WW2 German Machine woven, SS overseas/M43 cap eagle

This SS M43 Overseas Cap Eagle is a textbook piece. This style of eagle was factory applied to SS field caps- both M43 and overseas cap types. This one is unissued and has never been stitched to a cap or even folded.

It’s Bevo-style machine woven construction, with a silver-gray SS eagle and swastika emblem on a black background, with a backing of thin black rayon. The weaving is perfect and completely intact with no fraying or damage.

There is virtually no age toning, and the front of this patch remains clean and crisp. On the reverse, this SS M43 Overseas Cap Eagle shows typical details of the machine-woven construction. This iconic eagle patch displays very well. It’s in excellent condition.

HISTORY

The Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), was originally formed in May 1923 as the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler (Shock Troops Adolf Hitler) and was redesignated Schutzstaffel, (Protection Squad), in April 1925 with the official acceptance of the name verified on the second anniversary of the failed Munich “Beer-Hall” Putsch on November 9TH 1925. On January 6TH 1929 Heinrich Himmler was appointed as Reichsführer-SS, (National Leader {of the} SS), and on July 20TH 1934 shortly after the June 30TH 1934, purge of the SA, Sturm Abteilung, (Storm/Assault Detachment) on the “Night of the Long Knives”, the SS was rewarded by Hitler by being granted the status of an independent organization under the direct control of the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party).

Originally the SS introduced a “schiffchenform”, (boat form), EM/NCO’s overseas cap in 1934 which utilized a political-style national eagle on the left-hand side. In February 1936 the SS pattern national cap eagle was introduced and replaced the earlier political style eagle. The SS pattern eagles were originally issued in a hand-embroidered version for Officer’s ranks and a machine-embroidered version for EM/NCO’s until a machine-woven version was introduced in 1939. In November 1940 a second pattern overseas cap was introduced and was worn for the duration of the war with the SS pattern national eagle affixed to the front center of the cap. The M43 field cap was originally introduced in the German army on June 11TH 1943 as a replacement cap for other field caps then in use, and adopted for wear in the Waffen-SS, (Armed-SS), on October 1ST 1943. The SS M43 field caps also utilized the 1936 pattern SS eagle.

Of Note: The RZM, Reichzeugmeisterei, (National Equipment Quartermaster), was officially founded in June 1934 in Munich by the NSDAP as a Reich Hauptamt, (State Central Office), and was based on the earlier SA Quartermaster’s Department. The functions of the RZM were not only to procure and distribute items to Party formations, including the SS, but also to approve chosen designs and to act as a quality control supervisor to ensure items manufactured for the Party met required specifications and were standardized. Starting in late 1934 items manufactured for the SS came under the quality control of the RZM and were marked with an RZM/SS approval tag. In 1943 the Waffen-SS assumed full control over their uniform item production and no longer fell under the authority of the RZM.