UBB.threads Forums Uniform & Accessories SS & SA Uniform Forum Well Worn SS Insignias

Mark,,,is that one marker and 3 different plots or do they bury 3 in the one space?


Glad you posted these insignia. Weird almost sloppy stiching, mis matched pips etc. If it were on a tunic here asking for opinions I'm sure there would be the 'looks like a 2 yr old put them on' and 'obviously post war attached' ...I'd bet most field / combat devices and insignia were stiched/attached like these shown here..Thanks , G.

G-
The answer is yes, 3 bodies in one oversized space-The French & Belgians were reluctant to devote too much of their land to plant dead Boche.

Well-worn and textbook in style-but no provenance on this one.

Reverse of bullion arm adler with proper 'H' code RzM label.

Top buckle liberated from an equipment depot in the Obersalzberg area by a 101st Abn veteran. Typical late war silver painted steel, NO markings on reverse.

Bottom specimen unearthed about 10 years ago, by a Belgian metal detectionist in the woods naer Sadzot, Belgium, where grenadiers from 'DF' or 'Deutschland' fought US paratroopers of the 509th PIB during the Battle of the Bulge.

A Textbook, vet-acquired example of an iconic insignia-the standard SS officer's runic collar tab.
As someone who has been collecting TR stuff for over 45 years, I can attest that originals of these were never really what you would term 'common', even back in the 1960s.

Today, it is possible to walk into small regional militaria shows and not find one single 'real' example for sale in the entire show.
I also can't think of another SS insignia which
exists in so many borderline variations, where it is difficult or impossible to determine if many of those are original or not...a potentially very frustrating fact for collectors. I have to conclude that many reproductions have been generated, with varying degrees of success. There are certainly also some original variants out there, which differ significantly in appearance from this one.

I am satisfied with this one, because I know where it came from. Stan Myers of the 67th Armored Regt, 2nd Armored Division, removed it from a dead SS officer during the St Lo Breakout in late July, 1944.

Here's the back side of Stan Myers' bring-back SS officer runic collar tab, with paper RzM label. I acquired this from Stan about 10 years ago, while researching my 3rd book 'Breakout at Normandy'.

Mark,
This is another SS buckle from the Battle of the Bulge, taken by S/Sgt John C. Taylor, Battery "A'" 277th F.A. Bn., 174th F.A.Group, VIII Corps.

Front

Some items removed from SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Christian Tychsen, acting commander of the 'Das Reich' 2nd SS Pz Div.
Tychsen was ambushed on 28 July, 1944, while riding in a kubelwagen with this driver and Ordnance officer near Cambry, France (s/of Coutances.
Lt John Cleveland of the CCB traffic sqd, 2nd Armored MP Co. was among those present who looted Tychsen's remains and divided the souvenirs. The Mauser .25 was found in the small holster worn on Tychsen's back. A tank driver got Tychsen's RK & Eichenlaub while another GI got his DK in gold. Others got the remaining insignia, dogtag, Soldbuch, etc.
Contrary to legend, his panzer wrapper tunic was NOT taken at that time. Remains of it were found when his body was exhumed for identification purposes in 1967. On it was a disintegrating rank tab with four pips and one shouldeboard for a field grade officer. Since he was hit in the left side of his neck by a bullet, those two items were presumably not taken, because they were too bloody to deal with at the time.
Because he was stil wearing tall jackboots when buried, he was initially interred as a unknown German officer. The 7 tooth bridge installed after a Russian grenade mutilated his jaw in 1942 was the means by which his remains were properly identified in 1967.
The photo of RK trager Hans Weiss is ink-signed TO Tychsen, which poves that this grouping does not just pertain to him, but was owned by him.

