Description
Schuma Shoulder Straps Matching Pair for Schutzpolizei (Protection Police).
With the invasion of Russia the German army quickly occupied large areas of land that required policing to maintain law and order and to secure open transportation and communication lines to the front. This need for personal to patrol these areas resulted in the recruitment of local anti-Communist personnel which were formed into Schuma – Schutzmannschaften (Protection Troops) units in November 1941. The Schuma personnel fell under the control of the regional Höhere SS und Polizeiführer – Higher SS and Police Leader. These Schuma personnel wore a wide variety of uniforms, headgear and insignia including surplus black Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), uniforms, and assorted field-grey and police green items. In August 1942 the first official pattern insignia for Schuma personnel was introduced but proved ineffective and was discontinued in November of that year. In April 1943 a second pattern insignia, including shoulder straps, was introduced for Schuma personnel and was utilized for the duration of the war. With the second pattern Schuma insignia specific, identifying, Truppenfarbe, (Branch of Service Colors), were also introduced, to identify the assorted branches of Police service, with police green being allotted to Schuma personnel serving with the Schutzpolizei, (Protection Police). The Truppenfarbe color was generally displayed as piping on the shoulder straps for EM/NCO ranks. (9671wz) LH12031