SS Brandenburg/Totenkopf

[AJ]

Nice stuff is still out there!

A few days ago I got this small photo group from a colleauge. It came from her father in law, who died almost 40 years ago.
No one ever had an interest in his military career and this was all that was left!
According to the family, he served both in the "black" and "grey" SS and also did service in a KZ camp! After the war he was wanted by the Allied!

Going through the photos you will find evidence of service in;
50. SS Standarte in Flensburg
SS Sturmbann Brandenburg
SS Div. Totenkopf

and a late war photo wearing a dark piped shoulder boad - could it be brown?

[AJ]

50. SS Standarte in Flensburg

[AJ]

SS Div. Totenkopf

[AJ]

Which unit? SS Sturmbann Brandenburg?

[AJ]

Brown piping on the shoulderboard?

[Ian Hulley]

Brown piping on the shoulderboard?

As he's clearly now on active service (EKII ribbon, Ost Medaille ribbon bar) then perhaps it's more likely to be red for artillery or even light blue for transport/supply ? He could even be serving with 'Nord' and it could be Gebirgs green.

Ian

[wolfslair]

Wonderful early A/SS collar tabs photos.

[AJ]

Hi Ian,
thanks for the comments!

Of course there is no way to determin weather the color is red/gren or brown, but regarding the context and the fact that in formation provided by the family, can be confirmed by the photos and because lot of SS men were transfered from active service to the camp system, I thought that there were a chance the the piping actually could be brown?

Just for comparison, I took the photo and put it against a photo of a danish volunteer who served as camp guard in Sachsenhasen...

[Ian Hulley]

Yes, of course it's possible ... comparing different shades of grey on a B&W photograph we can only limit the colour to a shortlist by process of elimination ... he's not infantry, cavalry, signals, panzer/panzerjaeger , medical or pionier so ... next most common would be artillery or transport I guess. Of course if you have info to the contrary then

Cheers, Ian.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Fotos

Very nice picture of the Brandenburg Shoulder board.