BACKGROUND: The 5^TH SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking", (Viking), was originally formed in November 1940 as the SS-Division (mot.) Germania by consolidating the regiments Germania, Nordland, Westland and the 5^TH SS-Artillerie regiment into a new divisional unit. On January 1^ST 1941 the division was renamed, SS-Division "Wiking" and on November 9^TH 1942 the division was upgraded and renamed SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Wiking", (SS-Armored Infantry Division). The division was upgraded again and received its final designation on October 22^ND 1943 as 5^TH SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking". On September 1^ST 1942 a new honor cufftitle, scripted, "Wiking", was introduced for all divisional personnel who had not already been allotted a cufftitle. Personnel from the cadre regiments, Germania, Nordland and Westland had already been bestowed cufftitles prior to the introduction of the Wiking cufftitle. Originally the "Wiking" cufftitle was produced in the standard RZM machine embroidered style for EM/NCO’s ranks and a machine woven version for Officer ranks until in 1943 a variant BeVo-like machine woven version was introduced. Of Note: The RZM, Reichzeugmeisterei, (National Equipment Quartermaster), was official founded in June 1934 in Munich by the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party), as a Reich Hauptamt, (State Central Office), and was based on the earlier SA Quartermaster’s Department. The functions of the RZM were not only to procure and distribute items to Party formations, but also to approve chosen designs and to act as a quality control supervisor to ensure items manufactured for the Party met required specification and were standardized. Starting in late 1934 items manufactured for the SS came under the quality control of the RZM and were marked by a cloth RZM/SS approval tag. The dimensions and design of these cloth tags was altered in 1935 and this second pattern tag remained in use until early 1938, when it was replaced by a paper tag. In 1943 the Waffen-SS assumed full control over their uniform item production and no longer fell under the authority of the RZM.

GRADE ***1/2                             PRICE $2,500.00