Heer Transitional M33 Unteroffizier Shoulder Straps

Product Description: Offered is a matched pair of pre-WWII German Heer transitional M33 Unteroffizier shoulder straps, as worn by NCOs in the early Third Reich period. Constructed on a dark green wool base and bordered with silver NCO tress, each strap retains its original field-grey cotton slip-on tongue with integral buttonholes, unaltered and intact. The pair remains in excellent condition, showing only minor age-related wear and no damage, tears, or repairs—a fine example of early NCO insignia.

Historical Description: The German military as well as civil, political and paramilitary organizations traditionally used shoulder straps and shoulder boards as uniform insignia, to denote the rank or function of the wearer. After the Nazi rise to power in 1933, there was a tremendous increase in the number of groups and organizations in Germany wearing officially sanctioned uniforms, and most of these organizations used shoulder straps and shoulder boards as a component of their regalia. The exact color of piping utilized, the material color, the type of braid or Tresse that was used, and the number or location of devices and pips present, allow shoulder boards to be tracked to the exact organization that issued them, and often yield even further detail such as the wearer’s rank and even his specific military unit. Normally worn in pairs, the boards were in some cases plain, and in other cases adorned with detailed embroidery or metal emblems. Some shoulder boards were made in the millions, others were specific to a single individual.