What was the height requirement for SS recruits?

German SS and Waffen-SS 1923-1945.
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JAB42
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What was the height requirement for SS recruits?

Post by JAB42 »

I've heard that it was either 5'11" (71 inches) or 5'9" (69 inches). I'm leaning towards the former since I'm sure 5'11" was above the average male height in 1940s Germany. Anyone know for sure?

-JAB
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Christoph Awender
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Post by Christoph Awender »

Hello!

Here is a sign up document from my collection. It says:
178cm for LAH
174cm for Germania and Deutschland
172 for other elements of the Verfügunstruppe

Of course these requirements were losened during the ongoing war.

\Christoph

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Wolfkin
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Post by Wolfkin »

Hello Christoph!

What an amazing coincidence! This is a subject that I have wondered about a great deal myself! Thank you for this information!

About the document you posted, on the line for 172cm I can read "Pionier...Nachrichtensturmbann" but I can not read the first word after "fur...", do you know what this says?

Another question if you do not mind. I notice that this document is dated February 1938, and I am wondering if you know the requirements for any other dates. For instance, I am curious as to whether the requirements were higher or lower than this on dates before 1938 or right afterwards but still before the war started. You have said that they loosened up the requirements during the war but I am curious as to whether they lowered the requirements or just did away with them altogther.

Also, I am curious as to whether there were different requirements for armoured car crews, StuG and Panzer crews, when they acquired these vehicles, of course. It just seems to me that having a height requirement for a vehicle crew is just plain ridiculous as a smaller size would be an advantage in an environment of limited space.

The problem that I have run into with this subject is finding so many different numbers for these height requirements in different books. I have seen 5 foot 9, 5 foot 11, 6 feet and so on. This is good information that you have provided because this is an actual document. Thank you again!

Cheers,

Wolfkin
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Fox 2/23
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height requirement

Post by Fox 2/23 »

I heard that Himmler would allow noone shorter than he was from joining?
Danny
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Post by Danny »

Wolfkin,

it says "Musikzüge"

Regards

Danny
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Wolfkin
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Post by Wolfkin »

Hello Danny!

Thank you for deciphering that! I could not make out the "M" or the "k". Thank you again.

This is interesting. I wonder if anyone knows if there were height requirements for some of the other elements of the SS Verfugungstruppen. The elements that I have in mind are units such as the Aufklarung Abteilung-namely the Panzerspahwagen, Artillerie, Kradschutzen, PAK and other units like this. These types of units are not mentioned. Were the requirements strict as well for these units?

Cheers,

Wolfkin
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Wolfkin
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Post by Wolfkin »

Hey guys!

Just figured I would add some more info that I found out. I was skimming through the book "12 Years With Hitler: The History Of The 1st Kompanie Leibstandarte" and the author mentions that in 1935-1936, when they were recruiting, the men had to be at least 1.8 meters tall, which is 180cm which is 5 feet 11 inches tall. Well, actually 5 feet 10.86 inches tall. :D

So, this is interesting because we can see by the document above that they had changed it to 178cm or 5 feet 10 inches in 1938 for the Leibstandarte. So, I wonder if this trend continued and if the height requirement was progressively lowered or even done away with. Any documents for before or after 1938 out there? It would be interesting to see if the height requirement was lowered in 1939 or 1940.

Cheers,

Wolfkin
Amateurs limit their study to either Tactics, Strategy or Logistics. Professionals study ALL THREE of these!!!
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Paul_9686
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Post by Paul_9686 »

Fascinating! I'm 190.5 cm tall (6 feet 3 inches). So I see they did tend to recruit the tall ones in the Waffen-SS.

Yours,
Paul
Das_Reich

Post by Das_Reich »

The height requirement was all but done away with in the end. In my humble opinioin, tall is bad for infantry, because it makes a bigger target. Think about it!
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Paul_9686
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Post by Paul_9686 »

Y'know, Reich, thinking about it, one wonders if there's any kind of advantage (other than in basketball and volleyball) to being tall at all. As you say, in the infantry, you're a bigger target--and in the tanks, you bump your head all the time if you're not careful and you may have difficulties abandoning the tank in a hurry. Perhaps height and strength are most useful in the artillery--unless you're in a fully-enclosed armored artillery vehicle, and then you run into the pitfalls of being tall in the tank corps.

I reckon it's just as well I'm almost totally deaf, and thus have never been, and will never be, a soldier.

Yours,
Paul
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Erwin Rosen
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Post by Erwin Rosen »

Those figures dont seem right. I mean, look at it from a English perspective 174 cm is about 5 foot 8 inches. Himmler was 5 foot 9 inches. Either Im seriously having a bad day with math...or there must be some other reason...
What did the French Partisans say when the Germans marched into France? Table for 40,000?
Das_Reich

Post by Das_Reich »

Rosen, Hitler and Himmler did not think they were super Aryans themselves. LAH was at least 5-10 at first. But as I said, later they let non aryans into the SS (LOL). So it proves that SS standards were reduced.
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