What kind of belt buckles did Einsatzgruppen wear?

[Gernika81]

Hi. I have a question regarding the uniformity of the Einsatzgruppen. Did their members wear Polizei belt buckles like the one attached? Or SS? Thanks!

[Gaspare]

good question.....
Well they were under SS administration [SD]..... So,,,I will cover all bases and say, Both,,Police and SS....

[Gernika81]

Ok Gaspare. Thanks.

[Robert H]

On all photos I have from Einsatzgruppen members show SS EM or Off. buckles.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

Waffen-SS, Sipo (Kripo/Gestapo), SD, Orpo... not including local units of various arms. Each group was still paid by their respective administration.
Each Einsatzgruppe was a kind of Task Force and each member probably kept their own belt buckle.

See You

Vince

[NickG]

As Vince states is how I understand it:
einsatz gruppen were organized as a task force and the force could have been filled with various units (Sonderkommandos):
Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo), Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) or SchuPo + Schutzmannschaften (Schuma) + Waffen-SS, etc...
and they would wear their own own branch unique uniform with matching branch specific belt buckle...
SchuPo/OrPo and Schuma in polizei grün uniforms (Schuma early on black uniforms) both with Polizei buckles
and W-SS and SD in Feld grau with SS pattern buckles...

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

exactly. This is why it is something hard to identify the units/members of a particular Einsatzgruppe/Einsatzkommando at a particular period of time.

Einsatzgruppen listed personnel may be taken as "specialists" that were organizing, administrating, training and supervising other additional german/foreign units (local police, military, militia) that were temporary added for specific operations. They were the "core" personnel for police and "cleansing" operations.

We can also notice that sometimes the various administrations involved were fighting each others. Also Einsatzgruppen had to directly report to the Reichsführer-SS staff over the local HSSPF (SS and Polizei Leader) and local administrations, making even more frictions.

See You

Vince