Heer Heer Armbands

[Avitas]

Hello gentlemen,

I figured it would be a good idea to start a thread on Heer armbands, as I have a few to start it off with and hopefully get some opinions on. Please post your examples and let me know what you think of mine.

Thanks again,

Pat

First up, we have a Deutches Wehrmacht armband in yellow and black. It is stamped and looks to be a good original to me. Any ideas on the armband?

[Avitas]

and the reverse of the DW armband.

[Avitas]

here is the stitching of the Deutsche Wehrmacht armband. Looks good to me, anyone else?

Pat

[Avitas]

Last pic for the DW armband, the stamp.

[Avitas]

Second on the agenda, a Waffen-SS armband that I would like some opinions on. It is thinner than the DW armband and seems to be a different style. I think it may be a repro, or perhaps just a different variation of the Waffen-SS armband. Any ideas on this one?

Pat

[Avitas]

the back of the Waffen SS armband...

[Avitas]

Last pic for the waffen-ss armband, the stitching. Any thoughts on it?

[Avitas]

I saved the most interesting for last, the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross) armband with the SS-BW marking on it. This piece is a little bigger than the Deutsche Wehrmacht armband, and has a very faint glow under blacklight, but its not really a glow, just not as dark as most TR cloth. I have seen an example of a fake of this and it had the red Cross symbol with the swaztika printed on the armband, not sewn. I have read that the SS-BW stamp means it was made (if an original) in a concentration camp for the SS Berkeweiter? labour organization, that produced clothing and other items towards the end of the war. I have heard some call this a fantasy piece, but it seems not enough info is out there to make a sure judgement. I hope someone can shed some light on the subject as I am very interested in finding out the answers to this unique piece.

Thanks,

Pat

[Avitas]

Here is the reverse of this DRK armband.

[Avitas]

and lastly, the stitching on the DRK armband, any thoughts on my questions and info posted on this armband?

Thanks,

Pat

[Avitas]

Forgot to mention, for what it's worth, all three pass the burn test. So really all that does is make sure it is made of organic material with no synthetics, a good sign but nothing concrete. Any cloth experts out there with some tips? I am 99% sure the DW armband is good, and only about 50-50 on the other two (DRK and Waffen-SS), so any help is very welcome.

Cheers

[notned]

Hi Pat,

I am certainly no expert, but i think the DW is ok.

I have one too! It certainly looks like it has been used...dirty as hell....

Never seen either of the other 2 before..so must leave this up to the knowledgeable gents to comment.

Heres mine...Grubby aint it?

Cheers

Paul

[Hauptmann]

Second on the agenda, a Waffen-SS armband that I would like some opinions on. It is thinner than the DW armband and seems to be a different style. I think it may be a repro, or perhaps just a different variation of the Waffen-SS armband. Any ideas on this one?

Pat

Hi Pat,

Nowhere near an expert on these. I've had quite a number of armbands in the past... only have a few left.

I've looked it up in one of my references which I'd highly recommend to you by the way:

Badges and Insignia of the Third Reich 1933-1945 by Brian Leigh Davis and color plates by Malcolm McGregor ISBN 0 7137 1130 2.

Now granted, this is not a specialized book but is a general reference on many types of cloth insignia from many different organizations of the Reich.

There is nothing pictured to quite match the Red Cross you posted. I've never seen one with a swaz like that... unless it was with the usual German red cross eagle insignia and even then I can't remember seeing that in an armband.

On this one... the Waffen SS... the matching example they give in the book... the W is a different style as is the n. Again this is not a definitive answer but it's all it shows in that book. Nothing for that NSKK one on your other post. I've "never" seen one with a "hanging cord" before. Generally they were all worn on the sleeve... gorgets (which were metal) were the only things worn around the neck that I'm aware of.

But that's not to say it's not an original piece either.

I also have checked my copy of Cloth Insignia of the SS by LTC. Retired. John R. Angolia which is another book I would "highly" recommend... especially if you're going to fool at all with any kind of SS cloth insignia. And that stuff is tricky as it's generally pricey and has been repopped to death! He shows two examples of this armband (in black and white photos) on page 464. Again, neither of them match your's but look closer to what is pictured in the Brian L. Davis book.

Perhaps one of our members with one or both of these references and a scanner would be so kind to post pics of the armbands as pictured for comparison. If so it will be obvious the differences in the W and n as mentioned above.

Again, anything else I'll have to leave to the real experts. Good luck on them!

