Two shortened, combat-acquired cuffbands for the 4th SS Polizei Division. These were salvaged during night patrols in front of the main dike on the south shore of the Neder Rhine river, between Heteren and Driel, Holland. This area is SW of Arnhem and was near the DZ where the Polish Brigade of paratroopers jumped during Market-Garden. I use the word 'salvaged' because when insignia were removed from bodies on the battlefield, it saved those insignias from being interred with the bodies, which merely resulted in disintegration, destruction, and permanent loss of those insignia. As to why the unit cuffbands were crudely ripped-off the sleeves of the fallen, it was done quickly, while on the move behind enemy lines. The purpose for bringing these back was for S-2 to establish unit identification of the enemy forces opposing them. Since the 4th SS Division was on the Eastern Front at the time,these bands caused confusion. Two different members of the 501st PIR (one in 2nd Bn HQ S-2 and the other in G Co, 3rd Bn) brought these in and it was eventually learned that like the Luftwaffe 'HG' Division, the 4th SS Division also had a training school situated somewhere west of Arnhem. Soldiers from that school were sent into the battle lines when the fighting came to that area(students or instructors? Not known). You can see that the EM RZM version has the golden brown discolored lettering on (formerly)white silk, while the flatwire version is made similar to the rare flatwire'Deutschland' illustrated earlier in this discussion. I have laid the examples on a map showing the part of Holland known to US paratroopers as 'The Island'(because it was surrounded by rivers), where these insignia were liberated.
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