Latvia & the Waffen SS

[steinar]

Hello
I heard about the fact that Latvian soldiers called for the end of 1944 shields as "mourning for Riga". As far as this is confirmed by the records of a memoir?

[John G.]

the first "SS Latvia sleeve shield" posted in this thread by stcamp is definately a reproduction of the final form "Dachau produced" shield.....fairly close, but the raised boarder boardering the edges of the shield and the black background are too thick...notice the shield/black boarder Greg posted (which is original) is no where near as thick and evident....the edge of the shield part!

There are several variant Latvian shields....but this pattern is the "Dachau" type.....original but liberated unissued from Dachau (and other places too) stores.....and still fairly common. Like all SS stuff heavily faked, too!

stcamp, shields with the wide, evident boarder edging the black wool are well know 1960s Frenchmade reproductions....still widely sold as originals....you're not the first to get fooled.
John G.

[John G.]

I've seen some of the late 1944-1945 film footage with Latvian's wearing shields....never heard of efforts to remove them except before surrender to the Russians.....to reply to the latest post.
John G.

[steinar]

What I meant by Latvian soldiers sarcastically called shields "mourning for Riga", as the Russians I took and joined to the USSR