Kurland Campaign The particulars of the battle Kurland Cuffband Details of the actual cuffband Wear Photos and wear regulations Kurland Documents Variation of documents Variations/Fakes Different styles and post-war reproduction Cufftitle Index

By Scott Pritchett

GALLERY OF VARIATIONS

Short Style

A variety of different KURLAND bands appear to exist - both the short and the full-length styles.  So many so, that it becomes a difficult task to accurately identify each one and describe it with any reasonable level of detail that would imply that more than one of a variation will be encountered.  This gallery section illustrates this point well.  The varieties that survive range from very professional products to exceptionally crude examples.  Those pictured in this section are presented as probably authentic wartime variations.  However, in addition to the wide wartime variety noted, post war German veteran's organizations produced versions as well - with the same wide range of techniques - and one must be very cautious.

 

Four examples of the short style, locally produced band. The top-most KURLAND is the 'official' style described in detail above and is a good contrast for comparison with the others. The other three pictured are each embroidered and not machine woven and are considerably cruder in construction. Note the variety of the top and bottom borders.

The reverse of the cuffbands show even more clearly the sloppy construction. Note that the lengths vary as well.

Four more variations of the short style band, these being both hand and machine embroidered. The second from the top is particularly interesting in that white thread has been used to develop the shields that flank the title. In some of these, the elk's head is almost comical.

The backs of the four previously illustrated cuffbands.

These four additional variations of the short style band are somewhat neater in technique, but still crude. The second example from the top, however is printed. Again, note the different designs in the bands' top and bottom borders - in some hardly any effort at all was made.

The reverse of the printed cuffband looks to have a lining. The others are all made on a piece of rough-cut cloth.

 

Front and back of what seems to be a hand-embroidered version of the short style. The main difference here being the border that forms a complete box around the title. Otherwise, the same general comments apply.

A quite nicely done woven short style. The attention to this particular band and the skill of the embroiderer is reminiscent of the 'official' short style. The woven nature of the band's similarity is most evident on the back.

Finally, a fairly nice printed version in the short style 

A possible explanation for both the variety of these short style bands and their sloppy construction may be based on the effort taken within the bridgehead in 1945 to meet the requirements to issue a band to each member of Heeresgruppe Kurland .  It seems possible, that with a strength of about 270,000 members and the rush to produce the cuffband, that the Kuldiga source of local manufacture was insufficient to meet demands.  Thus, additional bands were made by smaller, 'cottage industries' for whom which materials would have been scarce.  The pattern design would have been easily disseminated (and judging from the various interpretations of the lettering and the shields, probably done even by word of mouth) and the local population - even unskilled laborers - would have been eager to perform any work that could result in compensation. Like any KURLAND band, few of these small business versions would have actually made it to the front lines to ever be bestowed. With the liberation of the Baltic states and the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the 1980s, the former Iron Curtain satellite countries soon discovered the western appetite for WWII German militaria, and the collecting market suddenly had a relative wealth of this rare cuffband available - examples that may have been kept and stored for years in any number of small businesses, as well as supplies of the 'official' Kuldiga version included.

Full Length Style

Two examples of variation full-length cuffbands are illustrated. The first is embroidered on a thin white cloth.

 

 

This second example is a very interesting printed version, on yet a different backing cloth. Note in the lower picture that the reverse has a dark material as a backing and shows evidence of possibly having been snapped on at some point.

  

FAKES AND REPRODUCTIONS

Non-authentic KURLAND cuffbands certainly exist.  However, as stated already, to describe and/or catalog various types is very difficult.  From the previous gallery of variations provided by collectors, one can quickly assess the challenge this effort would entail.  As with most all cuffbands and cufftitles, the KURLAND band was being produced right up to the end as well as soon after the war ended on 8 May 1945 and thus, the line between wartime original and post war production or reproduction blurs.  Many of these early pieces thus would not necessarily be correctly termed as fakes or reproductions, but in fact would be more correctly described as post war production originals.  As seen above, there is sufficient evidence to show that this cuffband continued to be awarded, and most certainly produced immediately after 8 May 1945.  However, post war originals quickly gave way to post war reproductions - say for example those made for German unit veterans associations - which today have given way to outright fakes.  Today's collector is wise to be cautious even of German veteran acquired examples.  Post war associations continued to hand these out at gatherings as mementos and in some cases probably as awards for veterans who never received the award they qualified for prior to 8 May 1945.  In many cases, those handed out post war were reproductions, but could just as easily have initially been wartime-produced examples.  The average German veteran - especially after forty to sixty years - whether he remembers or not - will often quote post war association pieces as the award they received…especially concerning the KURLAND band…as for all intents and purposes, these were the first actual award they did receive of the cuffband and would certainly not be able to - nor think to - distinguish between post war and wartime manufacture.

Having said that, the collector is still armed with tools to acquire a wartime original production piece.  Collectors would be wise to look at the examples shown in the sections above entitled "Detailed Description of the Locally Manufactured Version" and "Brief Description of the German Made, Full Length Style" as the standard to seek.  Anything else, without absolute provenance would still at best raise some doubt.  The locally manufactured short style seems especially difficult to convincingly fake.  However, those collectors seeking full-length styles are probably venturing on to the thinnest ice.  Machine weaving is probably more costly to do than machine or hand embroidery.  Thus, post war fakes are more likely to be embroidered and of considerably better quality embroidery, yet missing many of the nuances of a wartime original.  Stiff cloth, incorrect cloth, and non wartime synthetic threads and construction materials are a few examples of what to look for when determining authenticity.  Fakers can also include characteristics of other wartime cuffbands or cufftitles that may seem out of place that should be warning signs, such as soutache braid where none was intended, material backing to the embroidery and reverse overlapping and sewing of the reverse excess material.

 

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