"1936 Spanien 1939" Cufftitle

[BPA-Paul]

Hello guys, had the opportunity to see this piece in the flesh...absolutely stunning !! a rare and exotic cufftitle, well done Andrew (Mr Polizei)

[bbeck]

Spanien Cufftitle Veteran

This thread brings to mind something that I remember from years long ago. You see in the 1980's I was stationed at Ramstein Air Force base. I met a German collector while there and we became fast friends. One time, while hunting for relics he took me to an acquaintance of his who was a former Master Sergeant for a Panzer unit during the war. This Panzer veteran lived in the Karlsruhe area. While visiting with him at his home where were met by his sweet wife. Subsequently, he led us into his study. In the study, he had lots of documents and a few pieces of insignia from his former panzer unit. A key piece that was situatated in the center of the study was a uniform that belonged to his former Commander. It was a beautiful Panzer Oberst's parade dress tunic. A very nice original untouched piece, with an eReL panzer officer's hat to boot! I remember him saying how proud he was of his "Chef" and that after the war they remained close. Well, his former Chef had passed away and his uniforms, hat, and greatcoat and medals were donated to his former Sergeant (he was keeping the unit history alive). I began to walk around the study and look at some of the documents and pictures that adorned the walls. I then came across a wedding photograph. This photograph depicted this Sergeant with his beautiful wife, the same one who had greeted us at the door. In this picture I could clearly see the Spanien cufftitle on the sleeve. I was in awe of this cool picture and told him how impressed I was that he actually had the Spainien cufftitle on his waffenrock. This gentleman smiled at me and said something to his wife. She then went into the closet and pulled out the same uniform from the picture. The tunic was just stunning! The uniform still had the Spainien cufftitle affixed to the sleeve. Everything was the same as in the picture. The only difference was that he held the rank of Unteroffizer in the picture and the tunic now had the rank of Hauptfeldwebel on the shoulder boards. I took a long time looking at this cufftitle and I remember that it had that gold wire embroidery just like the pictures you have shown. A very cool piece that just brought back some memories!
Bruce

[MLH13]

bbeck,

A very interesting story... thank you for sharing it.

Mark

[STUPA216]

Panzer Wrapper

ok Richard.