What precious little evidence there is, to reconstruct what happened to Tychsen and where he was ambushed. The original of this photo has 1/4 torn away and is smaller than a baseball card. This was taken by a tank gunner in the 67th Armored Regiment at the main road south of Coutances, known as 'les Haut Vents' the high winds). Like 'la Fourchette' near Carentan, there are numerous places in Normandy called 'Haut Vents'. Tychen's mother was told by the German Red Cross that he disappeared somewhere near 'St Denis'. It was actually n/of St Denis le GAST. Tychen's mother discovered there were over 60 places in France that begin with 'St Denis'. Her attempts to learn anything were in vain.
2nd Armored Div HQ was never notified of Tychsen' death and even Heinrich Himmler made inquiries through the Red Cross and could discover nothing. Tychsen was killed, stripped of all identification and buried in the shoulder of the road so quickly, that only a few
witnesses ever knew what happened to him. GRS moved his body to a French cemetery at la Chene Guerin in late 1944, then he was re-buried at Marigny, as an 'Unbekannt Deutsche Officier' until a team of SS veterans identified him via the dental work in 1967.

Anyhow, back to the photo. It is possible that the kubelwagen visible at left was the one Tychsen was riding in when ambushed. The French author of 'Panzers in Normandy Then & Now', believes the ambush happened here.
Other historians in France theorize that Tychsen was KIA at 'la Noraisserie', a farm about 2 miles NE of here, on the road to Guehebert. Another Kubelwagen was ambushed there.
The German prisoner seated in the vehicle with hands clasped behind his head is wearing a breast eagle of some type, so is obviosuly not SS. Much of the German 7th Army was retreating along this road and there were troops of all types killed and captured by Major 'Smokey' Ring's roadblock/Task Force near Cambry.

Tychsen's C.P. in Trelly was straight ahead, 1 mile down the road to the west from this junction. Too bad the vet I got this photo from didn't take more photos here-he also unfortunately didn't recall any details about the kubelwagen or its occupants.

If you visit the Haut Vents road junction today, the house shown on the corner in this photo is still there. Little has changed in this part of Normandy. This vintage photo surfaced five years after I published my 3rd book 'Breakout at Normandy', which contains some details about Tychsen's death and disappearance.

I took this comparison at Haut Vents in 2004-camera facing NW. These battlefield investigations can get like CSI, except you never seem to arrive at a decisive conclusion.

This was presumably Tychsen's cuffband. In early August, 1944, Lt Cleveland tossed this, along with the photos and the small pistol onto Captain Bult's desk and said: "I took this stuff from a German colonel."
I bought the grouping from Mr Bult in 1995, which sparked the research that led to creation of my 3rd book.
This flatwire band has the silk border-instead of aluminum wire-which is characteristic of the Das Reich officers' cufftitle.

Mark,

I think it's safe to say for everyone that we have thoroughly enjoyed your terrific pictures and informative text posted recently on GDC. Thanks for taking the time to share your collection AND deep knowledge on the subject.

Mark, I would like to join Denny in saying how much I have enjoyed the wonderful pictures from your collection, and especially your knowledge of the individsual items and the men who acquired them. To me the history you have recorded of the pieces is what really makes your collection so renarkable, and interesting.

The attached studio portrait of RK Trager Hans Weiss is a classic SS officer portrait. It was found in Tychsen's possesions after his fatal ambush. Weiss had been friends with Tychsen since they served together in Division Reich in the motorcycle and Recon battalions on the eastern front.
In Normandy, Weiss commanded a Korps level Tiger Tank Bn, until he was shot 3 times while fleeing the Falaise pocket, then captured while unconscious. He died in a car crash in the late 1970s.
Thanks to Don and Denny for the positive comments-I'm glad somebody is enjoying the results of my work here.

A pen and ink drawing I did of Tychsen, completed January, 2003.

Here's a flatwire from Rgt 'DF', also liberated by Captain Bult in the summer of 1944. Small pockets of this regiment were scattered across 40 miles of front when they arrived in Normandy, including the British sector. They had just moved north from their infamous reprisals at Oradour sur Glane.

