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"SG" marked helmets - WW2


jgawne
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I keep seeing SG helmets in WW2 ETO shots, - some of the men wearing MP armbands. I still can't find out a definitive (as in period paperwork) explaination of exactly who and why they used this. Some people tell me "special guard", some "security guard" but it all seems ot be "someone told them that."

 

Anyone have a better answer?

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Hi

I believe SG is " security guard ". I also think this is for the protection of the general officers like O.BRADLEY.

There's a pics of him in a french book with a soldier with a SG helmet behind him taken in FRANCE in July of 1944.

I think it was for the " bodyguard " of the superior US officer.

One of my friend found one of this helmet 25 years ago in Normandy area ( orne ); at this time " barn find " were still true.....

PIPO

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A few ideas, but not definitive... There may have been a distinction between soldiers from non-MP units assigned to duty that required specific authority and identification by helmet markings & armbands and soldiers specifically trained as MPs that were assigned to organic MP units. The History of the Theater Provost Marshal also uses the term "static guard in several ways. There was a need for troops to perform "static guard" functions for POW enclosures; there were also units assigned to "static guard" duty. However, I haven't yet found a specific reference to SG helmet markings. Here's part of a document from Fold3:

post-2064-0-42211500-1351347899.jpg

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Afraid I can't help with any primary source material but I have been told through the years that MP's were specially trained and were authorized essentially the same powers as civilian police officers, namely they could stop, detain, question, and arrest anyone if they felt they had just cause. I was also told that as the war, especially in the ETO progressed the need for traffic controllers, POW guards, and various port facilities and supply points exceeded the number of available MP's so augmentees were selected from various pools to serve in these non-law enforcement duties. The SP helmets, I was told, were for theses troops who were selected to guard docks and other such essential activities. I too wish I could find something in writing which would verify these stories.

 

Larry

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I do find Static Guard mentioned in a few documents, but it seems odd to have men who are MP's, and wear the MP armband, to have a different mark on their helmets just because they stay and guard one specific location.

 

I have seen SG helmets on men both with and without MP armbands.

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What is interesting is that in 42 the Army had an official "SG" brassard, but that was for "Shore Guards" and was issued to AKA's for landing crews.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very cool helmet.

 

Not to change the subject but I have it on good authority that Omar Bradley's security and body guard was the 418th Counter Intelligence Corps detachment.

 

I will back this statement up soon in, where else, the GROUPINGS section.

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static guard appears to be a term for a specific subset of Escourt Guards, and is always not cap'd, so I think that can be ruled out as the men would already come under MP marking orders. Security Guard is not an official Army term in WW2 as far as I can tell.

 

Actually, after much digging, what I find is that it probably indicates "Special Guard." This is a genuine 1944 WW2 Army official term .

They were a: "soldier or group of soldiers detailed for various guard duties which have not been assigned to the main guard or the prisoner guard. Guards of honor, and other guards posted to protect personnel and equipment not covered by other subdivisions of the interior guard of a command, are assigned to the spoecial guard. "

 

Which doesn't really tell us much except they were guarding 'something' and were not normal guards (which probably means MPs). I think what will come out is that they were non-MP's assigned to some specific and ongoing guard duty.

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Hello,

 

if non MP, maybe member of a HQ directly under a high rank officer and detached for a specific mission (so not under the normal MP hierarchy) ??

 

Max

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  • 8 years later...
Burning Hazard

SG helmets are neat, hoping to find one some day.

 

Here is a period pic of one from the ETO (Bulge?)

 

Pat

SG Helmet ETO.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

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