Johnny R]

This is from SS Uniforms, Insignia & Accoutrements: A Study in Photographs
A. Hayes (Schutz Staffel Uniforms, 1934-1945). He indicates the PK wore White early and then Yellow.

[münster]

For "Gläser" there is one Heer officer that was Infantry in the Ranglisten but was a Hauptmann in 1939. There are 630 KIA/MIA listed.

Nick I am not sure where you saw that SS-PK waffenfarbe as Light Blue? As far as I know, like the Army they wore signals piping. Angolia lists this as the branch piping as well. In anycase it is Signals, I am not sure how to ID a PK tunic without the CT or more info on the owner etc.

Well no Gläser or Glaeser listed in SS KB. It is such a nice tunic Iam going to break it to the guy and maybe it would be worth removing the sleeve eagle and keeping the breast eagle with it to be applied properly. Maybe the piece was left unfinished in the French tailor. Also on a better note maybe the guy will surrender another uni to me for purchase. I agree Johnny it is signals piping, not Calvary. As for WSS KB I would imagine they used the same piping as Heer. Nice learning curve for me with SS.
Best
Dion

And thanks for the help with the lists Johnny and Lasse.

[Johnny R]

It still is a nice tunic and if it can be verified to in fact be Army with his name etc it can be fixed it just is not worth what he probably imagines it to be worth if he thinks it is SS-PK.

[münster]

It still is a nice tunic and if it can be verified to in fact be Army from the tabs size etc. it can be fixed it just is not worth what he probably imagines it to be worth if he thinks it is SS-PK.

The guy trusts what I tell him, he has a lot of good medals and I picked a couple fakes out of his huge selection. He gets a bit depressed about it but is realistic. Ill break it to him, he will sulk a bit , he will either let me take it as a Heer or offer me another pick from his Unis. I have pulled some amazing stuff out of him whenever I visit home.

Best
Dion

[DonC]

Lemon-yellow for a KB was legit early on in the war - I do not remember if and when it was changed to another Waffenfarbe. The Eggers tunic had lemon yellow boards, if I remember correctly - I'll check the book when I get home tonight.

Don

[NickG]

Nick I am not sure where you saw that SS-PK waffenfarbe as Light Blue? As far as I know, like the Army they wore signals piping. Angolia lists this as the branch piping as well. In anycase it is Signals, I am not sure how to ID a PK tunic without the CT or more info on the owner etc.

My bad! Light blue is Post office...not kriegsberichter...I got confused!
Actually both PK and postal "branches" started off in light yellow (= Zitronengelband) and later the
SS post office switched to light blue...but NOT the Propaganda guys...My mistake...they remained lemon yellow throughout the war...
but its still a played with Heer tunic in my view... no black secundary piping SS style...+ WH Heer eagle + name not listed in SS roster = 3 strikes against it being KB-SS!
Most likely a Heer communications officer who's metal unit cyphers were removed from the boards...

Thanks for correcting me!