Hi Ollie,
What Jon has said is spot on. The French 'Charlemagne' division grew out of a smaller unit called the 'sturmbrigade frankreich' which was formed in 1943 and was equipped with all the standard WSS insignia such as the runes collar patch, SS arm eagle and branch-of-service piped black shoulderboards. Their only thing to identify them as French was the SS pattern Tricolor armshield of blue-white-red. This was of a plain, straight sided design with a thick black border. It was worn on the lower arm in the place normally reserved for a cufftitle and was later moved to the regulation position a fingers width under the arm eagle (c. Jan '45). Sturmann and Gefreiter chevrons were worn under the armshield. Trade badges were worn either above the arm eagle or on the forearm.
Where things get a bit complicated is when the division was formed. this included the men of the SS-Sturmbrigade Frankreich, the Werhmacht sponsored Legion Volontaire Francaise, NSKK, OT, Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe and the Milice Francaise. New uniforms and insignia were issued but many of the LVF retained their army pattern armshields (stylised heraldric design withe the word 'france' in white thread above the colours). This was worn in the regulation place under the arm eagle.
Members of the Milice, mostly Catholics, were concerned about wearing the SS runes as they were considered to be pagan and pushed for an acceptable alternative. This is were the 'sword of st joan' collar patch comes in. However, it was NEVER issued and should be considered a fantasy piece. The German Inspection had trouble enough intergrating the various factions into the division and they didn't want this to further divide the men.
The Cufftitle has been the subject of much controversy. According to most historians and substantiated by veterans of the unit (robert Forbes: 'For Europe' Helion & co.) the titles were issued to the Assault Pioneer Company on their return journey from a training course in Bohemia-Moravia. They were to take the consignment of cufftitles to the unit for issue. However, when they got to Neustrelitz the unit had already departed for the Pomeranian front. A small number of Officers and NCO's were issued them by Brigaf. Dr. Kruckenburg when they attended specialist training at Junkerschule Tolz etc.
To wear the cufftitle means you need to get white piped ss shoulder boards and ink the piping with a black pen (black is the colour for Pioneres in the army/wss). The cufftitle was only manufactured in BeVo weave and NOT RZM.
All clothing, equipment and webbing was standard issue W-SS stuff. Clothing would have been M43 and M44 issue with a few M36's for officers and maybe a few M40 and M42 for men who came from the LVF.
The men were also allowed to wear any medals they had previously earnt with the french army in 1939-40 or earlier. The Vichy regime issued medals to men who had taken part in the fighting against Germany with its own medals but republican medals were still acceptable.
Cufftitle from Nick Morigi at
http://www.regaliaspecialist.com
Tricolor armshield from
http://www.militaria-net.co.uk
I hope this is helpful to you.
Check out 'For Europe' at helion books. or amazon.co.uk
