Heer General of army administration collar tab set. Beautifully reproduced, incredible item.
From 1900 and on Prussian generals had worn ornate collar patches embroidered in a style called alt-Larisch, which had first been worn in the 18th century by the 26th (älterer von Larisch) Infantry Regiment; the Reichsheer and the Wehrmacht continued the tradition. These devices, sometimes called Arabesken (arabesques), were embroidered in gold bullion or golden synthetic Celleon on Hochrot (scarlet) backing.
Field Marshals wore the same Arabesken as generals until April 1941, when they were authorized a longer variant with three rather than two iterations of the repeating pattern, for a total of six “prongs”. In some cases GFM did not bother to replace their generals’ tabs, or did so only on their dress uniforms.
General officers of the Special Troop Service (Truppensonderdienst – TDS) and of the specialist careers (medical, veterinary, ordnance, and motor park) wore the same insignia until April 1944, when they were ordered to exchange their scarlet Kragenpatten for alt-Larisch tabs backed in their respective Waffenfarbe:
bright blue – TDS administrative;
cornflower blue – medical;
orange – ordnance;[d]
pink – motor park;
carmine – veterinary;
wine red – TDS judiciary.