Original World War Two German Waffen SS Mountain Troops Edelweiss Sleeve Insignia.
During World War II, the German army deployed nine Mountain Divisions, along with six Waffen-SS Mountain Divisions. These Mountain Divisions were specially trained and equipped Infantry Divisions. On October 1, 1943, Waffen-SS personnel serving with Mountain troop units were authorized to wear the traditional Edelweiss as an identifying insignia. The Edelweiss insignia was issued in two forms: one for wear on the left side of the Bergmütze (Mountain cap) and another for wear on the upper right sleeve of the greatcoat and tunic. The design of these badges closely resembled the earlier introduced army Edelweiss badges, which were issued on May 2, 1939. Notably, the only differences between the army and SS Edelweiss sleeve badges were in their coloration and the army style Edelweiss featured a simulated mountaineers rope with a piton, while the SS badge had a straight oval ring border.
Black wool serves as the base, adorned with a machine-embroidered Edelweiss. This Edelweiss features fourteen irregular silver/grey petals, a seven-bulb yellow stamen, and dual silver/grey leaves. The stem is also silver/grey. All these elements are crafted using rayon threads. The Edelweiss is encircled by a fine, machine-embroidered silver/grey cotton oval outer border stripe.
