The uniforms of the Brown Shirts: SA, SS, Political Leaders, Hitler Youth, Jungvolk and BDM: with the approval of the Reich leadership and after review by the Supreme SA leadership.
With 239 clear illustrations, mainly in colour, this is a contemporary source that was intended for the German population at large to recognise 'the soldiers of the Brown Army', as the foreword of this pre-war guide called the paramilitary organisation whose methods of violent intimidation played such a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
This is an encyclopaedic German language reference to the complicated Brown Shirts uniform system that incorporates the major changes in SA uniforms and insignia that occurred in 1930 when Ernst Rhm was appointed as Chief of Staff of the SA.
Rhm undertook several changes to the SA uniform and insignia design, the first being to invent several new ranks in order for the SA rank system to mirror that of the professional military. The new ranks used the same collar pip and oak leaf system as before, but with the addition of corded shoulder boards worn on the right shoulder for the officers. Further, the officers wore right shoulder cord of either gold or silver. In contrast, the enlisted men wore piping cords shaped as shoulder straps on the right shoulder.