History

The SS divided Germany and the occupied territories into Oberabschnitte (districts) that roughly corresponded to the Germany Army's Wehrkreise (army districts). These districts were further divided into three or four SS-Abschnitte (sub-districts), which could be identified by roman numerals. By the end of the war, there were 45 sub-districts.

Each SS sub-district had two to four foot regiments (SS-Fuß-Standarten) under its control. These were regiments of about 2,000 men, however, during the war this number decreased to about 300 to 400.

The foot regiments were consecutively numbered from 1 to 125, and members were identified by the numbers on their right collar tab. A complete list of regiments can be found in Angolia's "Cloth Insignia of the SS", pages 91-94.

Two regiments used symbols rather than numbers. Members of the 87th SS-Standarte wore a collar tab that featured an Edelweiss flower. Members of the 105th SS-Standarte Memel were given permission to wear a collar tab that featured elk horns in 1939. This was the symbol of the Memel-German Security Service.

The foot regiments were named after the city in which they were based, although some were given additional honorary titles, such as “Julius Schreck” (Munich).

Officer rank collar tabs were embroidered with silver-coloured aluminium wire, while Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) and Enlisted Men (EM) collar tabs were embroidered with silver or grey-coloured thread. Officer tabs were piped in aluminum twist cord, while NCO/EM tabs were piped in alternating black and aluminum twist cord.

There are examples of very early collar tabs that were hand-embroidered and feature no piping. These were probably tailor-made for private purchase and remained unpiped until they were bought and it was known which style of piping was needed.

Members of reserve battalions were required to wear insignia embroidered with a large 'R' behind their collar tabs to denote their reserve status.

The 16th SS-Standarte "Unterelbe" was raised in 1931 and was based in Breslau (Wrocław).