Luftwaffe General Goring cuff title

[ChrisB]

Hoping someone can help verify this for me once and for all. At the moment this cuff title is sitting in my re-production box as I am not convinced of its originality but as my reference material on Luftwaffe items is scarce I thought I would put it here for some more knowledgeable people to look at.

Sorry the scans aren't great but hope you can make out the important details. The construction of the title is quite nice and the materials used are quite fine but something about it has me worried. The thing that has me stumped is that this cuff title seems to be a bit of a blend of both the officers and other ranks titles. The thread used for the Gen Goring is silver-grey cotton as per enlisted men?s but it has the silver border braid of the officers. Is this a fantasy piece or were there examples made like this for NCO?s for example.

Any comments appreciated and if you have an example of the real thing, or another like mine I would be interested in seeing it.

Cheers

Chris

[J Temple-West]

Hi Chris,

It?s always difficult to give an opinion on cloth items but I?ll try and explain why I think this is a modern reproduction.

First a little background on the cufftitle.

In 1933, shortly after Hitler took power, Hermann G?ring created a new police unit named, after a few organizational changes, ?Landespolizeigruppe General G?ring.?

The unit?s duties were to stamp out any resistance to the new regime and were put into action seeking out Communist agitators operating in German cities.

On the 22nd December 1933, a new cufftitle was introduced for wear by members of the ?Gruppe? and bore the inscription ?L.P.G. General G?ring? in Gothic script on a dark green band.

In September 1935, ?Landespolizeigruppe General G?ring? was transferred to the newly formed Luftwaffe and renamed ?Regiment General G?ring?

On the 23rd March 1336, the new regimental cufftitle was introduced by Luftwaffenverordnungsblatt Nr 12, order Nr 348. The title bore the inscription ?General G?ring? in Gothic script. The lettering was executed in silver-grey or matte-silver machine embroidery for enlisted men & NCO?S, with the NCO version having Russia-braid edging to the borders. Officers? versions had the lettering/Russia-braid executed in hand embroidered aluminium thread/braid. The ?General G?ring? title was replaced by the more common ?Hermann G?ring? in 1942.

So, so far your title meets the descriptions in most reference works for a NCO title. However, when you look at the title and compare it with known originals, the lettering, although machine-embroidered, looks very thin and poorly executed, not what I would expect to see on an original piece, originals having a much thicker thread, giving a much more substantial look to the lettering. Also, only one font style was used on originals and as you will see in the comparison, the lettering on your?s (open tops on the ?G?s? and thin ?L?) just doesn?t come near to the quality of the original.

Of course this is only one opinion, for peace of mind, other opinions should be sought.

Comparison of your title (top) with an original NCO title (bottom) from my files.

[ChrisB]

Thanks very much for the info John. By looking at the example you provided you can definitely see the difference in the thickness of the letters. On the basis of the photo you provided my cuff title looks like it will remain in the reproduction box.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide some info.

Cheers

Chris