History

During the Third Reich, an effort was made to unite all of Germany’s disparate provincial police forces and agencies into a single cohesive national unit. To attain this goal, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was named Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior in June 1936. That same month, Himmler implemented new standardized uniforms, headgear, and insignia. The uniforms worn prior to Himmler’s appointment were often navy blue, particularly in what had been Prussia. The new uniforms were green, in a shade that was then dubbed “Police green”.

The German Police were divided into two main units, the Ordnungspolizei (Orps or Regular Police) and the Sicherheitspolizei (Secret Police); the Ordnungspolizei were unofficially called the green police (Grüne Polizei) as a result of their uniform colour. The Sicherheitspolizei were made up of two main organizations, the Gestapo and the Kriminalpolizei (Criminal Investigation Police). At the beginning of the Second World War, the Sicherheitspolizei were brought under the auspices of the Reich Main Security Office.

The Ordnungspolizei was also divided into smaller branches of service, and each branch was associated with a branch of service/troop colour (Truppenfarbe). The troop colours include:

Schutzpolizei des Reichs (National Protection Police): Green
Schutzpolizei der Gemeinden (Municipal Police) pre-1942: Red
Schutzpolizei der Gemeinden (Municipal Police) post-1942: Green
Gendarmerie (Gendarmes/Rural Police): Orange
Verwaltungspolizei (Administrative Personnel) pre-1942: Red over grey
Verwaltungspolizei (Administrative Personnel) post-1942: Light grey
Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police): Carmine
Wasserschutzpolizei (Water Protection Police): Yellow

The uniform garments worn by members of the Wasserschutzpolizei (Water Protection Police) and the Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police) remained blue after the 1936 uniform redesign.

The Police Field Cap is also known as the Overseas Cap, and it mirrors the design of the Waffen-SS field cap. The main differences between the two caps are the insignia worn on the caps, and the colour of the wool used in their production.

This field cap may be composed of bluish-green or navy blue material. The caps produced prior to the standardization in 1936 were made from navy blue cloth, while those made after July 1936 were made from bluish-green cloth. The Officer's and General’s versions of these caps was not instituted until 1939.

The lining in these caps is generally composed of lower quality fabrics for Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and Enlisted Men (EMs), such as cotton, and higher quality fabrics, like silk, for Officers and Generals.

The only official insignia worn on these caps is the Police pattern eagle and wreath. Unofficially, some police personnel added a national tricolour cockade above the cap band. Both types of insignia featured on the caps of Generals and Officers may be composed of higher quality materials, such as hand-embroidered bullion wire thread for the police eagle, and machine-woven material for the cockade. The insignia featured on NCO/EM caps is generally machine-embroidered, and the cockades tended to be made from aluminum and paint. In some instances, the Officers utilized the lower quality insignia associated with NCO/EM caps.

Additional gold-coloured or silver-coloured (aluminum) mesh piping was infrequently added along the top of the cap’s side skirts to indicate when the wearer held the rank of General or Officer, respectively. Rarely, branch colour piping was added to the caps worn by NCOs/EMs.