The images and the entire text used on this and all other USMBOOKS web pages are the copyrighted property of USM Inc.  Those images and the text may be used by others ONLY AFTER completion of a formal international licensing agreement and payment of a licensing fee! It is therefore, illegal for anyone to take any of the material found on USMBOOKS.com and use it for their own purposes without our written permission, irrespective of any excuse they may feel they have for doing so.

This is a beautiful example of a used German Army Gürtel und Schnalle or belt and buckle of the sort worn with a field uniform in the Nazi Wehrmacht. It is in very nice condition, very nicely marked and a perfect example in many ways. This belt and its original GOTT MIT UNS buckle have never been to a MAX Show or other militaria show and has never been in the hands of a collector or dealer. It is precisely the way it was brought back to America by a GI 70 years ago. We are sure the belt and buckle started life together in 1936.

The one-piece aluminum buckle still has about 75+% of its original green paint on the inside and around 80% of its green paint on the outside in the background of the pebbling and in the detail in the center medallion where the eagle and swastika are. The green paint on the front side of the buckle has been evenly removed from the high spots in the pebbling and the center medallion as was almost always done by Landers in the German Army to give the buckle a brighter "salty" look like one that had been in service for a long time. This one is particularly nicely done and still carries a very high percentage of the detail in the feathers on the eagle's breast, the ropes and the oak leaves in the center medallion.

The belt is extremely well-made of heavy leather unlike some of the later wartime belts which were rather crudely fashioned. The leather used in the belt is brown on the inside and has the inside edge tapered toward the black front side so that when worn it lays against the uniform without a gap.  On the tab that holds the green painted aluminum keeper the belt is marked KARL KURZ STUTTGART 1936. About an inch back from the KURZ marking the belt is stamped 1./A.R.74 I. in letters 8 mm (just over a ¼ inch) tall. The opposite end of the belt is stamped 90 for 90 cm (35-½ inches), the length of the belt. All original stitching, very supple.

If you are looking for a Nazi Army belt and buckle that can be used on a uniformed mannequin, you'd have a hard time finding a better example than this.