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.

Gruppenfuhrer und Generalleutnant der Waffen SS. Pair of matching tabs for the left and right collars. (Private collection)

Obergruppenfuhrer und General der Waffen SS. Pair of matching tabs for the left and right collars. (Private collection)

Brigadefuhrer tab for the right collar.

(private collection)

Pre-1942 style Gruppenfuhrer tab for the left collar.

(Kursk collection)

Gruppenfuhrer tab for the right collar.

(private collection)

Obergruppenfuhrer tab for the right collar.

(Howard Kelley collection)

Obergruppenfuhrer tab for the left collar.

(Howard Kelley collection)

Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer tab for the right collar.

(private collection)

Reichsfuhrer SS collar tabs. This particular pair has smoky glass beads within the laurel leaves, instead of brass.

(private collection)

Reichsfuhrer SS single collar tab for the right facing collar. This example only has five of the original brass beads remaining.

(private collection)

Shoulderboards

Brigadefuhrer Generals shoulderboard in gold bullion and silver.

(private collection)

Obergruppenfuhrer shoulderboard in bullion and silver from the uniform of Karl Hermann Frank.

(private collection)

A pair of well worn Waffen-SS Brigadefurher shoulderboards in bullion and silver, of the slip-on variety.

(private collection)

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)

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

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)

Insignia grouping attributed to Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Maria Demelhuber

(Willi Schumacher collection)

Insigna grouping attributed to Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Hermann Frank

(private collection)

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)

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)

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)

Close up image of the Obergruppenfuhrer tabs from the above grouping. (Private collection)
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.