Allgemeine SS Ceremonial Guard
"Willi Bauer"

FIGS13 - Allgemeine SS Ceremonial Guard "Willi Bauer"

3-1 Figure Possibilities

Allgemeine SS Ceremonial Guard "Willi Bauer"

The Allgemeine SS (Universal SS) was established in the autumn of 1934 to distinguish certain SS members from the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) and SS-Totenkopfverbände (Death's Head formations).

Starting in 1939 units similar to the SS were formed in neighbouring countries, which were consolidated under the Leitstelle der germanischen SS (Directing Center of the Germanic-SS) from 1940. The SS was created on April 4, 1925 and subordinated to the SA on November 1, 1926. It was thus a subunit of the SA and the NSDAP. It was considered to be an elite organization by both party members and among the general population.

The main task of the SS was the personal protection of the Führer of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler. As early as the winter of 1925 the SS consisted of approximately 1,000 members, but of this number there were barely 200 active members. Heinrich Himmler tried to separate the SS from the SA, and SA leaders generally had no authority over SS personnel from 1927 onwards. Himmler began to systematically develop and expand the SS. Many racketeers, habitual criminals, former members of the Freikorps, and Germans disappointed with the Weimar Republic began to join the SS.

By December 1929, the number of active members had grown to 1,000. The SS grew so fast that on 29 January 1930, Himmler could announce to his former mentor Ernst Röhm, leader of the SA, that: "The Schutzstaffel is growing, and will probably number 2,000 by the end of this quarter."[1] From that point on the SS would be considered, therefore, de facto independent. By December of that same year, the SS had a membership of 2,727.

Himmler now looked to another source for recruits to the SS: the SA. Many former members of Röhm's Frontbann joined the SS. In 1926 it had been specified that the SS had to absolutely subordinate itself to the SA and with that every arbitrary action of the SS was prevented. With local recruitment, the SS members were obligated to owe loyalty to the respective SA leader. However, by this time numerous Unterführer of the SA had already gone over to Himmler's SS. Hitler assisted Himmler in his first great victory over the SA, by decreeing on November 7, 1930: "The task of the SS is first the practice of the police service within the party. No SA leader is entitled to give instructions to the SS!"

This order split the two organizations from each other, and confirmed thereby the de jure independence of the SS from the SA.

By August 1939 there were 485,000 members of the Allgemeine SS (including 180,000 men in the so-called "Reserve-Standarten"). Approximately 170,000 were called up for service in the Wehrmacht and 35,000 others into the Waffen-SS. Only the 100,000 full-time SS leaders in the main offices had been exempted from the military service. Here the actual history of the Allgemeine-SS ends, since the war would ensure that the Waffen-SS would completely eclipse the Allgemeine-SS, both in size and importance. But the main offices of the Allgemeine SS, which were originally only staff departments of the SS main office (the so-called Reichsführung-SS) responsible for the coordinating the day-to-day operations of the Allgemeine SS, were officially responsible for the members of the Waffen-SS also in the war years.

Towards the end of the war in 1945 the Gesamt-SS had over 840,000 members. From these 48,500 were members of the Allgemeine SS. Much of the remainder was comprised of 18,000 officers, 52,000 NCOs, and 600,000 enlisted members of the Waffen-SS and 130,000 police. SS membership numbers were formally lent to the members of the Waffen-SS of all ranks, while SS membership was also automatically lent to police officers.

FIGS13 - Allgemeine SS Ceremonial Guard "Willi Bauer"

Details: Each poseable figure is about one foot tall and comes complete with 30 highly detailed accessory pieces including dress sword with scabbard, metal helmet with liner, 2-different heads (one with real hair which you can trim to your own specifications), K-98 Mauser with working bolt action and much more.