History

SS personnel first wore shoulder insignia in May of 1933, at which time they were still of SA design, but with a black cloth underlay. The first set of shoulder boards and straps specifically designed for the SS were introduced in October of the same year.

At first, only one board or strap was worn, on the right shoulder of the black tunic and the brown shirt, but with the introduction of the field-grey uniform in 1938, shoulder boards and straps were worn on both shoulders.

In the Allgemeine SS, shoulder boards and straps were used to indicate a rank group rather than a single rank. The latter fell to the collar tabs instead.

All Allgemeine SS shoulder boards and straps feature a black cloth underlay.

As Reichsführer-SS, Himmler wore a unique shoulder board cypher made of metal, in the form of three oakleaves. Initially, it was silver-coloured. It was changed to bronze-coloured between December 1939 and April 1942, but afterwards Himmler went back to wearing the silver-coloured version.

The Reichsführer-SS shoulder board, apart from the metal cypher, is of the same design as that for the rank group of Oberführer through Obergruppenführer: three aluminum twist cords, interwoven in a zig-zag pattern.

Sturmbannführer through Standartenführer wore three aluminum twist cords, interwoven side by side.

Untersturmführer through Hauptsturmführer wore three aluminum twist cords in a ‘U’ pattern, made to look like six cords strung together.

The rank group of SS-Mann through Hauptscharführer wore shoulder straps made from two alternating black and aluminum twist cords in a ‘U’ pattern, made to look like four cords strung together.