Africa Campaign The first chapter of this section describes the course of events that earned the Afrikakorps a place in history.  In a microcosm of the grander continental war, the dessert conflict had a complement of sweeping offensives, sieges, and stubborn defenses. Africa Institution The cufftitle that distinguished the members of the Wehrmacht that fought in North Africa was created shortly before the capitulation of the forces.  The institution process and presentation criteria are covered in this segment. Africa Description This section contains a thorough description of the ärmelbander, including technical details and standards as well as different variations the collector is likely to encounter.  What is the tolerant threshold for variations?  Read this section to find out.a Africa Documents In accordance with standard regulations, eligible members of the Africakorps received documentation along with their cuffititle.  This portion of the site deals exclusively with the papers that accompanied the award. Wear Regulations The method of wear for insignia and decorations was naturally regulated by the Wehrmacht.  This section illustrates these regulations, and catalogs the exceptions made in actual implementation. Fakes Since the end of the war a variety of fakes have been introduced to the collector's world.  This last section presents the commonly encountered reproductions along with tips to tell them apart from originals. Afrika Index Cufftitles Index

by COL Scott Pritchett

WEAR AND REGULATIONS

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As an award, the recipient received a single piece, usually cut from a roll of manufactured cuffbands.  An award document accompanied the award and with this, the recipient was authorized by regulations to go to any authorized outlet source and obtain additional items.  Any member was authorized to obtain privately purchased awards, although by the time in the war that the AFRIKA cuffband was being issued, significant controls were in place to economize on war materials.  Officers, who were responsible for their own uniforms, and therefore received a maintenance allowance, were the most frequent users of privately purchased items throughout the war.

The AFRIKA cuffband was correctly worn on the lower left sleeve of the bearer, although photographic evidence attests to the fact that on some occasions this regulation was ignored.  Perhaps the most notable example of this practice was General von Manteuffel, who elected to wear his award on his right sleeve along with his Grossdeutschland cufftitle.

Correctly positioned as a single award, it was positioned 7-8 cm above the lower edge of the sleeve on the parade waffenrock and 15 cm above the cuff edge of the service, and / combat uniforms. If the uniform had turn back cuffs/French cuffs, such as in the case of the greatcoat or Luftwaffe and Heer officers’ uniforms, the cuffband was correctly positioned 1 cm above the top edge of the turn back. Much is made in collectors’ circles of the significance between machine stitched and hand sewn attachment of insignia. It remains difficult to make a case that machine sewing versus hand sewing, or visa-versa, is an indication of an originally war time applied cufftitle. Both methods were used and both are, therefore, correct. Likewise, it is difficult to state categorically that any particular style of uniform always had cufftitles attached in this or that way. Photographic evidence and examples of uniforms and cufftitles in private collections adequately attest to these points. However, hand sewing of sleevebands was the more common method and made more sense given the practices of the times. Ultimately, with the availability of period original threads to the collector, it is often near impossible to tell if the sleeveband is true to the uniform without obvious wear and tear indications. One should never attempt to remove an original sleeveband from a uniform to look for differences in the wear of the nap, as there is a 50% chance that you are likely to have made a mistake and altered a piece of history.

If the AFRIKA cuffband was worn in conjunction with other sleevebands, the oldest award had precedence and therefore was worn highest on the sleeve.  Notice from the von Manteuffel photos below, the general at least wore his AFRIKA cuffband correctly placed above his Großdeutschland cufftitle.  The additional photo is an example of multiple awards being worn correctly - in this case by a Luftwaffe member.