A nice and scarce pair of British made Belgium Special Air Service shoulder titles

This is a nicely and scarce set of British made Belgium Special Air Service shoulder titles. A Belgian Independent Parachute Company was officially installed at Malvern Wells (Worcestershire) on the 8th of May 1942 by Mr Henri Rolin, Belgian under-Secretary of Defence. The newly formed Company continued to train as an Independent Parachute Company making extensive use of the many schools and training facilities offered by the British (the first Parachutists wings worn by Belgians were earned at Ringway parachute school in early 1942). The unit was attached for 3 months to the 8th Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division in 1943, then spent a month intensive training in December 1943 at the 'Allied Training Centre' Inverlochy Castle (Fort William), and finally moved, in February 1944, to Loudon Castle Camp, near Galston (Ayrshire) to join the Special Air Service Brigade. The role of the Belgian SAS parachutists during the Second World War was primarily sabotage, intelligence gathering and reconnaissance. The men saw their first action towards the end of July 1944 in France. During the Ardennes offensive in 1944 the unit was regrouped and equipped with armoured jeeps. As a reconnaissance squadron, they executed security and reconnaissance missions in order to support the 6th British Airborne Division. In 1945 they were used for counter-intelligence work which involved the location and arrest of top ranking Nazis and war criminals. In the beginning of April 1945 the Belgian SAS Squadron consisted of three reconnaissance squads which were deployed in the north of Holland and in Germany. After the capitulation of the Germans on the 8th of May 1945 the Belgian SAS participated in 'Counter Intelligence' missions in both Germany and Denmark. At the end of the war the Belgian SAS Regiment had much to be proud of. They had been the first allied unit to set foot in Belgium & Germany and the only Belgian unit permanently on active deployment between July 1944 and May 1945. These shoulder titles are of a different type than the normal wartime Special Air Service shoulder titles. These are white on maroon instead of blue on maroon and are a different shape as well. The shoulder titles are in a perfect and un-issued condition. Hard to find these days.

Code: 51749