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wiking division

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:10 pm
by BENNY
hello to all, did the wiking division collar patch the head of a viking ship ever get issued to members of the division?? only asking because a lot of reenacters on line shops sell it in both officer and enlisted man type. would like to know because it is a really cool collar patch. regards Ben

Re: wiking division

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:32 pm
by John Wilson
As far as I am aware, no. It was never officially issued(or even made).
An officers one would seem even more fantastical than the em one.

Re: wiking division

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:43 pm
by BENNY
just as i thought never seen any pictures of it in wear, maybe 1 day everone thought that the wallione collar patch was never issued intill 2 pictures showed up. regards Ben

Re: wiking division

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:52 pm
by John Wilson
Do you mean the burgundy cross patch? I'd be interested in seeing the 2 photos if you've got them.

Re: wiking division

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:55 pm
by Bergführer
One burgund from me:

Image

Re: wiking division

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:20 pm
by John Wilson
Interesting stuff, can this be verified as a pre-45 photo though?

Re: wiking division

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:43 pm
by BENNY
yes thats one the other one and this one can both be found in the book for rex and for Belgium. its a great book. regards Ben.

Re: wiking division

Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:46 pm
by Franz repper
Bergführer wrote:One burgund from me:

Image
Good sirs the Burgundy cross was a very short lived item it was replaced by the SS runes and did NOTreplace the SS runes .As for the Wiking Ship it was never issued to Wiking or used by Wiking

Re: wiking division

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:15 pm
by Der Spiess
Good thread. I think the Wiking collar patch would be in the same vein as the Estonian Lion. The SS "management" wanted to ban the lion patch because it was too "bling" and attracted too much fire towards the head/neck area. The Wiking ship would be the same.
In the end though the members of the dividsion saw themselves as true SS men being in the main from the Nordic countries and wouldn't have wanted to wear anything other than the runes denoting full SS membership.
I have heard tell, oh my brothers, that the ship was designed and made up but never issued BUT this could be a post war fantasy?

Re: wiking division

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:26 am
by JDR
many fantasy collar patches have come about due to the waffen-SS map

http://axis101.bizland.com/GermanInsignias1.htm

Re: wiking division

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:33 pm
by von bock
JDR wrote:many fantasy collar patches have come about due to the waffen-SS map

http://axis101.bizland.com/GermanInsignias1.htm
interesting link and i see they have the wiking ship listed on it as well

Re: wiking division

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:29 am
by SchnellMeyer
I thought that the Burgundy Cross collar patch was for issue to the French Volunteers in the Waffen SS not members of Wiking . But I may stand corrected on that .

Re: wiking division

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 11:45 am
by Der Spiess
SchnellMeyer wrote:I thought that the Burgundy Cross collar patch was for issue to the French Volunteers in the Waffen SS not members of Wiking . But I may stand corrected on that .
No the Burgundy cross was issued to Belgians in the SS who spoke French (the Walloons), but was as said, short lived and as you've said not Wiking Division. The Flemish Belgians were issued runes and a black lion on a yellow shield for identification.

As for the Ship collar patch NOT being issued/worn, several books including Benders "Cloth badges of the SS" state it was made but not issued. But as we all know photos of these things have a habit of surfacing all of a sudden (the Burgundy cross is a good example) so sooner or later some one will probably produce one!

Re: wiking division

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:24 pm
by Herr Winkeler
Don't forget that the Walloons started as a the 373 (wallonische) infanterie Battalion -> Wehrmacht and only at june 1943 they became Waffen SS. I don't think that the Burgundy cross was officialy given to the Walloons to wear it on there colars but they used it with the company flags.

Wim

Re: wiking division

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:04 pm
by Peiper
Gruss gott lads, an intresting thread. Another SS Belgian Sturmbrigade who wore their own collar insignia was the "Langemarck" Brigade, ive seen a picture of SS-Unterscharfuhrer Remi Schrijnen wearing it in a "publicity shot" after the award of his Knights-Cross.The Langemarck collar patch consisted of a swastika type wheel motif with three curved arms. As for the Knights Cross, it is intresting to note that only a handful of Belgians were awarded this coveted decoration. Good hunting, regards Peiper.[quote] "I'll show you where the Iron Crosses grow!".