Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very interesting German WWII unit-designation collar tab associated with the 29. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS “RONA” (russische Nr. 1), the planned 29th Waffen Grenadier Division “RONA” (Russian No. 1). The black wool tab displays the formation’s distinctive silver-gray embroidered insignia, consisting of a Cross Pattée superimposed over crossed swords with a small rosette-like centerpiece. Surviving examples of this pattern are documented with the same black wool, tan buckram stiffener, and white machine-stitched construction seen here. The insignia appears to have been produced in connection with the planned divisional organization, which was never fully completed.

The tab is in very good overall condition. The black wool remains dark with only light surface lint and minor edge wear. The silver-gray embroidery is well preserved, with a few small loose and frayed threads visible around portions of the cross. The reverse retains its tan buckram stiffener and white construction stitching, showing expected age toning and minor handling. No major moth loss or tears are visible in the supplied photographs.

RONA developed from an anti-Soviet auxiliary force organized in the German-occupied Lokot region of the Soviet Union. Under Bronislav Kaminski, it expanded considerably and became widely known as the Kaminski Brigade. By the summer of 1944, the formation had been incorporated into the Waffen-SS structure as the Waffen-Sturm-Brigade RONA.

Plans were then made to reorganize Kaminski’s formation as the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS “RONA” (Russian No. 1). The divisional organization was never fully completed, however. Events overtook the reorganization almost immediately, particularly the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. A substantial RONA detachment was deployed to Warsaw, where period and postwar records document its participation in the suppression of the uprising and serious atrocities against the civilian population, particularly in the Ochota district.

The RONA formation soon unraveled. Kaminski was killed by German authorities in August 1944, and the surviving organization was subsequently dissolved. Many of its remaining personnel were later incorporated into other Russian formations serving under German command, including elements ultimately absorbed into the 600th Infantry Division (Russian). The divisional number 29 was later reassigned to the 29th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Italian).

This distinction is important when identifying the insignia. The later Italian 29th Division used an Italian fasces-based collar device, while the Cross Pattée and crossed swords seen on this example are associated with the earlier planned RONA division. Because that reorganization was never fully completed, surviving insignia of this pattern represents a particularly short-lived and unusual chapter in the history of foreign Waffen-SS formations.