'BeVo'-type, volunteeer armshield entitled: 'Freies Arabien' being intended for usage by a volunteer who served within the 'Deutsche Wehrmacht' (being a truly used- and/or carefully tunic-removed example)

This particular armshield (ie. 'Ärmelschild') - showing a green-, white-, black- and/or red-coloured shield with above an (Arabic) text and showing the (German- and I deem translated) text: 'Freies Arabien' - is neatly woven in the so-called: 'BeVo'-weave technique and comes as recently found. It measures approximately 10,5 x 7,2 cms. and clearly worn and/or once tunic-attached (as can be seen on the pictures). Moreover, does it show some mimimal age and/or staining simply caused by decades of storage, minimal wear and/or handling over the years. These - original - 'officially German issued' arm-shields as executed in 'BeVo'-type weave (ie. German manufacture by the company of 'BeVo'!) can be easily considered 'extremely rare' and I have seen similar examples sell for much more than my asking-price(!). The 'Free Arabian Legion' was a WWII-period-, German military-unit formed from Arab volunteers originating from the Middle East and North Africa. It was created by Amin al-Husseini and Rashid Ali when they suggested the formation of an army of Arab volunteers, which was adopted by Adolf Hitler in 1941. The unit was based on a smaller force, commanded by Hellmuth Felmy, mainly to assist the Pro-Nazi revolt in Iraq which was suppressed by the British. The unit was first settled in Syria and included several Iraqi expatriates and Syrian Arabs. After the conquest of Syria by the British, Australian- and Free-French forces, the unit was moved to Sounion in Greece. There it received more Arab and Muslim troops who were on the soil of Europe at the time, as prisoners of war or as volunteers. The German High-command planned to use the legion in conquering the Caucasus, rising an Iraq government-in-exile there, and then use the region as a force-station and base for a way of conquering Iraq (an end that was never taken). In 'Operation Torch' the Allies took Tunisia, which had been governed by Vichy France. During the fighting the German command called on Tunisian Arabs to join the Legion. After the death of its commander, the 'Free Arabian Legion' was taken out from the Front, and in November 1943 the Legion served in Peloponnese as part of the forces involved in the Axis-occupation of Greece (as part of the 41st Infantry Division) and participated in the suppression of the Greek anti-fascist insurrection. I deem that this stunning (and truly used- and/or worn!) example is priced according to its obvious rarity and/or desirability!

Code: 68928