M. BANDO...... What Phenomenal History and Historical Artifacts ..... with Meaningful Stories which Only can be told ..... by a Phenomenal Historian!!!!!!

Your attention to Details ... leaves one with very few unanswered Questions!

Thanks for Sharing.... MORE !!! Txs, Dave/dblmed

On a rainy day in 2003, I photographed my other Tychsen drawing, propped-up above his grave. This is at the German military cemetery at Marigny, France.
BTW, thanks Dave-I hope you have a copy of my 3rd book, 'Breakout at Normandy'. It is out of print now, but used copies sometimes crop-up on Amazon.com and other online book sellers.

Here are two more cuffbands salvaged by Captain Bult of the 2nd Armored Divison.
He got the AH RZM style title at the Albert Canal in Belgium in September, 1944.
Not the golden brown age and wear patina to the silk thread lettering.

The variant flatwire 'Deutschland' Pz Gr Rgt title is the rarely-seen type without the speckled reverse. Obtained summer, 1944-somewhere in Normandy.

>I'm glad somebody is enjoying the results of my work here.<

Somebody? It's hard to imagine any collector or curator - let alone historian - not being most impressed by and thankful for your work, Mark. Your contributions are huge.

I see what you mean about the "CSI" aspects.
Even a casual run-through of "After the Battle" magazine sparks the Inner Detective
in all of us!

Thank again for the immense efforts.

Thanks Inimicus-

The US 30th Infantry Division became known as 'The Work Horse of the Western Front' starting in the battle of Normandy. Wherever they went, they seemed to run into Waffen SS formations opposing them. At Mortain they fought DR to a standstill and they had many encounters in the Belgian 'Bulge'. Places like la Gleize, Malmedy, Stavelot and Stoumont Belgium all saw clashes between the Waffen SS and the 'Old Hickory' division.
German radio even began referring to the 30th ID as 'Roosevelt's SS Troops', a title which the 30th guys were proud of. This was before discovery of the concentration camps and before the W-SS received the blanket condemnation of being a 'criminal organization'. Although considerable atrocities occured in the W-SS sector of the Ardennes offensive (against civilians and US military alike), the primary image of the battlefield SS was still that of an elite fighting force.
A special edition of the 30th newspaper came-out after the Bulge, in which many articles related specific battles with Hitler's elite troops in various small Belgian towns.
The cuffband shown with that edition of the paper is a flatwire AH officer's title taken from a fallen member of Kampfgruppe Peiper at Stoumont by a American Lt of the 119th Rgt of the 30th ID. He had a cigar box full of souvenirs from Peiper's troops, but he left that in his old house in NJ when he retired and moved to FL. He only saved this band because it was stuck in one of his books, as a bookmark.
I acquired it from him about 18 years ago.
In all my years of collecting this is the only W-SS item I have which I can positively attribute to KG Peiper.

oops-here's the image referred to in the post above-MB

Here's a 30th patch modified to reflect their honorary title of 'Roosevelt's SS Troops'.
An issue of the Army newspaper 'Stars n Stripes'in January 1945, actually featured a short article on the front page with the story of this modified type of patch and a pen & ink illustration of a modified 30th patch.
As to the patch itself, the outer and inner design features an 'O H' for Old Hickory, while the 3 X's in the center are Roman numerals for the number of the division-'30'.

Speaking of KG Peiper, I've always 'suspected' that this salty Infantry Captain's board was salvaged from one of their casualties. Can't prove it though. One of Grant Bias'hotel buyer friends obtained this from a vet years ago, along with a LAH Inf Sgt's board, on which the monogan appears to have been painted with silver paint.
Like most hotel buyers, this one did NOT bother to get the vet's name or unit. That would've gone a long way to knowing which time period these boards were acquired.

This LAH Inf Sgt board was purchased from the same vet at a hotel buy. There is a lot not to like about this at first examination.
The back side is black, instead of field gray. The tongue is cut-off and the cypher appears to be painted with silver paint. The paint job looks so farby that no self-respecting repro artist would claim credit for it.

