Panzergrenadier

It depends on SS or Heer, for SS it should be white Waffenfarbe (piping to the shoulder boards) collar patch dependant on unit. For Heer it should be Wiesengrün
(meadow green) Waffenfarbe, most SS infantry you see at events are panzergrenadiers.

You coming to the dark side?

I knew i could rely on you Pride! Im doing a German impression as well mate yes, i was thinking of doing the Panzer Lehr Division, but i need to read up more on this unit. Which unit has the pink piping with the Panza Skull on the collar boards?

Panzer units

Epic has the shoulder board colours stuff on there tunic pages
Infantry (White), Artillery (Red), Jager (Light Green), Panzer (Pink), Signals (Lemon Yellow), Medic (Blue), Police (Orange), Recon (Copper Brown), Pioneer/Combat Engineer (Black), Cavalry (Gold Yellow), Panzer Grenadier (Grass Green)

So the pink is for tank crews only? or would the Panza units have infantry as well? im thinking of doing an NCO or sergeant.

I knew i could rely on you Pride! Im doing a German impression as well mate yes, i was thinking of doing the Panzer Lehr Division, but i need to read up more on this unit. Which unit has the pink piping with the Panza Skull on the collar boards?

Yes best to do some research as there are always exceptions/oddities.

The skull is on the collar tab piped in pink. I think this was largely for panzer crews but pink piping was also used for recon and tank destroyer units etc.

I think the Panzer Lehr also had an L on the shoulder boards.

Yea iv done a little research, so i think Panza foot soldier. With a tank assault badge and a tank destroyer award. But what collar boards do i get?

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but, wasn't it only early war when panzer gren's wore coloured waffenfabre? Pretty sure that they wore normal infantry insignia mid to late war?

im not sure Heide, when it comes to German units im all a wash, thats why i decided to ask all you guys

Are you more of a uniform collector, or are you looking to be part of a typical German unit that will be regularly taking part in airsoft events? The reason there's not a lot of info forthcoming is that nobody on here portrays Panzergrenadier. Most of us stick to generic Heer or Waffen SS Infanterie, which were the most common troops. (Whilst you might thinkl PG are cool / different, you will find yourself in an army of one.)

Panzer grenadiers wore pink waffenfarbe early war although they were known as panzerschutze. Panzer grenadiers only existed from 1942 onwards.

They were organised at company level however so you could still have infantry with white waffenfarbe within panzer & grenadier units. Only mechanised companies were named as panzer grenadiers, even motorised troops were still classed as infantry.

He wouldn't quite be an army of one Andy as my M42 tunic is badged up as PzGndr but with genetic litzen so I can switch to infantry if needed.

Good info, Lardy - and I stand corrected!

I understand this, and yes i do want to be part of a German unit but i don't want to do just Heer, SS or FJ as i already do 101st and Brit para. im just trying to mix it up a little, i mean just because I've got Meadow green/ Rose Pink / white shoulder boards on does that mean i cant stand next to some one and fire my gun? Does it really mater what my personal preference is? i understand that at some games there is a requirement for the standard Heer insignia's to be worn, and i have the standard infantry shoulder boards and can use them any time i need to but also some times the roster is open to come as what German unit you like. Cheers for the heads up though Steiner

p.s. yea i do think PG are cool

Bear the important thing is that you attend.
Too many people get hung up on the badge cuff title ect ect for the majority I think it is more important that you come and enjoy yourself, don`t worry about stitch counters

Cheers Klein, i don't want to ruffle feathers or anything, just want to portray a certain unit

Lard, what colour insignia do you have on your tunic then, could do with the help

Mine is a late war tunic modelled as an obergefrieter of the 21st Panzer division so is badged as such but the 21st PzD had no specific insigia so it can pass for other units. I should point out it is my second tunic and I do have another that is essentially plain for a more generic infantry look.

The collar litzen are the mouse grey generic type, unmounted and sewn directly on the collar. These are the 2nd pattern which is fine most of the dates we cover but green would be ok too. Generic litzen are both the most common and the most versatile as you then just have to switch shoulderboards to switch branches. The shoulder boards are light 'meadow' green piped for PzG as previously mentioned. The chest eagle is the 'M39' BeVo type but anything other than the late war triangular model is fine.

The rest of the insignia is more specific to the impression, OberGrefreiter chevrons on the left arm, Infantry assualt badge in bronze (for mechanised troops), Iron cross 2nd class and 'AFRIKA' cuff title (21stPzD we part of panzer armee afrika and were reformed on a core of veterans after its destruction- its one of these I'm portraying). Thats about as bling as I get and I've still tried to keep it fair generic.

i was thinking of doing the Panzer Lehr Division

Panzer Lehr are fairly notorious for being the exception to all sorts of things, in particular their use of 'Panzer Wrap' short jackets in Normandy. Not for the whole war of course, but some of the time.

Probably the easiest way to do PG is just normal Heer uniform with green waffenfarbe on the shoulder boards, but the thing which screams (Heer) Panzergrenadier later in the war is a splinter camo smock.

As mentioned above, white waffenfarbe was used by SS Panzergrenadiers, which tends to be how most of the portrayed divisions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 9th & 10th) started out as anyway. For some reason the poor old 4th SS Polizei Divison is a bit unloved. Probably because they were crap

Most of the 'panzergrenadiers' (or Schutze in their early incarnation) were just infantrymen given a lorry to ride in, and later in the war even those were taken away! So they were motorised infantry who had to walk.... The glory boys riding around in halftracks were always a very small minority, only one company per division (or thereabouts) until 1941, possibly a battalion per division thereafter. Panzer Lehr naturally all got to ride around halftracks, until they lost most of them in Normandy.

Cheers
Martin

Most of the 'panzergrenadiers' (or Schutze in their early incarnation) were just infantrymen given a lorry to ride in,

Motorised infantry were designated as such and kept their white infantry waffenfarbe (if not always their trucks). Panzergrenadier were ment to always have halftracks (even if unarmored) in order to keep up with tanks cross country. Of course the German transport situation being what it was they had to make do with what they were given and some simply ended up riding the tanks themselves.

the thing which screams (Heer) Panzergrenadier later in the war is a splinter camo smock.

I don't think PZG really got any greater issue of camo smock than their infantry counterparts outside of the elite units like Lehr and GD. there were exceptions yes but usually it was pot luck.

Ok so, light green shoulder boards (NCO style) , standard coler tabs and 2 stripes on the left arm With a standard chest eagle?
Is this correct?

If you wear NCO shoulder tresse, don't wear stripes on your sleeve. Stripes are only for low ranking NCO's and shoulder/collar tresse is for more senior NCO's. Confusing, isn't it?