Uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel (including concentration camp staffs) were granted Waffen-SS ranks and, in 1944, any "Allgemeine-SS" who served in an area that commanded SS combat troops, was granted a Waffen-SS commission. Another uniform insignia change occurred in April 1942 with the creation of the rank "SS-Oberstgruppenführer". This necessitated an insignia change for SS generals and all SS generals at this time began wearing "Wehrmacht"-style gold shoulder boards; "Oberführers" wore the shoulderboards of an army "Oberst" ("colonel") just as "Standartenführers" did. The sole exception was Heinrich Himmler who continued to wear the silver braided shoulderboard with oak leaves of his rank as "Reichsführer-SS". At
Rank insignia of the German Bundeswehr strap, to be worn on service – and dress uniform. This particular shoulder strap shows the silver piping on its outline, indicating the officer career, but lacks the bronze-colored edging that usually hedges the center part of the insignia with NCO-ranks as opposed to the service uniform shoulder straps of a Hauptfeldwebel (OR7). However, rank badges on the mounting loops of Hauptfeldwebel and Oberfähnrich are identically. The lowest grades (OR-1) of the enlisted men rank group wear simple silver mounting loops on the otherwise empty shoulder straps. A silver cord on the lower end of the mounting loop is usually