However-the prongs are of the same style as on the officer board.
As to the cypher itself, not all the details on the 'H' are cut-out-but this is a common trait of this maker.
If you look closely at what lies underneath the silver paint, there is a quality, detailed cypher in there.
The fact that relatively fewer white metal LAH cyphers seem to be around, suggests that fewer of those were made than the gold-colored officer types. Hence, the silver ones may have been difficult to obtain, even back in the day.
This would've contributed to causing period modifications like this.

Mark, since more or less this forum has absentee Moderators I'd like to nominate you for the new 'Great Thread Badge' award..

Also, when you get a chance,could you post the reverse of that variant Deutschland cufftitle,,,thanks ,G.

Here's the back side of the LAH NCO board with painted cypher. Note the brass prongs for the cypher-

(On the captain's board, the prongs also come all the way through the base of the board).

Forgot to mention on the obverse side of the NCO board, you can also see the tresse was upgraded from Unterscharfuhrer to senior sgt by placing a short strip of diamond pattern tresse across the open base of the board.
Hence, we can see the evolution of the board, from Unterscharfuhrer to Scharfuhrer, with a tresse modification, finally a pip promotion and at some point (?) the addition of a modified (painted) LAH cypher-pretty labor intensive history for one shoulder board.

BTW, from a 101st vet I got an Infantry Unterscharfuhrer board which had been downgraded a rank from Scharfuhrer, by 'removing' the end strip of tresse, as opposed to adding it.

For Gaspare-The lower band is the reverse of the rare variant 'Deutschland'. Hard to see in this photo, but it has the usual protective black backing but the rest of the band is plain black, not salt and pepper like most other flatwire cuffbands.

Fabulous info here, especially on Tychsen. Thanks for posting & sharing.

Fantastic contributions M Bando! This will perhaps be an even greater thread than the old lost one "well used SS insignia"! Youre responsible for that! Items with history and solid provenance will remain so much more interesteing than minty depot finds.

Keep up the good work!

"Felix" - N. Hansson

P.s. Will try to post a few of my insignias as well to contribute.

Amazing research & collection!!
Thank you very much for posting these pictures Mark !!

Cheers,
Ibrahim,
Singapore.

Here's the pen & ink drawing I did of Obersturmbannfuhrer Jochen Peiper in early 1976. If I remember correctly, by some coincidence he was murdered later in that very year, by former Maquisards, who fire-bombed and shot-up his house in Traves, France.
He had been working there for a few years, translating German military books into the English language. He was killed on 'Bastille Day'.

fantastic collection,fantastic books a gold mine of information.i did'nt realize that you were an artist-great drawings.thanks paul zaya

Before leaving the LAH flatwire with KG Peiper provenance behind, here's a closeup, with better detail.

Showing the back side of it, because it seems to have a gold-colored tint to the salt and pepper pattern on the reverse.

C.R. Corbin an American GI of the 3rd Armored Division witnessed atrocities committed against Belgian civilians by KG Peiper during the Bulge.
you can read firsthand testimony about those days here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~crcorbin/ParfCorbin.html
Since it's almost December, I like to read Bulge accounts at this time of the year.

Here's a Normandy grouping, taken from a dying member of Pz Gr Rgt Deutschland during the St Lo Breakout.
Roscoe Lewis was a medic in a field hospital of the 48th Armored Medical Bn, 2nd Armored Division. The owner of these insignia and decorations came into Lewis' hospital as a casualty but didn't make it.
The reverse of the bevo runic tab is made of cardboard, instead of the usual loosely-woven white threads.
The lettering on the RZM style cuffband has also turned the golden-brown color which commonly happened to these items with age and wear.

When we mention St Lo here is my contribution;
LTc Emmert Anderson cut the ss insignia from a dead SS corporals uniform At St Lo FRANCE 1944. Its what I cant make out of the handwritten note. So its either Das Reich or GvB.