33rd Waffen SS Charlemagne

[Hoffman Grink]

Erbstarnmuster was designed to fit OVER the standard wool uniform.

It was not intended as a replacement uniform. It was intended as a standardise camouflage for all Armed Forces as was the later Liebermuster.

The most famous pics are the young POWs from 12-SS - you can see their wools under the dot jackets.

Usually it is in summer pictures you see them wearing erbsentarn as a standalone uniform.

As a small off topic comment - The green denim panzer uniform that I can be seen wearing in some pics was also intended to be worn OVER the black wools to keep them clean. It was a work uniform.

Read all that in books over the years. I love books me I do.

[Otto Kohl]

The interesting thing is that those prisoners were executed by their countrymen in American uniforms soon after taking this photo .

Here we can see the same soldiers :

[Peiper]

Hi Otto, you are quite correct, i think i mentioned this on here before but also if you take a
look at my site you will see in more detail, the Officer questioning the Charlemagne prisoners
was no other than the Free French General LeClerc, when questioning the prisoners he
asked one grizzled SS-Charlemagne Uschar "Why do you wear the uniform of Germany?",
The SS NCO promptly replied "Why do you wear the American one?" lol

Sadly these prisoners were all promptly shot by their own countrymen without trial, the site
of their execution at Bad Reichenall/Sud Bayern is pictured below

French SS war memorial.jpg (70.59 KiB) Viewed 8855 times

Regards Peiper

[Otto Kohl]

It was exactly the way you are writing Peiper. We have the study concerning this situation on our website unfortunately its in Polish .


Commemorative plaque with names of executed .




Some French volounteers photos that arent on your website:

[Peiper]

Hi Otto i have looked at your site, unfortunately i have no knowledge of the Polish language
but the photos are most excellent, congratulations.
Unfortunately my own site is very basic as the group i have started on my own is very new
and have no other "official" members yet only on paper lol, perhaps we may meet at a future
event and can exchange information.

Very best wishes to you and your group for the future from Peiper.

[Otto Kohl]

Hmm im posting photos once again. I dont know why they didn't uploaded in my last post.

[Cookie]

Nice photos, not seen a couple of them before.

[Otto Weber]

Hi, gents.
Does anybody know what was the text on the stamp (with an eagle) for a French volunteer's soldbuch? Period - summer 1944 or February 1945, if the text differs. Fenet's 1st Battalion, if exactly.

And the dog tags. It sould bear "1./SS.Pz.Gren.Rgt.57.Ch", right?

Regards,
Weber.

[Cookie]

What period do you want the dog tags to represent? I had a conversation on this thread with Peiper about the composition. Who knows what the stamp would say on it. Some units had their own name embossed on the hand stamps, others did not. The French SS unit changed name and designation several times throughout its existence and any number of stamps may have been used. Smudge the stamp so the writing is unreadable? I have seen many pay books with stamps like that.

[Peiper]

Bonjour Otto
There is a pic of my repro dog-tag on page five, it is supposed to represent a late War one going from the info on it,
as for stamps in the Soldbuch i have searched high and low, the only ones ive come up with are the SS High command stamp
and the Feldpost stamp which i have used in the medical pages of the Soldbuch, as for the SS-High Command stamp, this
is a vague stamp and would be used by a high ranking SS Officer in any Regiment i would imagine, this is the only one which
comes close unless you try making one yourself of course.

Au-revoir, Peiper

[Otto Weber]

The dog tags: the same period, from September 1944 I would say.

About the stamp - the question is over now; found necessary info. I.e. there were stamps with the regimental designation on them. And there also were with the Feldpostnummer, but it's better to make one with a regiment portrayed on it.

[Volunteer]

Charlemagne member at a circus show.
This is a copy of film material made for the "Wochenschau", but it was never shown official.

[Otto Weber]

Charlemagne member at a circus show.
This is a copy of film material made for the "Wochenschau", but it was never shown official.

That's AWESOME!!! Where did you get that?
Does this "Wochenschau" issue have more pics with French SS-men?

[Volunteer]

Sorry, no other unit members to see.

At the following pic you can recognize the arm shield a little better:

[Peiper]

My updated M43 Charlemagne tunic

SS-Charlemagne tunic, M43.jpg (44.24 KiB) Viewed 8591 times