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Army police units whether they were Werhmact, Waffen SS, or Luftwaffe wore similar uniforms to their respective branch of service with a couple of notable exceptions. The police gorget or Ringkragen was worn to distinguish the wearer from normal service troops and was worn only on duty. The Feldgendarmerie Ringkragen was made from pressed light metal and was backed by a piece of field grey cloth to reduce wear. It had a total of 42 links and was similar in colour to the Feldjäger duty gorget with a dull matt silver finish being applied to the chain and shield with the bosses, eagle and swastika and lettering (which was mounted on a field grey background) having a luminous yellow finish. The national eagle displayed on the gorget was the same for both army and Waffen SS with the Luftwaffe eagle being mounted on Rinkragen worn by Luftwaffe and Fallschirmjäger police units. One notable exception to the rule was the Großdeutschland Pz. Kps. whose military police had a specially designed gorget bearing the letters "GD".
Two views of the Ringkragen with the luminous lettering
and eagle displayed on the front. The rear view shows the field grey cloth
backing and retaining clips which held the gorget in place. The
orange police eagle made from orange cotton thread with a field grey backing
is also shown. Note the black swastika.
Waffenfarbe was worn by Felgendarmerie on uniforms
of all services and was usually a copper brown colour and was used on shoulder
straps and on some early uniforms on the collar. Army police also wore
an orange police eagle with black swastika on the left sleeve with Waffen
SS police wearing the standard SS eagle on the left sleeve.
Cuff titles were also worn by most police personnel
and were copper brown in colour with the word "Felgendarmerie" in
white Gothic lettering. The Waffen SS cuff title was black with
the SS runes preceding the words "Felgendarmerie" in silver lettering.
Above: The Waffen SS cuff title and the army cufftitle
An unusual example of a non-regulation Waffen SS Autumn camouflage M44 pattern Feldbluse made from Zeltbahn material as worn by a military policeman. Note the orange police eagle on the left sleeve. This example originates from Yugoslavia where non-regulation uniforms were quite common among police and second line units.
