Cuff title

[1][2][3] Cuff titles are often associated with the Second World War and units of the Waffen SS but were widely used by all branches of the German military, including paramilitary and civilian organizations.

It is approximately 4 cm (1.6 inches) wide and bears a name or symbol that identifies the wearer belonging to a particular unit or has served in a specific campaign.

Lettering could be in Latin, Gothic or Sütterlin style script, as shown on the Grossdeutschland cuff title.

For example; someone who was in the army and fought in North Africa and later transferred to Grossdeutschland had an "Afrika" campaign cuff title on their left arm and their Grossdeutschland cuff title on their right arm (General Manteuffel's leather coat was an anomaly to this rule).

Unit cuff titles were not granted as a mark of prior service in the same manner that divisional patches were and continues to be worn on the right sleeve of US Army uniforms.

The book The History of the Panzerkorps Grossdeutschland by Helmuth Spaeter describes an instance in which the motorcycle company of the Infantry Regiment "Grossdeutschland" was held to account for losing a position; they were forbidden from wearing their cuff titles until they had earned the privilege back by success in a later battle.

When Waffen SS divisions failed to perform satisfactorily near Vienna in April 1945, Adolf Hitler ordered the units involved to remove their cuff titles as a punishment.

SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich was enraged, and reportedly sent his own back to Berlin in a night vase (chamber pot).

The second for its Armoured Training Battalion (and School) which is a silver grey embroidered "Panzerlehrbrigade 9" in Gothic script.