Free The Himmler's SS by Robert Ferguson

responsible for flying Hitler and other senior Nazi personalities around Germany, and they remained active until absorbed by the Deutscher Luftsport Verband (DLV), the forerunner of the Luftwaffe, in September 1933.
    From 1935, each Oberabschnitt commander could form a Streifendienst, or Patrol Service, as and when required. Streifendienst units were fairly small and mobile and their members were specially selected from among the most reliable SS men. They patrolled areas temporarily out of bounds to SS personnel and policed the SS contingents at party rallies. During the annual 9 November celebrations in Munich, for example, only a few SS men in possession of specially issued passes valid for the day could enter the restricted areas around the Feldherrnhalle and Königsplatz where Hitler and his hierarchy congregated. It was the Streifendienst who checked these passes and ensured that no unauthorised SS ‘spectators’ slipped through. All members of a Streife wore a nickel-plated gorget bearing the legend ‘SS Streifendienst’ while on duty. This item of regalia was similar to that which identified the military police, and highlighted the fact that the Streifendienst was, in effect, an internal police force of the Allgemeine-SS.
    Each Oberabschnitt contained a Sportabteilung, or Sports Detachment, which was responsible for the physical fitness of SS personnel. It also trained with the Hitler Youth and the Allgemeine-SS Reserve. From the outset, sports and physical fitness had been accorded a high priority by both the SA and SS, and indeed the earliest Nazi paramilitaries disguised their true identity by calling themselves Turn- und Sport-abteilungen, or Gymnastic and Sports Detachments. Prior to 1939, SS sports instructors were trained at the SA Sport School in Hamm, Westphalia, but after the occupation of Czechoslovakia an SS Reichssportschule was established at Prague. It duly ran courses for Oberabschnitt sports officers, and issued SS physical training manuals for the reference of all SS personnel.
    In addition to the regular and specialist SS units, and the first-line reserve of those between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five, each Oberabschnitt also contained an independent Stammabteilung, or Supplementary Reserve Detachment, composed partly of unfit or older men over the age of forty-five, and partly of younger men whose duties to the state or party debarred them from taking an active part in the SS. For example, it was customary for fulltime regular police officers to be assigned to the Stammabteilung upon receiving SS membership. The Stammabteilung carried the name of the corresponding Oberabschnitt and was divided into Bezirke or sub-districts, each Bezirk working in conjunction with a Standarte and bearing the Arabic numeral of the latter. As their title indicated, these additional second-line reservists supplemented the rest of the Allgemeine-SS in the various functions where normal duty personnel and first-line reserves might be overtaxed, as in the case of large national parades and celebrations, or major disasters. They were readily distinguishable by the fact that a reverse colour scheme was employed on their uniform insignia, i.e. a light-grey background to collar patches and cuff titles with black or silver numbers and script. For a short time, members of the Stammabteilungen also wore light grey rather than black borders on their armbands.
    SS Helferinnen, or Female SS Auxiliaries, were first recruited in 1942 to relieve male SS personnel who were more urgently needed at the front. During the war, German women were called to ‘do their bit’ in all spheres of life, and in this respect the SS was no exception, despite Himmler’s view that his Schutzstaffel was essentially an ‘Order of German Men’. As more and more SS men were conscripted, their work places were taken over by women. The designation SS Helferin was used only for those who had been accepted as SS