Waffen-SS Danish Volunteer Sleeve Shield

Condition: Excellent
Materials: Wool
Height: 2”
Width: 2”

This Waffen-SS Danish Volunteer Sleeve Shield is a choice example of a very scarce piece of SS insignia. This is a typical wartime factory-made piece, that was never issued. The obverse features a red shield with a white cross, neatly machine embroidered on the backing of the black wool badge cloth used for SS patches. The embroidery retains bright original colors and is intact, with no issues. The backing cloth shows no stitch holes, no trace of ever having been worn on a uniform sleeve. On the reverse, this Waffen-SS Danish Volunteer Sleeve Shield shows textbook white bobbin thread. Overall, this very desirable patch rates as excellent condition.

The majority of Danish Waffen-SS volunteers served in the SS Division ‘Wiking’ and SS Division ‘Nordland’. Danish volunteers were issued sleeve shields that depicted the Danish flag.

Foreign volunteers serving with the Waffen-SS were divided into ethnically based formations, although oftentimes several ethnic groups or nationalities were combined into a single unit. Arm shields were used to identify the nationality of a unit’s members and they often incorporated a nation’s flag or a relevant cultural or ethnic symbol.

The shields were worn on the upper or lower left sleeve, although Eastern troops often wore the shields on the right sleeve.
Initially, many of the shields were produced locally but the manufacturing process was later standardized by the RZM. All officially produced shields were machine-embroidered and the majority were produced by the firm Tröltsch & Hanselmann, Berlin. There are often numerous versions or patterns of a sleeve shield.

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As German military power stretched across Europe, many people in the occupied countries volunteered to fight for the German cause. Some were ideologues, some were opportunists, and some probably “volunteered” because they had no other choice. In some areas, the Germans eagerly sought volunteers; in others, the Germans were less trusting, and the formation of volunteer units proceeded slowly. But by the end of the war, approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts were among those who had fought under Hitler. To distinguish these from German troops, and as a mark of distinction, the Germans authorized special insignia for wear by these volunteers. The insignia took the form of a cloth shield, either woven, embroidered, or printed, that was to be sewn on the uniform sleeve. Some of the foreign volunteer shields were used by specific units of the German Army or Waffen-SS. Others were worn by members of a variety of units and even paramilitary organizations. The design of each shield was chosen to represent the wearer’s nationality. Some were as simple as a national flag or colors, others had more complex designs.