Item:
ONSV23KDT90

Original German WWII SS EM/NCO Leather Waist Belt with Steel Buckle by F. W. Assmann & Söhne - RZM 155/40 ᛋᛋ

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely black leather SS belt, with a very good condition WWII German Schutzstaffel (SS) EM/NCO's Steel Painted Belt Buckle (Koppelschloß). It is the correct stamped steel box type with an embossed with a high relief, embossed, central motif pattern consisting of an SS style national eagle with out-stretched wings, clutching a wreath, encompassing a static swas. The swas and wreath are in turn encompassed by a circular, simulated, twisted rope border with the Gothic script motto, Meine Ehre heißt Treue!, (My Honor is Loyalty!).

This example looks to originally have been made with a nickel plated finish, but was refinished with aluminized paint and possibly repaired during the war, after which it was put back into service, acquiring additional wear. You can see some of the original nickel plating on the insignia where the paint has worn through. The rear of the buckle is marked ((RZM)) 155/40 ((ᛋᛋ)), indicating 1940 manufacture by F. W. Assmann & Söhne of Lüdenscheid, a well-known manufacturer of buckles and other accoutrements. This was after the change to steel manufacture.

The included belt is in excellent condition, and shows only signs of light use. It has a partial RBNr. stamped on the front, and is the type that has the length adjustment holes punched directly into the belt itself, not on a separate leather tab. It has a bit of oxidation and wear on the end clip, but nothing major. It measures about 41 inches in overall length, and is stamped with 105 on the end, for 105cm (41.3in.)

Overall a very nice EM/NCO Belt, probably repaired and reissued later in the war when supplies were very much constrained.

History of the SS

The Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), was originally formed in May 1923 under the auspices of the SA, Sturmabteilung, (Storm/Assault Detachment), as the Stosstrupp Adolf AH (Shock Troops). It was then redesignated Schutzstaffel, (Protection Squad), in April 1925, with the official acceptance of the name verified on the second anniversary of the failed Munich "Beer-Hall" Putsch on November 9th 1925.

As a subordinate unit to the SA, early SS personnel wore the standard SA style box belt buckle. It is believed that Adolf AH personally designed a new pattern box belt buckle specifically for wear by SS EM/NCO personnel with the manufacturing patent being originally granted to the Overhoff & Cie. firm in Lüdenscheid. This new style buckle was adopted for wear by EM/NCO personnel in late 1931 or early 1932. Generally the early buckles were produced in solid nickel/silver until sometime in 1936 when aluminum alloys replaced the nickel/silver versions. In 1940 the EM/NCO's belt buckles began to be manufactured in steel replacing the aluminum alloy buckles. The steel buckles were zinc coated than painted grey.

The RZM, Reichzeugmeisterei, (National Equipment Quartermaster), was officially founded in June 1934 in Munich by the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker's Party), as a Reich Hauptamt, (State Central Office), and was based on the earlier SA Quartermaster's Department. The functions of the RZM were not only to procure and distribute items to Party formations, but also to approve chosen designs and to act as a quality control supervisor to ensure items manufactured for the Party met required specification and were standardized. Starting in late 1934 items manufactured for the SS came under the quality control of the RZM and as a result were to be marked with the RZM/SS approval/acceptance mark. In 1943 the Waffen-SS assumed full control over their uniform item production and no longer fell under the authority of the RZM.

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