Generaloberst Alfred Keller
Generaloberst Alfred Keller Luftwaffe Generals breast eagle in gold bullion thread with yellow yarn highlights. Note the how finely embroidered the swastika is, rendered in fine gold wire in contrast to the bullion thread on the eagle.
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel Keitel was one of the most senior officers in the German Wehrmacht, and functioned as the head of the German High Command. He was intimately involved in all plans and operations of the armed forces during the war and was constantly at Hitler’s side. While he did have record of voicing his opinion against some of Hitler’s most disastrous campaigns (like the war with Russia), he basically went along with whatever his Fuhrer directed and had a front row seat for the ensuing disasters. Keitel was not particularly loved or respected by his peers as a result of his penchant to be a yes man to Hitler, and was often referred to as “Lackeitel” in reference to being Hitler’s lackey. The allies were not too fond of him either, as they sentenced him to death for war crimes and hung him at Nuremburg. From a collectors standpoint, Keitel did not have any unique features about his uniforms or insignia, and tended to stay with regulation. Because of his notoriety, closeness to Hitler and senior standing as what was basically the war minister of the entire Wehrmacht, his surviving memorabilia is of great interest and value to those in the collecting world. It is also of great quality, as one must remember that those in the presence of Hitler tended to always wear their best uniforms and insignia.
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel General Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel's Parade Tunic
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel A Close up of Keitel’s Field Marshall Collar Tab from the Parade Tunic Keitel’s Field Marshall Shoulder board from the Parade Tunic.
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel Generalfeldmarschall Keitel’s shoulderboards
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel Generalfeldmarschall Keitel’s shoulderboards are of standard 1940 - 1941 style with the basic General officer intertwined gold and silver cords, with crossed batons of the 2nd pattern. Generalfeldmarschall Keitel’s shoulderboards
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel This pair of collar tabs is one of the most common encountered Generalfeldmarschall patterns and is often seen on the GFM uniforms in the official studio portraits of the time. They are of the highest quality embroidery and extremely consistent in manufacture.
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel Generalfeldmarschall Keitel Command Flags
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel Generalfeldmarschall Keitel Command Flags
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel
Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein Generalfeldmarshcall von Manstein Considered probably the best and most competent military strategist of the German Generals, Mansteins military brilliance can be traced back to his WWI roots, where he served as staff officer for three years after being wounded at the front.Manstein was intimately involved with the planning of every major operation from the invasion of Poland, to the French, and Russian and campaigns. He originated the plan to invade France through the Ardennes, which as a junior officer earned him quick promotion and the attention of Hitler. Mansteins preferred status with Hitler dissolved as his disagreements with the fuhrer over military operations eventually earned him a retirement in the fall of 1944.The Manstein uniform highlighted on these pages was sold to a collector in the United States by Manstein himself, in the early 1970’s. It is a rare example of militaria obtained directly from the owner himself.
Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein Manstein’s four pocket, Generalfeldmarschall tunic and visor cap.
Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein Generalfeldmarschall Manstein left shoulder board, Constructed of all gold cord over a red underlay, with 2nd pattern, army style, dark silver crossed batons. Right side shoulder board. Note that this is not a matching set of shoulderboards, both boards are for the right shoulder. This is not at all uncommon to see, though many textbook collectors would believe that you would never see this on a General officer.
Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein Close up detail of Generalfeldmarschall Manstein’s silver batons One of the somewhat common Breast Eagle variants you will see on very high ranking General officer uniforms. Constructed of Gold Wire Bullion.
Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein Left and Right side collar tabs for a Generalfeldmarschall, with the most common encountered embroidered pattern. The Krim Shield, from the Crimean campaign that Manstein directed, earning him the rank of Generalfeldmarschall.
Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Field Marshal von Rundstedt was one of the most respected of the senior officers in the German army, by both his own men and the Allies. Coming from a Prussian family with a long tradition of military service, von Rundstedt was a very loyal soldier of the old tradition, yet had endless conflicts with Hitler and experienced several periods of “retirement” from service as a result of these disputes. However, each time he was recalled to service, he very loyally returned and served his time at each front assigned. Though a loyal officer, von Rundstedt kept his distance from the Nazi party and never held his tongue when it came to displaying his opinions on incompetence, often referring to Hitler as “the Bohemian Corporal” and most notoriously telling Field Marshal Keitel “Make Peace, you idiots”, when Keitel asked him what to do during the Normandy invasion.
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt GFM von Rundstedt’s Waffenrock Uniform
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Left and Right side GFM shoulderboards. Note that the batons are positioned upside down on the boards (the eagles heads are facing the shoulder rather than the button). While unusual, these are at times encountered on verifiable, documented pieces such as this uniform. Another in the
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Detail of the 2nd pattern, army style batons. A very intricately embroidered General officers eagle, of the style often encountered on high quality Generals uniforms. Notice how tight, precise and symmetrical the embroidery is.
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Standard General officer collar tabs hand embroidered in fine gold wire.
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Gerd von Rundstedt (1875 - 1953) born in Aschersleben (Saxony-Anhalt) as son of Major General Gerd von Rundstedt. In 1891, he enters the Prussian cadet corps. In 1892, Rundstedt joins the 3rd kurhessische Infantry Regiment 83 in Kassel as an ensign. In 1909, Rundstedt becomes a captain in the general staff. During the Great War Rundstedt serves as a general staff officer in Turkey and in France. He acquires merits regarding the planning and moving of army units. In the course of the Blomberg-Fritsch-Crisis of 1938, Rundstedt is promoted to colonel general, during the German occupation of the Sudetenland, he is in charge of an army group. In November Rundstedt is discharged from the Wehrmacht because he protests against the date of the German invasion. In his mind the Wehrmacht is not ready for war yet. In the summer of 1939, he is re-activated due to supporters in the army high command and his leadership qualities are appreciated. At the beginning of World War II Rundstedt takes part in the invasion of Poland. As commander-in-chief of army group south he bypasses the centre of the Polish forces at the south side and so prevents the retreat of the Polish troops across the river Weichsel. Rundstedt belongs to the oldest active officers on the German side. Due to his origin and his role in World War I, he is also called "the last Prussian". During the French Campaign in 1940, Rundstedt is commander-in-chief of army group A. He leads the advance of the tank forces through the Ardennes to the Channel coast and clasps the allied forces there. In recognition of his services Adolf Hitler awards him the Knight's Cross and the rank of a field marshal. In 1940/41, the Wehrmacht high command chooses Rundstedt to lead the troops in the campaign against England. This plan is not realised, however, as the aerial warfare against England is stopped by Hitler after severe losses. In 1941, Rundstedt takes part in the invasion of the Soviet Union. He gets supreme command of army group south in the Ukraine. Under his command the Crimea and the Donez Basin are conquered.
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Rundstedts troops advance as far as Rostow on the river Don. Rundstedt fully agrees to the socalled “ReichenauBefehl” (order), in which Walter von Reichenau calls on his soldiers to support Hitler's "ideological warfare" and to "destroy the Jewish subhuman". Against Hitler's orders, Rundstedt withdraws the army group from Rostow for tactical reasons. Thereupon he is recalled from his post by Hitler and replaced by Reichenau. In 1942, Rundstedt is reinstated and becomes commander-in-chief/west as well as commander of army group D. He is supposed to prepare the German western front for the expected allied invasion of France. In August an allied landing operation near Dieppe (France) fails. Contrary to the valid laws of war, Rundstedt has the British soldiers captured in the raid handed over to the Gestapo. Hitler orders to build the "Atlantikwall" against another allied attempt to land. Rundstedt's soldiers take part in building these defence lines in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. After the allied landing in France in 1944, Rundstedt has to, on Hitler's order, hand over his post as commander-in-chief/west to Generalfeldmarschall Hans Günther von Kluge. In July, Rundstedt leaves the western front and becomes chairman of the "Ehrengericht" ("court of honour") (Ehrenhof of the German Reich), which excludes the officers involved in the assassination attempt of 20 July from the Wehrmacht. In September, Rundstedt is ordered back to the western front, but is unable to halt the allied advance. Via Wilhelm Keitel Rundstedt prompts Hitler to end the war.
