Original Items: One-of-a-kind Set. This is an incredible set which includes multiple pieces such as: tunic, pants, visor cap, overseas side cap, armband, medals, medical shoulder bag full of medical supplies and more!

- The tunic is fabricated from a fine dark gray wool and is adorned with shoulder boards, each board with mid-tone gray wool uppers, with two pairs of dual bands in silvered threading in a chevron formation, wrapped around white cord at the shoulder end, the edges trimmed in light gray piping, the undersides in dark gray wool, with a reinforced button hole at the neck end housing a silvered magnetic metal button with a pebbled upper, securing the board in place. The upper of the collar is fabricated from a very small mid-tone gray wool, with Red Cross collar tabs on both sides of the collar at the opening, each with a light gray upper and incorporating a silvered bronze and red enamelled Red Cross in the centre, with two small holes above on each where and an additional insignia once resided that has been lost to time, the edge on all four sides of both trimmed in angled silvered rolled bullion. The upper right arm has a triangular-shaped sleeve patch in white and dark gray embroidery sewn in place, illustrating a stylized eagle gripping a wreathed swas in its talons above the inscription "Warburg 3" in Gothic script. the from bears two medals a wonder enamel Deutsches Rotes Kreuz Medal and a German WWII ECE Medal. There are four pockets on the front, one on each breast and larger ones at the waist on both sides, each designed with a decorative pleat, a flap with a reinforced button hole and a silvered magnetic metal button with a pebbled upper, each of the buttons marked with six small stars on the reverse, as are all the buttons on the tunic. The front is completed by a vertical row of five silvered magnetic metal buttons with a pebbled uppers on the right side, facing an equal number of reinforced button holes on the left side. There is an additional reinforced button hole on the left collar, with a silvered magnetic metal button with a pebbled upper on the underside of the collar on the right side. The rear of the tunic is single-vented, with upward-facing silvered magnetic metal hooks on either side at the rear waist. The cuffs are single-vented with reinforced button holes and black plastic buttons facing each other on either side of the venting, the left cuff adorned with an 8 mm wide x 85 mm long strip in fine silvered threading with a red embroidered stripe running the length of the strip in the center. The inside and sleeves are lined in a light gray cotton/rayon blend, with a large pocket on the right breast and a small pocket below it near the opening. Sewn in place in each armpit is a gray cotton/rayon strap forming a loop. In addition, there is a wide strap in gray cotton/rayon sewn in place to the body of the tunic below both armpits, the ends of which dangle and are looped around the aforementioned silvered magnetic metal hooks, each hook passing through a protective reinforcing patch stitched in place to the body of the tunic. The tunic measures approximately a US 38.

- The pants are fabricated from the same fine dark gray wool as that used in the tunic. It is designed with a button down fly, incorporating four black finished magnetic buttons on the right side, facing an equal number of reinforced button holes on the right side, discreetly hidden under a flap, each of the buttons marked "SOLIDE ELEGANT", with a large hook and eye above at the waist. It has five pockets, deep side-entry pockets on both sides at the front, a small pocket between the right side pocket and the fly, with a short strip of gray rayon sewn in place above it, plus pockets on either side on the seat which are of the button down variety, with reinforced button holes and using the same buttons as those used on the fly, the four larger pockets lined in white cotton, the small pocket on the front lined in dark gray wool. The rear is single-vented and comes with straps in matching dark gray wool attached below on either side, the one on the left side with a silvered magnetic metal buckle with a copper-coloured dual-pronged roller, and when joined together, aids in a snug fit at the waistline. There are six black finished magnetic buttons around the waist, larger than those used on the fly and rear pockets and are unmarked. The outer seam on each side of the pants have light gray piping, running from just below the waist to the bottom of the pant cuff. Inside, the entire waist is lined in a white cotton panel with a repeating design incorporating twin rules alternating with a vertical zig zag pattern in light blue, with a band of gray cotton/rayon below that extends between the hips. There is a short red tag stitched in place to the edge of the left front pocket, a cotton patch sewn in place in the crotch incorporating an ornate navy blue pattern, and a gray cotton strap forming a loop sewn in place just below the rear venting. The pants measure 420 mm in width x 1,120 mm in length, exhibiting light soiling on the interior in the white cotton of the pockets and waist lining and on the gray cotton/lining from active use.

- The side cap is fabricated from a fine dark gray wool on the exterior, designed with fold down panels with gently sloping, downward scallops to the front and forward sides. Sewn in place on the peak on the front is an embroidered tricolor cockade framed by white piping forming an inverted triangle, a German Red Cross (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz) insignia in red and black embroidery on a white embroidered oval field sewn in place on the left side, a single black finished eyelet in place on either side, with two rising peaks forming a valley between the two panels. The interior is lined in gray cotton and is size stamped in black ink "56" in the dome.

