Item:
ONJR22C08

Original German WWII Waffen SS Officer’s Field Gray Wool M40 Overseas “Schiffchen” Side Cap with Insignia

Item Description

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent high-condition example of a German WWII Waffen SS Officer’s M40 Overseas Side Cap (Schiffchen). This is what some would refer to as a “textbook” example of this rare cap. Enlisted versions of this model cap are hard enough to find, let alone an officer’s version with the officer’s bullion rank braid and insignia which has been applied since the cap was made. It was acquired recently from a very old collection, from which this cap was originally acquired by the former owner directly from the WWII Veteran who brought this cap home from the war as a souvenir.

The overseas cap, nicknamed in German military slang as Schiffchen, or literally "little ship" as it resembled an up-turned row-boat, was standard issue for all branches of the military, including the Waffen SS.

This example is constructed of a field gray (feldgrau) wool exterior, with a dark gray cotton lining. It features a fine machine embroidered eagle, with white thread on a black base, the standard SS colors. In the front center is the SS Totenkopf (Death's Head or Skull) badge, also machine embroidered with white thread on a black background. It should be noted that both the SS eagle and Totenkopf insignia match both in construction, and in the method in which they were applied.

Condition of this cap is second to none, and one would be very hard pressed to find a better example!

A great example of a Rare SS Officer’s Overseas Side cap, ready to add to your collection!

The Waffen-SS:
The Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), was originally formed in May 1923 as the Stosstrupp Adolf AH, (Shock Troops Adolf AH), and was 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. On January 6TH 1929 Heinrich Himmler was appointed as Reichsführer-SS, (National Leader {of the} SS), and on July 20TH 1934 shortly after the, June 30TH 1934, purge of the SA, Sturm Abteilung, (Storm Troopers) on the "Night of the Long Knives", the SS was rewarded by AH by being granted the status of an independent organization under direct control of the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party).

The SS (Schutzstaffel - 'Protection Squadron') was originally formed in 1925, ostensibly to act as a small, loyal bodyguard unit to protect the Führer, Adolf AH. Under the direction of the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the SS grew to be the most ruthless and feared organization of the 20th century. They were the vanguard of NSDAPsm and eventually controlled nearly every function of German life and much of Occupied Europe.

When WWII began in earnest, the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT) (SS Dispositional Troops) became the Waffen-SS ("Armed SS"), an official military branch of the SS organization. Its formations included men from NSDAP ruled Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands.

The SS developed the distinctive SS style cap skull and cross bones on October 6TH 1934 and introduced the SS pattern national cap eagle in February 1936. After their introductions the skull and eagle were to be worn on all forms of SS headgear. In 1944 the SS developed a single piece of cap insignia which incorporated both the skull and eagle on a one piece trapezoid base for wear on the M43 field cap. Originally these trapezoidal pieces of insignia were produced in a machine woven version until a final, embroidered version was introduced in late 1944. The first versions of the trapezoidal cap insignia featured dual rows of teeth in the skull while later versions only had a single row of teeth. Panzer personnel’s cap trapezoids were produced with a black base to match the color of the cap it was to be worn on.

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