Afrika Korps cufftitle

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Krupp
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:04 pm
Location: Wisconsin, USA

Afrika Korps cufftitle

Post by Krupp »

I was wondering if members of the Sonderverband 287 were issued the Afrika Korps cufftitle. I have not seen many pictures of the Freies Arabien unit to see if they have a cufftitle on. I've only seen the arm patch. Any help is always appreciated.
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Ted
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Re: Afrika Korps cufftitle

Post by Ted »

Svd 287 never made it to Afrika, they went to Russia instead, Svd288 was sent to Afrika, first of all in a LRDG type deployment, then later roled into battlegroup Afrika.

The AfrikaKorps cuff title was an award (like a medal) & was only issued after so many months in country, or wounded in combat. The later "Afrika" title was instituted in 1943 to honour those who had served in the Afrika campaign.

Svd 288 also had another distictive insignia, a bevo arm badge of palm wreath with rising sun swastika & palm tree. The very first ever Svd288 guys had this design made for them in the local bazzars out of brass & wore it as an unofficial unit ID. the Bevo arm badge came along later.

the 288 bevo badge is my avatar if you want to take a look, or look in the photo gallery under Sonderverband 288 & you will see quite a few pic's of us all kited out.

the free Arab unit's where mostly made up from locals with german NCO's & officers in charge. they wore a different bevo arm shield. I believe that SOF "UK" sells them as well as the Svd288 arm shield.
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Krupp
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Location: Wisconsin, USA

Re: Afrika Korps cufftitle

Post by Krupp »

Thank you very much. From reading all that I'm glad I just ordered some great books to further my knowledge of this subject.
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