BACKGROUND: In August 1929 the SS, Schutz Staffel, (Protection Squad), incorporated the wear of rank collar tabs on the left side of the collar of the service tunic. The SS collar tabs were originally adopted from the earlier rank collar tabs as utilized by the SA, Sturm Abteilung, (Storm/Assault Detachment). The SS collar tabs remained in usage through-out the war with a couple of minor alterations. Originally EM/NCO’s collar tabs for the ranks of SS-Schütze to SS-Hauptscharführer inclusively were piped in twisted white cord from their original inception, (Rank tabs, August 1929/Runic tabs, May 1933), until October 24TH 1934 when the piping for EM/NCO’s was modified to alternating twisted black and silver/aluminum cord piping. The final modification, in August 1940, eliminated all piping from EM/NCO’s collar tabs. Officer’s ranks collar tabs from SS-Untersturmführer to SS-Hauptsturmführer utilized alternating twisted black and silver/aluminum cord piping from their inception until October 24TH 1934 and silver/aluminum cord piping from October 1934 until the end of the war while the ranks of SS-Sturmbannführer to SS-Reichsführer utilized the silver/aluminum cord piping from August 1929 to May 1945. Of Note: 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 were marked by the appropriate RZM/SS approval marking. In 1943 the Waffen-SS assumed full control over their uniform item production and no longer fell under the authority of the RZM.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Third and final pattern, (Circa August 1940 to May 1945), blank, black wool construction left hand side, rank collar tab with no pips, tress, or piping, mounted on a tan buckram base. The collar tab indicates the Waffen-SS rank of SS-Schütze.