VOLUNTEER ARM SHIELDS  
The German Armed Forces, as early as 1940 started accepting volunteers from conquered territories and it was volunteers from Scandinavia and other western European countries who were the first to come forward. This was based on the premise that they were racially qualified. Later the Wehrmact followed suit, accepting volunteers from France and later eastern Europe but later, most of these units were transferred to the Waffen SS. This completely turned their strict racial policy on it's head by accepting eastern volunteers which included Tartars, Cossacks and other volunteers from the Baltic states who had become disaffected with Stalin's reign of terror.
    All volunteers wore standard Army or Waffen SS uniforms and were identified in some cases by traditional headress (most notably Cossacks and Muslims from the 13th SS Gebirgs Division "Handschar" who wore the traditional Muslim fez). Arm shields wore worn as well as a means of distinguishing a volunteers ethnic backgrounds and these were either embroidered on cloth or printed white linen material.
 
 
WESTERN EUROPEAN VOLUNTEER LEGION ARMSHEILDS

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5. 6. 7. 89.10.11.

12.

 

1. Bevo quality arm shield worn by Flemish speaking members of the Waffen SS. 2. Worn by Croatian volunteers in the Waffen SS and Wehrmact. The red "checkerboard" design comes from the flag of Croatia and the word Hrvatska was how Croatia was known then. 3. Worn by French volunteers in the Legion Volontaire Francais contra la Bolshevisme. They served in Infanterie-Regiment 638 France. 4. Arm shield worn by Spanish volunteers depicting the colour of Franco's nationalist Spain and was worn by members of the Spanish Blue Division (Division Azul) Infanterie-Division 250. 6.& 7 worn by Italian volunteers in the Wehrmact. Patch 7 was probably never issued. 8 & 9 worn by Dutch members of the Wehrmact and Waffen SS. 8 depicts the Dutch national colours of blue white and orange and 9 depicts a variation of the Wolfsangel rune with the words Niederlande. 10. was worn by Norwegian members of the Waffen SS and depicts their national flag. 11 & 12 were worn by danish volunteers in the Waffen SS and depicts their national flag.

EASTERN EUROPEAN VOLUNTEER LEGION ARMSHEILDS

COSSACK VOLUNTEER UNITS

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5.

During the 19th century the Don Cossacks became elite cavalry troops in the Russian army. They were often used to suppress peasant unrest and urban disturbances. After the Russian Revolutions of 1917 they sought to re-establish political autonomy and fought on the side of the White Russian armies. By 1900, Cossack men wore distinctive military uniforms, with long coats, bullet pouches, and tall Caucasian hats. Invariably they fought on horseback. Strongly independent, the Cossacks, especially the largest contingent along the Don, were bitterly opposed Bolshevism and collectivization and a million of them are estimated to have died in the resistance. The Soviet regime disbanded the Don Cossack army units (they were reconstituted during World War II, however) and, from 1929, broke up their communities through the process of collectivization. This was the main reason for so many Cossacks fighting for the German cause during W.W.II. They were mostly involved in anti-partisan warfare and proved invaluable on many occasions. Such was there hatred for communism a large proportion of volunteers came forward to fight alongside the Germans in all well over 200,000 volunteers came forward.
    The four arm shields pictured above represent the four different groups of Cossack volunteers. These are (1) Don Cossacks-who formed part of the Nr 2 Kosaken Division which existed form 1944 to 1945, (2) Kuban cossacks, (3) Terek Cossacks and (4) Siberian Cossacks. The letters represented on the patches are of the cyrillic alphabet. 5 is a representation of the patch worn by personnel of the divisional supply troops attached to the 1st Kosaken Division.

 
TARTAR VOLUNTEER UNITS

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Tatar (or Tartar) is a name that has been loosely applied to a number of different Turkic-speaking Muslim peoples of Russia and the USSR. In 1944 the Crimean Tatars were deported en masse to Central Asia for alleged collaboration with the Germans during World War II. The patches shown here are 1-3 Volga Tatar and 4 Crimean Tatar.

BALTIC STATES VOLUNTEER UNITS

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The patches shown above are as follows: 1 & 2 Estonia, 3 & 4 Latvia (the red and white flag depicts the 13th Century flag of the Letts. 5 is Lithuania and 6 is the Ukrainian arm shield which depicts the national colours (yellow and blue) and the trident of Vladimir which is the national emblem. The letters "YBB" are cyrillic, and stand for "Ukraniske Vyzvolne Viysko" (UVV)-the Ukranina Liberation Army.

OTHER SOVIET STATES

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1. is a bevo quality armsheild that was worn by Armenian volunteers of the 812th Armenian Battalion who as well as fighting on the eastern front fought in Holland as well. 2. volunteers of the 804th, 807th, 817th-820th Battalions wore arm shields on the upper right arm of their uniforms and as well as the one depicted there werr two other pattern patches which depicted a crescent moon and eight pointed star. 3. depicts the arm shield worn by volunteers from Belorussia or "White Russia" as is written in German on the patch. 4. shows the arm shield worn by volunteers from North Caucasia which was introduced in 1943. 5. Worn by volunteers from Josef Stalin's country of origin-Georgia in Southern Russia. 6. Kalmykia (situated on the northwest shore of the Caspian Sea, in the area between the Volga and Kuma rivers) was home to the Kalmucks. During World War II the Kalmyks were accused by Stalin of collaborating with the German invaders and deported to Soviet central Asia. This arm shield was worn by volunteers from that region who served with the German Army. 7. Armsheild worn by Russian volunteers. 8, 9 and 10 are the various patches worn by Muslim volunteers from Turkestan. The inscription on patches 9 & 10 are the equivalent to the German "Gott mit Uns". (For a more detailed account of this division see the "Elite Forces" site under SS Gebirgs Divisions).

 

RUSSIAN ARMY OF LIBERATION

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The Russian Army of Liberation which was led by General Andrei Vlasov used patches 1 & 2 on all military uniforms such as tunics and greatcoats. Patch 1 shows the late pattern patch which bore the cyrillic letters "POA" and stand for "Russkaia Osovboditel 'naia Armiia" or Russian Army of Liberation. The Russian version of the Cross of St. Andrew and the old imperial Russian colours of red white and blue (which were used for the early pattern patch-No 2) were part of the make up of this patch. Patch 3 was worn by the notorious Kaminski Brigade which was incorporated in to the Waffen SS.

 
OTHER NATIONS VOLUNTEER LEGION ARMSHEILDS

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Patch 1 was worn by Finnish volunteers who served with the 6th SS Gebirgs Division "Nord". 2. was worn by members of the "Azad Hind Fauj" or Free Indian Legion. The patch depicts the colours of the Indian National Congress which were Saffron, White and Green superimposed with an image of a tiger. 3. Was the arm shield of the Free Arab Legion which was made up of Muslim volunteers. The colours were identical to the flag used by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan., with the exception of the two stars situated at the top of the colours. 4. This patch was worn by Rumanian volunteers who served with the German Army and 5 was worn by Bulgarian members of the German army and depicts the national colours of Bulgaria. 

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