- The armband is fabricated from a thin white cotton/rayon blend, with a large red cross embroidered in the centre, surrounded by the inscription "Deutsches Rotes Kreuz" in black embroidered Gothic script, the ends of the armband sewn together on the back, measuring 120 mm x 202 mm, exhibiting light soiling on either side of the insignia and type and on the reverse.

- The Visor cap is a size 56 and is nicely maker marked beneath the somewhat intact celluloid shield. Cap itself is in excellent condition with metal wreath and cocked with red felt interior and enamel DRK insignia to front.

- Medical shoulder bag with internal paper label listing instructions and contents. The bag is FULL of dozens medical supplies including a glass syringe, bandages and so much more.

This is a fantastic rare Deutsches Rotes Kreuz complete set!

History of the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz in WW2:
In April 1933 the NSDAP Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick made it clear to Winterfeldt-Mencken that this policy would no longer apply; instead, the DRK would be expected to play its part in supporting the armed forces in any future conflict. Shortly after this the DRK was informed that the head of the SA Medical Corps, Dr. Paul Hocheisen had been given responsibility for voluntary nursing organizations.

On 11 June 1933 Frick was invited to speak at the Red Cross Day. He declared:

"The Red Cross is something like the conscience of the nation. ... Together with the nation, the Red Cross is ready to commit all its strength for the high goals of our leader, Adolf AH".

The DRK was quick to respond to the changed circumstances, indeed Winterfeldt-Mencken had always been opposed to the system of parliamentary democracy.[6] The Workers' Samaritan League, a left-wing humanitarian organization, had always been an unwelcome competitor to the DRK. Hocheisen very quickly arranged that it should be taken over by the DRK. Similarly, the DRK moved quickly to rid itself of left-wing members, and in June 1933 it also decided that the NSDAP "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" should be applied and dismissed its Jewish employees.

However the DRK was still a member of the Red Cross movement, and Germany remained a signatory to the Geneva Convention, so it was not possible for them to apply the same level of "Gleichschaltung" to the DRK as it was to other organizations. The attitude of the ICRC towards the DRK’s exclusion of the Jews was later expressed in a letter written by Max Huber in 1939. According to him, the primary obligation of neutral treatment as foreseen in the Geneva Convention was to the victims of war, and not to the helpers. He argued that as it was impossible to prescribe rules which were in conflict with the laws of a country, it was better to take a flexible approach than to risk the break-up of the universal Red Cross movement.

Despite Winterfeldt-Mencken’s professions of loyalty to the regime, they were not reciprocated and a replacement was sought. President Hindenburg was able to influence the decision, and selected Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who was Queen Victoria’s grandson, rather than Hocheisen. Charles Edward had moved from England to Germany at the age of 15, had subsequently served as a general in the German army in the First World War, and had long supported right-wing movements in general, and AH in particular. He was already honorary president of the National Socialist Motor Corps.

Charles Edward became President of the DRK in December 1933, while Hocheisen became his deputy. Not unsurprisingly, they did not work well together. There followed a typically NSDAP-Darwinist power struggle, in which Hocheisen was eventually able to assert his authority – only to be ousted by the top SS doctor Ernst-Robert Grawitz at the start of 1937. At the end of 1938 the German Red Cross officially came under the control of the Ministry of the Interior's Social Welfare Organization, becoming de facto a NSDAP entity, led by Grawitz in the role of 'acting president', with Oswald Pohl as chairman of the board of administration.[9] By this stage there was no doubt about who was in charge, though Charles Edward remained in his post until 1945. As he was related to European royalty and spoke good English, he was a useful figurehead for the DRK, but Grawitz was different – he would turn up to International Red Cross meetings in his SS uniform. Grawitz took a radical approach to his task. He introduced a hierarchical chain of command into the DRK, and arranged for a new large and imposing "representative"- presidential building to be constructed in Potsdam-Babelsberg, complete with a balcony from which speeches could be made.[11] His ideal concept for the DRK was that of a "healthy structure which would fit itself organically into the laws of life in the National Socialist Third Reich".

In the years after the NSDAP takeover, as well as adopting NSDAP salutes and symbols, the DRK introduced NSDAP ideology into their education. Rescue teams were trained in military conduct, basic concepts of National Socialism, genetics, racial hygiene and demographic policy. More senior staff – doctors, nurses and managers were educated in demographic policy, racial history, racial hygiene, the biology of inheritance and the foundations of genetics. As a preparation for war, the DRK focused on training people to deal with air raids and gas attacks and organised joint exercises with the police and the fire brigades.