Belgian made cloth insignia are often referred to as being “Reitz made” insignia.
The E.Reitz factory however never produced any insignia herself. All insignia that were to be applied on the uniforms had to be supplied by the customer. In most cases this was the clothing office that issued the order for the production of a batch of uniforms. The German Army had many different of these clothing offices ( Heeresbekleidungsamt , Luftwaffe Bekleidungsamt , Kriegsmarine Bekleidungsamt ) and all the other paramilitary organisations had similar offices too ( Todt, NSKK, …) as did the collaboration organisations.
All of these customers had to deliver the cloth and insignia to the factory. The factory made the desired uniforms out of them. So it happened that some of these customers ordered their insignia with Belgian companies.
The area around Aalst ( Alost in french) was famous for it’s textile production before the war and they continued to produce during the war and are still doing so today.
One company named “Nominette” produced insignia for police, firefighters and civilian associations which were woven in a manner that it shows an almost perfect match with the well known war time Belgian made cloth insignia. We were able to receive the full history of the company with drawings and samples, but unfortunately the 4 war time years were – conveniently ? – missing due to bombardments during the liberation of Aalst in 1944.
Conveniently ? Because all companies producing and selling goods for the enemy were accused of collaboration and many suffered heavy penalties which often led to bankruptcy of the company concerned, not to mention imprisonment of it’s leadership. So there is no solid proof, but all facts and the production method of the insignia, point towards this company.
Shown here are some Belgian made SS insignia : SS arm eagle, SS officer embroidered cap eagle and skull on the left and a SS woven cap eagle and skull, a regular GERMAN BeVo Wallonie arm shield , a set of Belgian made SS collar tabs and a Belgian made zinc skull.
In the following sections we will cover in depth the different Belgian made cloth insignia.
Wehrmacht Heer eagles
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| Front and back view of the WH breast eagle on a green backing cloth. |
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| Front and back view of the WH breast eagle on a very dark green or black backing cloth. |
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| Comparison between the two breast eagles and backing cloth. |
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| Front and back view of the WH cap eagle on a very dark green backing cloth. |
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| Comparison between the cap eagle and the breast eagle on very dark green backing cloth. |
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| WH cap eagle and cockade on a very dark green backing cloth. |
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| Front and back of a row of fresh woven WH cap eagles. |
Kriegsmarine eagles
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| KM breast eagle on a dark blue backing cloth. |
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| KM breast eagle on a green backing cloth , for coastal artillery units ( Küstenartillerie). |
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| Comparison between the coastal artillery and the regular Kriegsmarine breast eagles. |
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| KM cap eagle on a dark blue backing cloth. |
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| Comparison between the KM breast eagle and cap eagle. |
SS eagles and skull
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| Front and back view of the SS arm eagle on a black backing cloth. |
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| Front and back view of the SS cap eagle on a black backing cloth. |
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| Comparison between the SS arm eagle and the SS cap eagle. |
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| Front and back view of the SS arm eagle with two different types of reinforcement cloth which was mostly applied before the eagles were sewn or stitched to the uniform. |
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| Front and back view of the SS skull insignia ( Totenkopf Abzeichen) which was applied to SS cloth headgear. |
Shoulder boards, collar tabs and arm insignia
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| A set of WH NCO dark green shoulder boards with blue piping ( transport troops) , typical for the Belgian made shoulder boards is the rough cloth, the straight cut of the shoulder board strap ( it didn’t have the rounded shape around the button hole) and the “pyjama stripe” cloth as backing material. |
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| Another set of Belgian made NCO shoulder boards in a lighter green cloth. At the back a black cloth is applied which is also used for the shoulder boards’ strap. This strap also ends in a straight cut. |
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| A Dietsche Militie / Zwarte Brigade green collar tab with silver and black piping and a “striped pyjamas” reinforcement cloth. |
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| A set of black collar tabs with silver and black piping of the Algemeene SS Vlaanderen.
The SS arm diamond also has silver and black piping and a red reinforcement cloth |
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| A set of Belgian made SS Untersturmführer collar tabs. SS runes in aluminum thread and regular aluminum ss rank pips. Heavy silver piping (silver and black appearance) and a regular ss cloth reinforcement. |
Belgian made insignia in wear
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| SS Hauptsturmführer Klingerhöfer displaying a Belgian made SS cap eagle and Skull on his panzer overseas cap ( Schiffchen) |
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| SS Unterscharführer Werrebrouck displaying a Belgian made SS arm eagle above his Flemish lion arm shield |
Belgian made insignia on original uniforms or caps
UNDER CONSTRUCTION TEXT ADDED SOON
