SS oak camo parkas from Norway

[Vancharger]

Hello all!
I used to own a parka assembled in Norway in Oak camo a couple of years ago, I have always believed from the first time I saw it that it was period made, the way it was put together did NOT add up to anything the Norwegian army would have stitched together right after the war, the cut looks german, the pockets, the inner sleeves of grey silk/rayon, german buttons. And as I have learnt in a couple of other threads here recently, it is known that these parkas were sewn together in Norway, but for whom? Can we please try to collect all knowledge about these parkas, their manufacturing dates, the fabric, theories about who were supposed to use them etc?

Thomas

[Palmenmuster]

Nice SS Parka. These were made at the company V.C.Møller in Drammen in 1943/44. They were specially made for the Norwegian SS Police divisions assigned to the Eastern front. The parkas had a sheepskin fur lining and a button-on fur lined hood.

To the best of my knowledge, a lot of them were delivered to the 3. SS Police division and saw service, the 4. division was set up and ready to replace the 3. division but newer got in action.

The parkas was after the war stored in the National Guard depots and used for a couple of years. Most of the parkas were stripped of the fur lining when used in the National Guard. They were probably in the 1970s destructed together with a huge amount of SS smocks and helmet covers. These SS camoparkas are probably the rarest items together with the Leibermuster items.
Tom

[Vancharger]

Thank you Tom! I have also heard before as you say that they were made for the 4.th SS policecompany, but they never saw any action. That the 3.rd SS pk also got them, was New to me. Are there any period photos of them in use in the field?
Thomas

[Palmenmuster]

I know there are some pictures of the parkas "in action" sadly I dont know where to find them, our member Hilton may be of help, he has a lot of knowledge.
Tom

[Hilton]

To my knowledge they never reached out to any units, but was all found in storage and confiscated by the post-war Norwegian army. There is no known evidence that to support that these were designated for the 3. SS Police division, or any other specific unit either for that sake. The only known facts around this parkas more or less are that they were produced by Møller in Drammen, and that they saw postwar use in the Norwegian army. But interesting information surfaced on this forum for some time ago when member Grand Sasso showed photos of one parka that was claimed to have been found in Germany, Eifel area. http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/Foru...t=87173&page=3

[Hilton]

There was one photo that we for long believed showed the parka in wartime use Tom, but that photo later turned out to be postwar. The Norwegian army also used German helmets so difficult to date some blurry photos sometimes :-)

[Palmenmuster]

Great info Hilton, keep on digging. These items are hard to find pictures of.
Tom

[Hilton]

Will do :-)

[Vancharger]

Very interesting Hilton and Tom!
I have a splinter zeltbahn that has been repaired with this cloth, most likely by the Norwegian army at some point in time... Here you can see both sides of the fabric, it's both spring and autumn as one would expect from SS clothing, Even though the parkas were never made to be reversible...
The Norwegian army would never have made or procured fabric like this in 1946/47, or later, so this must be warbooty, coming from storage in Norway pre May 45...

[Mike C]

Look at the last Hermann Historica auction - item #7960. Some Norwegian collector got a good deal in my opinion.

Mike

[Vancharger]

Look at the last Hermann Historica auction - item #7960. Some Norwegian collector got a good deal in my opinion.

Mike

Can you post a link, or if you' ve saved the pics and post them, even better!

[NickG]

Can you post a link, or if you' ve saved the pics and post them, even better!

Here you go!
(looks kind of pink....must be foreign production! Sorry couldn't resist!)

[Vancharger]

Hehe, looks kinda pink yes, and doesn't look like the yellowish Norwegian one... can't say for sure about the lining in the pockets though.. ;p
But jokes aside NickG, thanks for showing this one

Thomas

[kammo man]

Here you go!
(looks kind of pink....must be foreign production! Sorry couldn't resist!)

NO ........
The only thing that is pink is your rosy cheeks.

Its typical colored oak.


owen

[Vancharger]

If anyone has more pictures of the Norwegian, or shall we call it big pattern oak, please post it here.
I myself have no other visual examples, but I have a couple more examples told to me by a very good and knowledgeable friend,
The first one beeing that on the cinema on the military Camp on Trandum in Norway, the curtain in front of the screen was made from this cloth, (oak)
The second is that the father of my friend once bought a Model A Ford, which had the upholstery/seatcovers done in oak camo fabric... The car was bought in the 70s, but the upholstery was way older, this car was bought in Lier, close to Drammen where the parkas were sewn, so possibly someone brought some fabric home with them, and it ended up as seatcovers in a Model A Ford...

Thomas