A Feldherrnhalle cufftitle (tunic removed)

[PaulW]

Hi, just showing this tunic removed cufftitle in the Heer (insignia) section as although it is technically political SA insignia they were used by Heer Feldherrnhalle units (271st Infantry Regiment of the 93rd Infantry Division from 1942 and later on various other FHH units as the FHH expanded to Korps size). Not much interest in the Cufftitle forum (not cool enough...), but I still think they're pretty 'neat'!

It's the type which is all rayon / cellulose sometimes called 'Type 3' (collector term), or 'non-metallic' - i.e no flat-wire aluminium is used in the construction.

Regards, Paul

[PaulW]

There was also a 'military' ('SS style') Bevo Wuppertal made cuffband made specifically for the Heer FHH units which is sometimes discussed, however that band was introduced in 1943 (i.e after Heer units had already begun wearing the 'political' cufftitle seen here) and after communication with Gordon Williamson (collector and author of "German Military Cuffbands 1784 - present") Mr Williamson is of the opinion that there is little evidence that those 'Heer' cuffbands were widely worn (although there is one clear picture of it in wear courtesy of John Angolia), and says "the overwhelming majority of Heer personnel would have been issued the original SA pattern", and "I am not aware of any clear photos where the true "military" Bevo style FHH band is worn, always just the SA political type". (Other than the one single instance just mentioned that he had forgotten about.)

Bob Hritz shows these different types in this thread (the Bevo Wuppertal 'SS style' type produced for the Heer is not shown however), in post #9. Mr Hritz refers to all of these bands as "made on Jacquard weaving looms which is what we call BeVo", hence to differentiate the reference to the 'military' band as 'SS style' as it does resemble many SS cufftitles made by Bevo Wuppertal :-

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...feldherrnhalle - this one is the 3rd one down in post #9.

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[PaulW]

Here it is (for comparison), the aforementioned Bevo Wuppertal 'SS style' cuffband (also given the collector nomenclature 'Type 4' by Ulric in his cufftitle book "Collecting Third Reich SS & political cuffbands".)

Sadly I don't own one of these (although had the chance to buy one in the 1990's when the late UK author and collector Brain L Davis was selling his collection - wish I had!). This is a black and white picture, when seen 'in the flesh' the band is pale grey Sutterlin script and border on a brown background. Many will recognize the style, similar to many SS cufftitles, and the 'SS style' reference is a good way to differentiate these bands from the others when referring to them (as Bob Hritz does correctly) as Bevo too.

If anyone has one of these ultra rare examples in their collection (or a colour picture of one) I would love to see it. I wonder where Brian L Davis's band is now?

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[PaulW]

Regarding the 'political' cuffbands (as used by the Heer, and seen in posts #1 & #2 of this thread), there also seems to be some difference of opinion regarding the three main types of this band - i.e those with aluminium lettering and border, those with aluminium lettering and rayon border, and as seen with the band starting this thread with rayon border and lettering. Some dealers and others refer to these as Officer/ NCO/ EM etc, however Ulric's cufftitle book ("Collecting Third Reich SS & political cuffbands") refers to these as Type 1, 2 & 3 and states that the all aluminium flat-wire 'Type 1' was the initial issue band dating from the mid 1930's, the 'Type 2' was introduced in 1939 (with rayon, not aluminium border), and that the 'Type 3' (i.e shown at the top) with no aluminium at all was introduced later in the 'wartime period'. Ulric states that this was due to wartime economy measures (restrictions on the use of aluminium), and nothing to do with rank.

This view, that the bands were universal for all ranks (and the differences simply economy measures) is also reiterated on the German forum MFF in what seems to be the main discussion thread on this subject in that Forum. It's entirely possible that Officers selected the early bands out of personal preference of course!

Here is an example of a "non metallic" (i.e Type 3) 'Enlisted' sleeveband (accurately described as "non-metallic" in the description) on an Officers tunic just for interest:-

https://virtualgrenadier.com/sale_item.php?iid=4957

Don't want to bore anyone (!) but the Heer FHH units apparently sometimes saw Officer's hand embroidered bands being used, and there is a belief among some that there was also a simplified late-war band, made with brown felt and without borders. Gordon Williamson does not dismiss these, but says "some things will probably never enjoy the benefit of wartime photographic provenance". As many of us have noticed, many soldiers were too busy trying to survive to take pictures in 1945. As a visual reference, an example can be seen here:-

https://virtualgrenadier.com/sale_item.php?iid=4652

Regards, Paul

[compressore]

Very informative. Thanks for posting.

Regards
Christian

[John A.]

Excellent information! Thank you!

Thank you very much for sharing -- this is very helpful!

We appreciate your taking the time to post this!

All the best,
John

[PaulW]

Christian/ John - many thanks for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it!

I couldn't find a similar thread on the WAF (discussing the different types in detail) so thought I'd add this thread.

I've just collated previously published information, although the informative correspondence (on another forum) with Gordon Williamson was a bonus!

Best regards, Paul

[Stive]

Very interesting information, thanks.

[PaulW]

Here it is (for comparison), the aforementioned Bevo Wuppertal 'SS style' cuffband (also given the collector nomenclature 'Type 4' by Ulric in his cufftitle book "Collecting Third Reich SS & political cuffbands".)

Sadly I don't own one of these (although had the chance to buy one in the 1990's when the late UK author and collector Brain L Davis was selling his collection - wish I had!). This is a black and white picture, when seen 'in the flesh' the band is pale grey Sutterlin script and border on a brown background. Many will recognize the style, similar to many SS cufftitles, and the 'SS style' reference is a good way to differentiate these bands from the others when referring to them (as Bob Hritz does correctly) as Bevo too.

If anyone has one of these ultra rare examples in their collection (or a colour picture of one) I would love to see it. I wonder where Brian L Davis's band is now?

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Good things come to those who wait!

I don't own this but a very kind WAF member (who wishes to remain anonymous) has kindly sent these pictures of a Feldherrnhalle 'Bevo 1943' type cuff band residing in his collection, and has given me permission to post the pictures here.

This is an exceedingly rare band, according to Gordon Williamson (see post #2 above) only seen clearly in one wartime picture, perhaps issued in small numbers alongside the more commonly seen standard 'SA type' bands normally seen in wear (e.g in post # 1).

I don't think that there is another example of this band shown (in colour, i.e 'in the flesh') on the entire WAF!

(Please add a link if you find one.)

Enjoy!

Best regards, Paul


Some links to other related threads:-

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=989348 - Period colour pictures of FHH soldiers etc

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=983254 - Books on the subject of FHH Wehrmacht units and sub-units.

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[Erich B.]

That's very interesting! As an SA collector, I've owned a number of FHH bands but I tend to associate the aluminum/aluminum with the SA uniforms and the rayon lettered examples with the Heer. I've never seen this pattern/construction before. Thanks for posting this thread.
Erich