Original German Early WWII SA Multi-piece Wool Felt & Rayon Overcoat Armband Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice lightly worn condition early war high quality SA wool Ärmelbinde (Armband) with multi-piece construction. It features a rayon moire material white circle with a black multi-piece Swas (Hook Cross) patch, which is stitched onto the wool backing. Edges of armband are finely stitched indicating a very high quality production. Measures approximately 18″ x 4 1/2″, and is sewn together in the back. This longer length of armband was often used on the overcoats worn by the SA.

This armband definitely shows signs of use, with light wear to the fabric, and shows staining and age toning to the outer side, especially on the white circle around the swas. We often see these nearly unissued, so getting one with some period wear and discoloration is a real treat. It has had the stitching in the rear taken in a bit by hand, and there is also some green stitching along the edge, so this is definitely an example that was attached to a uniform or overcoat.

In very nice service used condition, this armband is ready to display!

The Sturmabteilung, literally Storm Detachment, was the NSDAP Party’s original paramilitary. It played a significant role in AH’s rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for NSDAP rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Red Front Fighters League (Rotfrontkämpferbund) of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and, especially, Jews – for instance, during the NSDAP boycott of Jewish businesses.

The SA were also called the “Brownshirts” (Braunhemden) from the color of their uniform shirts, similar to Benito Mussolini’s blackshirts. The SA developed pseudo-military titles for its members, with ranks that were later adopted by several other NSDAP Party groups, chief amongst them the Schutzstaffel (SS), which originated as a branch of the SA before being separated. Brown-colored shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large number of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany’s former African colonies.

The SA became disempowered after Adolf AH ordered the “blood purge” of 1934. This event became known as the Night of the Long Knives (die Nacht der langen Messer). The SA continued to exist, but was effectively superseded by the SS, although it was not formally dissolved until after NSDAP Germany’s final capitulation to the Allies in 1945.