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Rundstedt is removed from his position again. In January 1945, Rundstedt is reactivated. In the Battle of the Bulge he is meant to push back the allied forces. The plan fails. Due to differences of opinion with the OKW (German High Command) on the tactics regarding the Battle of the Bulge and because of the successful Rhine crossing of American troops at Remagen, Rundstedt is once again dismissed from his command. In May, he is arrested in Bad Tölz by American troops and passed on into British captivity. In Great Britain he is accused of war crimes. Due to his bad health condition, however, the proceeding is stayed. There is no conviction. He remains in British captivity. On 5 May 1945, he is released from British imprisonment because of a heart disease and moves near Celle (Lower Saxony). On 24 February 1953, Gerd von Rundstedt dies in Hannover.
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt (1875 - 1953) - a field tunic
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt A close up view of Von Rundstedt's collar tabs and gold wire breast eagle
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt (1875 - 1953) - a field tunic
General Gustav Fehn General der Panzertruppe Gustav Fehn Gustav Fehn is probably best known as one of the final commanders of Rommel’s Afrika Korps, serving in that position from November of 1942 until January 16 of 1943 at which time he was wounded and the final three months of Afrika Korps leadership was taken over by Hans Creamer. Service in the Afrika Korps had a high price for General officers, with almost 40% of the Generals becoming casualties or prisoners of war. Prior to the Afrika Korps, Fehn also served time at the front in Russia, where his actions led to the awarding of the Knights Cross, in August of 1940.Fehns final appointment was as commander of the XXI Mountain Corps in the Balkans, where he surrendered in June of 1945 and was promptly executed by Yugoslavian partisans.
General Gustav Fehn General der Panzertruppe Gustav Fehn’s Tropical Uniform
General Gustav Fehn Right side shoulder board for a full General, with two large General officer size silver washed pips. Boards are constructed of celleon gold cords surrounding an inner aluminium cord. Standard Heer General officer collar tab, very finely executed in celleon gold hand embroidered thread.
General Gustav Fehn Fehn’s tropical tunic is outfitted with all matching celleon insignia, with this gold embroidered breast eagle being no exception. It matches perfectly to known original examples in celleon, yet has the unique and exceptionally rare tropical brown backing Standard issue officers aluminium embroidered AFrikakorps cufftitle.
General Gustav Fehn Another high quality, Erel Generals visor in the very rare tropical dark olive colour. Cap insignia and piping are all executed in gold celleon thread. Notice the chin cord is gold bullion, yet has celleon adjustment sliders. The suitcase Fehn’s uniform was found in, along with a pair of his tropical dark olive Generals long pants with bright red lampassen.
General Gustav Fehn
Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Himmler will be forever known as the head of the feared SS, which earned a reputation both as being responsible for the operation of concentration camps and as the equally feared Waffen SS elite fighting unit that was nearly always on the front lines of every major battle. Himmler himself was a very odd character, somewhat shy with a low public profile, yet positioned himself to where he had an awesome amount of power that struck fear in the hearts of not only the German people but the others in Hitler’s immediate circle. Very little of Himmler’s possessions have survived the war and it is extremely rare to find any of his insignia or personal items available on the collector market. To date, only one of Himmler’s uniforms has surfaced in the collecting world, an example which is highlighted in the following pages. Himmler wore the same, basic open collared service tunic throughout the war, the only major differences being in colour with examples in black, field grey and grey appearing in period photographs. The candid photograph at above is typical of what he wore.
Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler Himmler's Reichsfuhrer SS Summer Uniform
Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler’s white summer tunic. This is the only known surviving example of one of Himmler’s uniforms and resides in a private collection in the United States. View of the unique Reichsfuhrer collar tabs and single shoulder board. (private collection)
Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler Single Shoulder board for the rank of Reichsfuhrer SS. (private collection) Left. Close-up of the RFSS oakleaf device. Shoulder board for the rank of Reichsfuhrer SS. This board is from Himmler's outstanding white tunic. It’s a standard Allgemeine SS General’s shoulder board with the addition of a rank device consisting of three oakleaves (as in the RFSS collar tab). This device was coloured silver from 1934 until December of 1939 at which time it was changed to bronze. April of 1942 found another regulation changing it back again to silver. (private collection)
Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler Left and right collar tabs for Reichsfuhrer SS. This pattern was used from 1934 until the end of the war. (private collection) Left. Another original example of Himmler’s RFSS rank tab. Only five of the original brass beads remain on this specimen.
Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler Reichsfuhrer SS collar tabs. This particular pair has smoky glass beads within the laurel leaves, instead of brass. (private collection) Left Another original example of Himmler’s RFSS rank tab, this piece is missing the acorn bead accoutrements. (private collection)
Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler
Waffen SS Oberst-gruppenfuhrer Josef “Sepp” Dietrich Oberst-gruppenfuhrer Sepp Dietrich Sepp Dietrich was one of Hitler’s favourites from the early days, acting as an organizer of SS districts as well as personal bodyguard to Hitler. n 1933 under the direction of Hitler, Dietrich began assembling the first SS Guard units of Berlin, which eventually evolved into Hitler’s personal, elite bodyguard regiment, “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler”. The Leibstandarte was utilized as a personal guard detachment as well as an eventual fighting force of some acclaim. Dietrich later went on to command other units, most notably the 1st SS Panzer Korps and later the 6th SS Panzer Army. Dietrich was at times a controversial figure, both among his peers and the Allies, his fellow Generals often of the opinion that he was inept as a commander, and the Allies viewing him as a war criminal for responsibility in the treatment of prisoners of war. Dietrich was known for exercising the prerogative of a high ranking officer in his use of very distinct, non-regulation insignia that set him apart from other General officers in the SS. Regulation required SS Generals to use silver (or aluminium) coloured insignia for all embroidered eagles, cuff titles and piping. Dietrich, however, utilized custom made gold arm eagles and cuff titles, as well as gold piping around the crown of his caps…all typical regulation for Heer army Generals, but certainly not SS. It is this penchant for unique insignia and accoutrements that makes Dietrich an interesting study for collectors.
Waffen SS Oberst-gruppenfuhrer Josef “Sepp” Dietrich Sepp Dietrich was one of only two men in the Waffen SS that were promoted to the rank of Oberst-gruppenfuhrer, or Generaloberst (Colonel General), which was the highest General officer rank in the SS. The insignia was not worn until very late in the war, August of 1944, which by combination of the rarity of the rank and the late issue, makes this an incredibly scarce rank to encounter as a collector.
Waffen SS Oberst-gruppenfuhrer Josef “Sepp” Dietrich Dietrich’s shoulderboards for Oberstgruppenfuhrer consisted of army style General officer shoulderboards of interwoven gold bullion cord and an inner aluminium cord. These were backed with a light grey branch colour underlay, which was the underlay colour for all General officers in the Waffen SS. The three aluminium rank pips indicate the rank of Oberst-gruppenfuhrer, or Generaloberst. Notice the residual black uniform material on the boards, indicating that this set was removed from Dietrich’s black panzer wrapper.
Waffen SS Oberst-gruppenfuhrer Josef “Sepp” Dietrich A pair of right (top) and left (bottom) collar tabs for the rank of Oberstgruppenfuhrer. These were removed from the same uniform as the shoulderboards and show much age and corrosion to the aluminium threads.
Waffen SS Oberst-gruppenfuhrer Josef “Sepp” Dietrich This is the very unique SS arm eagle that was created specifically for wear only by Sepp Dietrich. SS regulation required that all SS officers and Generals wear aluminium or silver embroidered eagles on their uniforms. Dietrich, for whatever reason, chose to have special insignia made utilizing gold embroidery similar to what his peers as Generals in the Germany Army (Heer) used.