Dan

Edited May 24, 2006 by Hauptman

[Guest 10thcommando]

hello,

my only one ss armband

[Guest 10thcommando]

details

[Hauptmann]

details

Hi and thanks for posting your's. Although I'm far from an expert it looks good to me. From the look of the materials used and the contruction, based on other armbands I've had and have. From what I can see it's a terrific piece!

Thanks for sharing.

Dan

[Kev in Deva]

I saved the most interesting for last, the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross) armband with the SS-BW marking on it. This piece is a little bigger than the Deutsche Wehrmacht armband, and has a very faint glow under blacklight, but its not really a glow, just not as dark as most TR cloth. I have seen an example of a fake of this and it had the red Cross symbol with the swaztika printed on the armband, not sewn. I have read that the SS-BW stamp means it was made (if an original) in a concentration camp for the SS Berkeweiter? labour organization, that produced clothing and other items towards the end of the war. I have heard some call this a fantasy piece, but it seems not enough info is out there to make a sure judgement. I hope someone can shed some light on the subject as I am very interested in finding out the answers to this unique piece.

Thanks,

Pat

Hallo Pat

with regards the stamp on your armband, Ebay purchase?? I post a picture of a pair of trousers in a German friends collection, his SS trousers are 100% the genuine article, the stamp looks very similar to the stamp on the trousers, but I think the original stamp had a thinner SS, however seeing the place produced so much stuff, there had to be more than one stamp in use.

Also he told me the BW stands for Buchen-Wald Concentration Camp.

Kevin in Deva.

[Avitas]

Hello Kevin,

I had heard the BW could stand for Buchenwald as well, scary. I go this at an antique store in Kelowna, and I did a search on the SS-BW stamp and found the exact stamp as I have as well as the one you posted with the thinner SS rune, probably more than one stamp then. Any more help on this is welcome!

Cheers,

Pat

[armybrat43]

Hello

Nice collection of armbands, this thread is kind of old but I figured I would post a recent SS armband here since someone else wanted to start the thread on armbands. I have posted some pics already in a difernt post. But I would like to know what you folks think about this one. It is a one piece armband made of linen with a ink stamp. I used the book by Robin lumsden titled " A collectors guide to third reich militaria, detecting the fakes". And as I put in the other threas, I tried the burn test on a piece of thread and it past. Below are several pics of the stamp from the inside and outside of the armband

[armybrat43]

stamp with armband turned inside out

[armybrat43]

stamp

[CurtD]

I saved the most interesting for last, the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross) armband with the SS-BW marking on it. This piece is a little bigger than the Deutsche Wehrmacht armband, and has a very faint glow under blacklight, but its not really a glow, just not as dark as most TR cloth. I have seen an example of a fake of this and it had the red Cross symbol with the swaztika printed on the armband, not sewn. I have read that the SS-BW stamp means it was made (if an original) in a concentration camp for the SS Berkeweiter? labour organization, that produced clothing and other items towards the end of the war. I have heard some call this a fantasy piece, but it seems not enough info is out there to make a sure judgement. I hope someone can shed some light on the subject as I am very interested in finding out the answers to this unique piece.

Thanks,

Pat

I know this post is rather old, but I thought I would jump in anyway. IMHO the DRK armband is a fantasy item. This was not the symbol for the DRK and I doubt it would have an SS stamp on it anyway.

[Avitas]

Thanks Curt for the information, I too have been skeptical of it (I picked it up cheap at an antique show) and since then I have been a bit doubtful on it as well. But you never know, maybe some more info will come out on the SS-DRK armband and it will turn out fine, but until then it stays in the "fantasy" drawer.

Cheers,

Pat

[Kev in Deva]

Thanks Curt for the information, I too have been skeptical of it (I picked it up cheap at an antique show) and since then I have been a bit doubtful on it as well. But you never know, maybe some more info will come out on the SS-DRK armband and it will turn out fine, but until then it stays in the "fantasy" drawer.

Cheers,Pat

Hallo Pat I think its going to be a very long time in that particular drawer Kevin in Deva.

[Chris Pittman]

I also believe that the SS-BW stamped armband is a fantasy. The stamp means SS-Bekleidungswerke and does not make sense on an armband. It makes more sense in a pair of trousers but I am suspicious of the stamp shown on the trousers in this thread also. I believe that the printed SS armband with the stamp inside shown in this thread is a postwar fake as well. This type of circular stamp was intended to be used on the outside of an armband, as seen in the first yellow armband posted in this thread which is a textbook original. The yellow "Waffen-SS" embroidered armband is different from what I would expect to see but I am no expert on those.

Sincerely, Chris

Edited May 24, 2007 by Chris Pittman