Waffen SS General’s Insignia,
Personality Groupings and Related Items
Additional Examples
Collar Tabs
All General’s collar tabs were hand embroidered, which
makes each tab a unique and individual piece of art and accounts for a wide
degree of variation in the rendering of the design. However, unlike the other services the
design and rendering of the Waffen SS Generals tabs is very consistent and
shows almost no variation. Careful
study of these images will reveal an extremely high quality of workmanship and
a certain “look” that just cannot seem to be reproduced with 100%
accuracy.
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Gruppenfuhrer und Generalleutnant der Waffen SS. Pair of matching tabs for the left and right collars. (Private collection) |
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Obergruppenfuhrer und General der Waffen SS. Pair of matching tabs for the left and right collars. (Private collection) |
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Brigadefuhrer tab for the right collar. (private collection) |
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Pre-1942 style Gruppenfuhrer tab for the left collar. ( |
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Pre-1942 style variant Gruppenfuhrer tab for the left
collar. (private collection) |
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Pre-1942 style variant pattern Gruppenfuhrer tab for the
right collar. (Padilla collection) |
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Gruppenfuhrer tab for the right collar. (private collection) |
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Obergruppenfuhrer tab for the right collar. (Howard Kelley collection) |
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Obergruppenfuhrer tab for the left collar. (Howard Kelley collection) |
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Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer tab for the right collar. (private collection) |
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Reichsfuhrer SS collar tabs. This particular pair has
smoky glass beads within the laurel leaves, instead of brass. (private collection) |
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Reichsfuhrer SS single collar tab for the right facing collar.
This example only has five of the original brass beads remaining. (private collection) |
NEW! Click here for a Guide to Original vs.
Reproduction SS Generals Collar Tabs
Shoulderboards
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Brigadefuhrer
Generals shoulderboard in matte gold bullion and
silver. (private collection) |
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Gruppenfuhrer
Generals shoulderboard in brite
gold bullion and silver. (private collection) |
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Obergruppenfuhrer
Generals shoulderboard in matte gold bullion and
silver. (private collection) |
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Obergruppenfuhrer shoulderboard in
bullion and silver from the uniform of Karl Hermann Frank. (private collection) |
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Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer
Sepp Dietrich’s Generals shoulderboard in
gold bullion and silver. (private collection) |
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A pair of well worn Waffen-SS Brigadefurher shoulderboards in
matte bullion and silver, of the slip-on variety. (private collection) |
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A pair of mint Waffen-SS Brigadefurher
shoulderboards in gold matte celleon
and aluminum. |
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The reverse side of the above boards. |
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These are actual examples of Prototypes that were designed
for SS use after the war -- to be worn on the black uniform. They were removed from a salesman's
sample board. The buttons are permanently affixed on the obverse side -- no
buttonhole goes through to the reverse. They were intended to be worn in pairs. Obtained directly from a
veteran. (private collection) |
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Oberstgruppenfuhrer sleeve insignia for use on camouflage
clothing. This is an extremely
rare piece of insignia of which few are known to exist. (Holzauge) |
Personality Groupings
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Oberstgruppenfuhrer
Sepp Dietrich’s uniform-removed insignia. |
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An SS Insignia grouping attributed to Obergruppenfuhrer
Walter Buch, who was also an NSDAP Reichsleiter (photos of his Reichsleiter
insignia can be found on the Rare Ranks page) (private collection) |
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Insignia grouping attributed to Obergruppenfuhrer Karl
Maria Demelhuber (Willi Schumacher collection) |
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Insigna grouping attributed to Obergruppenfuhrer Karl
Hermann Frank (private collection) |
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Insigna grouping attributed to Oberst-gruppenfuhrer Karl
Wolff. Included is documentation
from Wolff noting that this set of Obergruppenfuhrer boards belonged to
him. Notice how Wolff signs his
rank as Oberstgruppenfuhrer. He
was promoted to this rank by Hitler in the last days of the war, though it
was never made official. (Costello collection) |
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Insigna grouping attributed to Obergruppenfuhrer Gottleb
Berger. Included is documentation
from Berger to the original collector who sourced this insignia directly from
the General himself. (private collection) |
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A set of Obergruppenfuhrer shoulderboard and collar
tabs. The shoulderboards are in
celleon gold cord with aluminum inner silver cord. These have been removed from a uniform
but are, unfortunately, unattributed. (Private collection) |
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Close up image of the Obergruppenfuhrer tabs from the
above grouping. (Private collection) |
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Close up of the Obergruppenfuhrer shoulderboards from the
above grouping. Note that the
gray underlay color of the boards in this image is off due to a technical
issue with the scanner and is not reflective of the true colors. (Private collection) |
I’m always looking for good photographs of original
tabs and other General officer insignia.
If you have something to contribute, please visit the submitting photos page.