Post by gadge on Mar 31, 2012 3:40:15 GMT -5
Gas mask cannisters were worn right til the end of the war, it was a serious military offence not to have yours.
However, a lot of guys wore the cannister but binned the mask and used the cannister as a waterproof, crushproof container. In airsoft its brilliant for holding either modern water bottles, gas cannisters or your lunch!
As mentioned earlier in the thread you had to account for *everything* you were issued. Losing/replacing/stealing kit was something the OKW and the SS looked very badly upon.
You could be *hanged* for even minor infractions late war as discipline was in tatters and the armys court martials became very very severe. You could end up in a disciplinary penal battalion (virtually a death sentence on the eastern front) for even minor crimes.
You have to remember the german mentality is very much one of order and discipline and this was put into overdrive in WWII. Everything in the german military (and the post war east german army) had to be 'just so' there was very little room for individuality.
Its a mentality that is totally alien to most of us these days but its one of the reasons why a lot of german soldiers did things that others would find morally questionable... its because its in the germanic tradition to respect authority a and regulations to the letter.
Yes you will find odd photos of weird stuff but 99 per cent of the guys were regimented as heck.
A good example to explain how photos can skew things radically is this.
The vast majority of photos you will find on the net of the heer and ss and luftwaffe will feature tons of really cool photographs of hanomag half tracks, scwimwagons, kubels, opel blitz trucks, stugs, tigers etc... just like a modern army it all looks mechanised and armoured.
This is because this is what people think is cool so propogate it by putting the same pictures up.
The reality is that the german army was 85 PER CENT HORSE DRAWN!
But you wont find 85 per cent of pics showing horses
(i can show you other pics of 2nd panzer moving to Normandy where all there kit is carried on carts pulled by camouflaged horses!... its why Normandy stunk in June July as every road was littered with dead horses)
This is why its so important to base any 'accurate' impression of good written material by credible historians, period pics and if possible war diaries and veterans accounts,
Of course is you just want to look 'hollywood nazi' on the skirmish field thats cool but if you're doing it with any historical conscience you have to spend a bit of time doing the legwork to get a credible impression.
The grey ss uniform btw was for political SS and 'SD' security units to replace the black uniform and as the Waffen SS pretty much always had a fieldgrey uniform.
'field grey' or 'feldgrau' btw can be anything from a true grey to almost brown/khaki.
It was generally made from offcuts and recylcled tunics after the initial few years of the war as germany was critically short of materials of all kind. Check out the at the front site and you'll see a pic of about 7 original tunics and all of them are a different shade.
Perfectly matching jacket, trousers and cap is historically unlikely, you wore whatever stores issued to you and that might be trousers made in 44 from recyled tunics and a brand new blouse made in 1938... depends on what they had in stock at the time.
Unfortunatley most re-enactors and airsofters want it to match and get upset if it doesnt.
Camo is the same , the waffen SS made *no distinction at all* between patterns of pullover smocks and its is quite common to see a smock made of say 'oakleaf' (as collectors call it) with pocket flaps in 'planetree'.
Remember all materials were precious and it just had to concela you , not match. It was made using slave labour by totrured starving jews who coudl be executed for waisting a scrap of cloth so *nothing* was left.
Put it this way they were so short of materiel that U boat crew socks were partly made from the hair of female concentration camp inmates, as was industrial insulation if it was less than 2 inches long.... grim eh?
However, a lot of guys wore the cannister but binned the mask and used the cannister as a waterproof, crushproof container. In airsoft its brilliant for holding either modern water bottles, gas cannisters or your lunch!
As mentioned earlier in the thread you had to account for *everything* you were issued. Losing/replacing/stealing kit was something the OKW and the SS looked very badly upon.
You could be *hanged* for even minor infractions late war as discipline was in tatters and the armys court martials became very very severe. You could end up in a disciplinary penal battalion (virtually a death sentence on the eastern front) for even minor crimes.
You have to remember the german mentality is very much one of order and discipline and this was put into overdrive in WWII. Everything in the german military (and the post war east german army) had to be 'just so' there was very little room for individuality.
Its a mentality that is totally alien to most of us these days but its one of the reasons why a lot of german soldiers did things that others would find morally questionable... its because its in the germanic tradition to respect authority a and regulations to the letter.
Yes you will find odd photos of weird stuff but 99 per cent of the guys were regimented as heck.
A good example to explain how photos can skew things radically is this.
The vast majority of photos you will find on the net of the heer and ss and luftwaffe will feature tons of really cool photographs of hanomag half tracks, scwimwagons, kubels, opel blitz trucks, stugs, tigers etc... just like a modern army it all looks mechanised and armoured.
This is because this is what people think is cool so propogate it by putting the same pictures up.
The reality is that the german army was 85 PER CENT HORSE DRAWN!
But you wont find 85 per cent of pics showing horses
(i can show you other pics of 2nd panzer moving to Normandy where all there kit is carried on carts pulled by camouflaged horses!... its why Normandy stunk in June July as every road was littered with dead horses)
This is why its so important to base any 'accurate' impression of good written material by credible historians, period pics and if possible war diaries and veterans accounts,
Of course is you just want to look 'hollywood nazi' on the skirmish field thats cool but if you're doing it with any historical conscience you have to spend a bit of time doing the legwork to get a credible impression.
The grey ss uniform btw was for political SS and 'SD' security units to replace the black uniform and as the Waffen SS pretty much always had a fieldgrey uniform.
'field grey' or 'feldgrau' btw can be anything from a true grey to almost brown/khaki.
It was generally made from offcuts and recylcled tunics after the initial few years of the war as germany was critically short of materials of all kind. Check out the at the front site and you'll see a pic of about 7 original tunics and all of them are a different shade.
Perfectly matching jacket, trousers and cap is historically unlikely, you wore whatever stores issued to you and that might be trousers made in 44 from recyled tunics and a brand new blouse made in 1938... depends on what they had in stock at the time.
Unfortunatley most re-enactors and airsofters want it to match and get upset if it doesnt.
Camo is the same , the waffen SS made *no distinction at all* between patterns of pullover smocks and its is quite common to see a smock made of say 'oakleaf' (as collectors call it) with pocket flaps in 'planetree'.
Remember all materials were precious and it just had to concela you , not match. It was made using slave labour by totrured starving jews who coudl be executed for waisting a scrap of cloth so *nothing* was left.
Put it this way they were so short of materiel that U boat crew socks were partly made from the hair of female concentration camp inmates, as was industrial insulation if it was less than 2 inches long.... grim eh?