The Waffen-SS and wehrmacht during World War II were two fighting forces in Germany, and the two were not subordinate to each other, but were in a parallel relationship.
The Wehrmacht is an army belonging to the state, inherited from the Prussian Junker aristocracy of the military family, in the traditional Junker nobility only the eldest son has the right to inherit, other heirs do not have the right to inherit property, so the children of the nobles began to join the military camp to obtain military merit, to maintain their own power and status.
The Prussian monarch at that time also strongly supported this phenomenon, and trained an army with a high-quality officer corps as the main body, which was highly principled, honor, loyalty, self-discipline, rigor, chivalry and other traditions were deeply rooted in the Wehrmacht, had a strong sense of pride, and was the main military force in Germany.
The Wil-SS is the Fuehrer's "personal bodyguard, the Royal Forester," which was founded for a very short time, and did not obey the orders of the Führer, but only to the Führer, and even had the obligation to monitor the loyalty of the Führer.
The difference between the two is actually clear at a glance by looking closely at the salute posture in the picture above, the wehrmacht salute is the traditional iconic military salute, the SS is the Nazi salute, and the difference between the two is enough to distinguish it in one picture.
How do they distinguish if they don't salute?
In fact, the method is also very simple, mainly look at the details on their uniforms, the following pictures take you back to history and find answers.
First: the cap badge
The cap emblem is the iconic motif on the military hat.
Wehrmacht:
We take a closer look at the wehrmacht's coat of arms, which consists of a typical German eagle emblem surrounded by oak leaves, and the eagle emblem represents the supreme spirit and power.
The oak tree is the national tree of Germany, and the oak leaves are regarded in the ancient Germanic culture as the embodiment of the god of thunder, symbolizing bravery and fearlessness, with religious overtones. The presence of oak leaves can be seen in the German cap insignia and various medals.
Medals are highly honored, even higher than life, for those who have accepted traditional Prussian ideas, and the SS 'My Glory is Loyalty' and the division training of some units in the Wehrmacht describe the qualities that loyalty is a necessary quality for soldiers, such as the division training of the Wehrmacht's Great German Panzer Division: "God, Honor, Fatherland." ”
In the Greater German Panzer Division, a total of 2 people were awarded the Knight of the Oak Leaf of the Sword and 8 were awarded the Knight of the Oak Leaf, which was a matter of pride for a lifetime.
Waffen-SS:
The SS hat insignia is slightly different, with the eagle emblem above and the skull below.
The skull motif did not appear only during World War II, as early as 1740 this skeleton symbol has been appeared, the World War I period is the symbol of the elite troops of the German army, only a few troops can have.
In World War II, as long as it was an SS officer and soldier, his uniform would have a skull insignia, which was of great symbolic significance, as a senior SS officer said:
"We wear skull symbols on our black hats to warn our enemies and to show our leader that we are ready to use our lives to realize his ideals."
Differences in symbols on steel helmets:
On the SS helmets, the left side is a swastika, the lower spectacle background is a white circle red background, the right side is a two-color lightning bolt, and the shield background below the lightning has a distinction between a white background and a yellow background.
There are many emblems of the Wehrmacht, such as the traditional Army helmet flanked by the eagle insignia on the left and the black, white and red shield emblem on the right representing the national flag.
If it is a soldier of another country, the right side of the helmet is the flag of the host country, as shown in the lower right of the picture above and the soldier in the picture below is from Spain.
Spanish troops fought on the Eastern Front and the Soviets, were Franco's volunteers recruited in neutral conditions, equipped and trained by Germany, in the face of the shortage of troops, Germany was of course happy to see it, and its combat effectiveness was also praised by the German high command, known as the "Blue Division", which was the strongest presence in the servant country, but in 1943 Spain felt that Germany was not right, the pressure of foreign countries, this force was withdrawn to the country, leaving only a symbolic unit of 1500 people, called the "Blue Army." ”
In addition, hundreds of people from the west had smuggled themselves into Germany to join the German order, and these people did not belong to the "Blue Army".
It is also worth noting that if the left deflection of the eagle head on the military hat is called the "Imperial Eagle", the eagle head is deflected to the right, it is called the "Nazi Eagle", but there will be a swastika underneath.
In many old photographs of World War II, the wings of the eagle emblem can also be seen bending downwards, a tradition from the Prussian nobility, representing the Wehrmacht, and this downward-curved eagle is called the "Prussian Eagle".
This eagle emblem is also used in Germany today, known as the "Eagle of the Federation," representing the heritage from Prussia.
The Imperial Eagle and the Nazi Eagle have been banned.
The steel helmet of the Air Force is different from the Army, and its steel helmet also has an eagle, known as the "Air Force Eagle", the Air Force Eagle is two wings spread, the eagle head is biased to the left, it is very vivid, and there is also a swastika underneath.
The ace pilots who were in the sky during World War II had an Air Force eagle on their military hats to represent the Luftwaffe in conquering the skies.
As for the Navy, the helmet markings are the same as those of the Army, but the SS will never have the "Air Force Eagle" or "Prussian Eagle" symbol.
Second: Collar
SS Medals:
The collar badge will have a two-color lightning or skull logo, or a symbol unique to the troop, or a rank.
For example, the SS Third Skeleton Panzer Division, one collar badge is a skeleton, one collar badge is the emblem of the troops, and two collar badges are the symbols of the skull, the Skeleton Division is the ace of the Waffen SS ace, is an old opponent of the Soviets on the Eastern Front, causing great casualties to the Soviet Army, but also committed crimes against civilians and prisoners, after the war, the prisoners of war who partially surrendered to the US army of this unit were pulled away by the Soviet army and hanged.
Wehrmacht Collar:
The collar badge of the Wehrmacht is too complex, elaborate, and diverse, and the Germans' design of various details of the military uniform can be said to have reached its peak, and no country's military uniform style and aesthetics can meet the standards of Germany at that time.
However, there is absolutely no two-color lightning sign in the Wehrmacht, which is unique to the SS, and the Wehrmacht armored units have skull badges, but they are different from the SS.
The difference between the Wehrmacht panzer corps and the SS collar badge
1: The wehrmacht panzer collar badge is red piping, and the SS is silver piping.
2: The Wehrmacht panzer corps and the SS collar badge are parallelograms, the Wehrmacht is flatter and longer, and the SS is more lenient.
3: The skeleton symbol of the Wehrmacht armored corps is only the upper jaw, and the SS skeleton logo has both the upper jaw and the lower jaw.
Third: the wearing position of the eagle emblem
The eagle emblem is worn on the right chest pocket by the Wehrmacht, and the eagle emblem is worn on the upper end of the left arm by the SS, and the distinction is very obvious.
Having seen these old photographs not only reminisce about history, but also find the distinction between the SS and the Wehrmacht in the pictures, of course, just by looking at the salute posture of the first picture of the person, the answer is already clear at a glance. If you like the history of World War II, or like to see related old photos, please pay attention to, collect, there will be more wonderful content to publish.
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