History

Members of the Waffen-SS were issued cuff titles that featured the name of either the regiment or the division in which they served. The cuff titles were worn by all members of the SS, regardless of rank, on the lower left tunic sleeve.

There are numerous distinct categories of cuff titles based on the method of production. The inscriptions on the cuff titles were originally produced in a Gothic script but in December of 1939, the font was changed to a latin script.

Initially, Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men were issued RZM machine-embroidered cuff titles.These cuff titles were manufactured by machine-embroidering wording or numbers onto a strip of 28mm wide rayon. The embroidery was usually done in white/silver/grey thread and the thickness varies. The average length of this style of cuff title is 49cm, with the shortest being 41cm and the longest as 50cm. Machine-embroidered cuff titles remained popular until around 1943 when they were phased out in favour of machine-woven cuff titles, which cost less to produce.

In late 1934, the manufacture of items produced for NSDAP formations came under the control of the Reichszeugmeisterei (RZM). The insignia produced by the RZM were marked with an RZM approval tag. Machine-embroidered cuff titles are generally found with an RZM paper or woven label attached to the reverse, although it is not uncommon for the label to be missing. At times, a cuff title would have two labels attached as two different manufacturers were responsible for the production of the items (one firm produced the band, the other did the embroidery work).

The RZM/SS paper labels feature a rating letter (example: A) in the upper left corner, an RZM symbol to the right of the rating letter, then a manufacturer’s code number, and then an SS symbol in the upper right corner. The lower left corner features a sequence letter (example: D) and to the right the sequence number of the manufactured cuff title.

RZM/SS woven labels are black in colour, feature an RZM logo on the left side, then the manufacturer's code above the last two digits of the production year, and finally, an SS symbol on the right side.

RZM/SS ‘St’ woven labels, which were attached by the firm that embroidered the cuff titles are identical to the standard woven label, except ‘St’ is added before the manufacturer's code and year or production.

The ‘chain-stitch’ style of machine embroidery is occasionally encountered. The name is in reference to the chain-like appearance of the embroidery.

Officer ranks received hand-embroidered cuff titles that were produced by hand-embroidering wording/numbers onto a blank cuff title. Fine aluminium wires were generally used in the production of these cuff titles, although silver and gold thread, as well as yellow or white synthetic thread, were also used. These cuff titles are generally found with RZM paper or woven labels. This style of manufacture was popular until 1939/1940 and fell out of favour due to the cost.

Another type of cuff title is the machine-woven one, which was produced by feeding coloured threads into a machine where they are woven into a design.

In 1939, machine-woven flatwire cuff titles became available for Officer ranks. Woven flatwire cuff titles were produced using aluminium, silver, white celleon, or gold/yellow celleon to create wording/numbering. The term ‘flatwire’ refers to the fact that the fine threads lay flat, unlike hand-embroidery which is raised. There are two types of flat wire weave cuff titles, form 1 and form 2.

Form 1 flat wire weave cuff titles feature a so-called ‘salt-and-pepper’ reverse and form 2 flat wire weave cuff titles feature an all black reverse with a protective cloth backing sewn over the wording. The inscription on form 2 was produced using much finer aluminium thread than form 1.

In 1943, the BeVo machine-woven cuff titles were introduced for Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men. The name “BeVo” is in reference to the firm that produced these cuff titles, BeVo-Wuppertal. BeVo weave cuff titles can be easily recognised by the distinctive salt-and-pepper pattern on the reverse side.

In addition, there are also machine-woven cuff titles that are referred to as ‘BeVo-like’ as they are very similar to the BeVo cuff titles. Two that are frequently encountered are ‘BeVo-like-1’ and ‘BeVo-like-2.’ ‘BeVo-like1’ features a black and white chequered reverse, while ‘BeVo-like-2’ features a solid black reverse.

The 'Reichsführung-SS' cuff title was first introduced in May of 1940. An RZM machine-embroidered version was available for Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men. A hand-embroidered version and flatwire machine-woven (form 1) version were produced for Officers.