Original Items: Only One Available. This is a lovely BeVO Embroidered cuff title for EM/NCO personnel of the infamous 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Reichsführer-SS", named for the title of Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS. This unit was involved in numerous massacres in Italy, as one might expect from a unit named after Himmler. The cuff title approximately 17" (43cm) long and 1 1/4" (30mm) wide, and shows only light wear, with some fraying on the ends, which were not sewn over. It is of black rayon construction, with a "BeVo" style machine woven "Roman" serif font Reichsführer - ᛋᛋ embroidered in silver gray threading, with borders at the top and bottom. The reverse features typical, so called "salt & pepper" pattern on reverse. We have compared it with several period examples, and it is an exact match in terms of weave and contruction.

Overall condition is very good, with some irregularities in the weave from being folded, but no other issues we can see. It is stain free and ready to display!

The 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Reichsführer-SS" (German: 16. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Reichsführer SS") was a motorized infantry formation in the Waffen-SS of NSDAP Germany during World War II. The division, during its time in Italy, committed a number of war crimes, and, together with the 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring, was disproportionally involved in massacres of the civilian population. One possible reason for the division's increased involvement in war crimes has been identified by the fact that much of its leadership originally came from the SS-Totenkopfverbände.

Formed in November 1943 with the Sturmbrigade Reichsführer SS was used as the cadre in the formation of the new division. A Kampfgruppe ("battle group") from the division fought at the Anzio beachhead, while the rest of the division took part in the occupation of Hungary. It fought in Italy as a division from May 1944, until being transferred to Hungary in February 1945.

On 27 June 1944 the 16th SS-Panzergrenadiers command post in San Vincenzo, Italy was overrun by the U.S. 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, 34th Infantry Division (Red Bulls). The command post was a town center apartment which had been commandeered; when the owners returned to their apartment they found a signed large leather-bound Stielers Handatlas which had been left behind.

In late summer 1944, a part of this division, SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16 (Reconnaissance Battalion 16), commanded by Major Walter Reder, was withdrawn from engagement with the American 5th Army then advancing on the Gothic Line to deal with an Italian Communist partisan unit, the Red Star Brigade (Brigata Stella Rossa). Operating out of a mountain complex centered on Monte Sole, just southeast of the town of Marzabotto, and sitting astride communications to Bologna, the Red Star was seen as a significant threat to the German rear, both in terms of cutting communications and obstructing a possible route of retreat. Major Reder completed his assignment and destroyed this guerrilla force.

A Kampfgruppe of the 16th Training and Replacement Battalion was based in Arnhem and took part in Operation Market Garden. The division surrendered to British forces near Klagenfurt, Austria, at the end of the war