Waffen-SS 5. SS-Panzer-Division ‘Wiking’ semi-BeVo cufftitle

Description

Textbook Waffen-SS cufftitle for the 5th Panzer-Division Wiking. The cufftitle is a so called semi-Bevo piece, not made by the BeVo Wuppertal company but another unknown manufacturer. The piece remains in excellent and unworn condition and still has its full length (46.50 cm).

The 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking (5. SS-Panzerdivision Wiking) or SS Division Wiking was an infantry and later an armoured division among the thirty-eight Waffen-SS divisions of Nazi Germany. During World War II, the division served on the Eastern Front. It surrendered on 9 May 1945 to the American forces in Austria. The division contained small contingents of foreign volunteers from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, the Netherlands and Belgium (Vlaanderen). These contingents were elevated in wartime propaganda and postwar mythology, including from the former German officers of the division, to give the Wiking Division the reputation of a pan-European force. In truth, the division was at all times equipped with a vast majority of German personnel.