History

In September of 1944, the Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade of the SS 'Charlemagne' (Französische Nr. 1) was formed by combining French troops serving in the German armed forces and volunteers from collaborationist organisations.

In February of 1945, the brigade was upgraded to a division and was renamed the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier-Division of the SS ‘Charlemagne’. The division was the second to receive the number 33, the first being the defunct Waffen-Kavallerie-Division of the SS (Ungarische Nr. 4).

Foreign SS volunteers were not permitted to wear SS runes and instead, they were issued collar tabs that were unique to their division. The divisional collar tab was worn on the right side of the tunic and a rank collar tab was worn on the left side.

The division’s collar tab features a wheel with four spokes. Although the collar tab was produced, it is uncertain whether it was issued.

The collar tabs were produced by covering parallelogram shaped pieces of buckram with black cloth. The collar tabs were then machine-embroidered with white/silver thread. Officer grade tabs may have been embroidered using aluminium wire. There are examples of Officer grade collar tabs that are piped with twisted aluminium cord.