Among the collections of various items related to the Second World War (World War II), the collection of everything related to the SS troops stands out separately. These are the most valuable and expensive exhibits, because even an SS buckle will cost several times more than a regular Wehrmacht buckle.
One of the most affordable exhibits are SS shell casings, which cost little, but increase in price every year, because there are fewer and fewer shell casings, and more and more people want to get them for the collection.
A little bit of history:
Since before the Second World War the SS was an organization controlled by the NSDAP, the SS men had to place their own orders for ammunition on a commercial basis. As far as we know, only 3 batches of 1024 boxes each were produced, which can also be tracked by individual marks on the ammunition:
- in 1938 by DWM with markings SS and SS-TV with a heavy sS bullet
- in 1939, presumably by Polte, Platz 33 cartridges / blank mod. 33 with wooden bullet / marked SS-TV
During the outbreak of the war, SS units already received ammunition on a par with the Wehrmacht, and therefore individual marks disappeared.
Several brands are now known:
- “DWM 1938 SS”
- “DWM 1938 SS-TV”
- 1939 SS TV Platzpatrone 33
The first option is the most common. The second option is rarer and even more interesting, and the third option is reliably known, but I have never come across it.
Today in our gallery we have one of the representatives of such cartridges:
In general, this is ordinary German ammunition of 7.92x57mm caliber, for Mauser 98K rifles and MG-34 machine guns.
But what distinguishes it from ordinary ammunition is the mark:
As you can see – a beautiful 1938 DWM SS – TV.
The TV version raises many questions – some say that this means Totenkopf-Verbande, that is, “Death's Head”, meaning the SS division, but this version is doubtful because the cartridges are found in places where the Death's Head did not fight. Others believe that TV means “Technische Verwaltung”, “Technical Section”, but there is no documented information about the existence of such a department in the SS organization. The version from SS TV (SS television channel) seems more correct to me. 🙂 In 1936, Hitler conducted a television broadcast of the Olympic Games.
In any case, the find is interesting and, at least a little, will pay for your metal detector and the cop. Watch your step and don’t be lazy to pick up such finds. 😉
Good luck on the cop!
Trying to identify your find? Write in the comments or go to our section – “Identification of finds” , maybe we have already written about it!
