"Charlemagne" without any doubts.
The story of this sleeveband explain that.
I'm even doubtful that any original still exist today, as they arrived in Bad Brückenau with the pioneer company (some if not all wearing them) on February 21 (12 AM- 1PM) 1945, and they had to be taken out (order from Krukenberg).
They were probably kept in Wildflecken until the Hersche Regiment tried to escape to the South of Germany. Did the unit took them ? Were they left in the camp ? Were they destroyed ?
Maybe they were kept by the pioneer company, and in that case they were left in the Hammerstein II B POW camp, or in the frontline at the east of Hammerstein.
Maybe they also were evacuated during the withdraw to Neustettin/Belgard/Körlin ?
No war photo (in wear or not) exist to my knowledge.
I have a very nice Studio portrait with a member of Allgemeine SS Standarte Burgenland with the very rare cufftitle "Planetta". Perfect clear an sharp. I wish I could show it, but I can't post pictures.
Does anybody have a portrait with that cufftitle? Do you agree, that it is rear?
i must add about the "Charlemagne" cufftitle that i'm quite certain that the cufftitles of the pioneer company were made unofficially, in the Protectorate, and ONLY for the few dozen of pioneers. Similar to some homemade "Hitlerjugend" cufftitles.
No massive (and official production) was ever aknowledged.
For me the rarest of them all has to be the British Freikorps, which I'm assume those were granted official cuff titles compared to the unofficial Charlemagne cuff titles.
What remarkably clean uniforms they all seem to have? He is lucky to have ended up in Canada and not elsewhere wearing those collar tabs....
Reference the British Free Corps cuff-title I was once told years ago that the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) made a point of collecting one example of all enemy insignia in WW2. Wouldn't be surprised if there is something BFC related in a dusty drawer somewhere, never to see the light of day...
Comment