Kreta Cuff Title

The "Kreta" (Crete), cufftitle, introduced on October 16th 1942, to personnel who took part in the assault on the Greek island of Crete from May 20th to June 1st 1941.

The assault on Crete was the first, primarily airborne assault ever mounted by Germany with roughly half of the German participants being Paratrooper and Glider borne Infantry. This was also to be their last major airborne assault as Hitler deemed the loss of life too high to be tried again.

One of four campaign titles to have been awarded during the war, the cuff title featured the leaves of the Acanthus plant and Crete in it's latin name, Kreta. It was awarded to all three service branches of the German Armed Forces who had participated in the assault.

Being a military decoration award the cuff title was presented with a paper documentation to the soldier like many other combat awards such as the Iron Cross or General Assault award and documented in the soldiers service history and soldbuch.

Made from machine embroidered yellow thread on a white cotton base bordered by a yellow soutache, the title is thicker and wider than a unit cuff title.