History

The 5. SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division 'Wiking' was formed in 1940 and was primarily composed of foreign volunteers from Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Belgium.

Following the invasion of Poland, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was determined to expand the SS by enlisting foreign volunteers. In April of 1940, two new regiments were created, the ‘Nordland’ Regiment and the ‘Westland’ Regiment.

The ‘Nordland’ Regiment was originally known as the Nordische Division (Nr. 5) and was manned by Nordic volunteers and officered by German Waffen-SS personnel.

In 1940, the SS Regiment “Germania” was transferred into the Nordische Division (Nr. 5) and in December of that year, this new motorised formation was designated as the SS-Division (mot) “Germania”. In January of 1941, the name of the formation was changed to SS-Division (mot) “Wiking”. The division was composed of three motorised infantry regiments, 'Nordland', 'Westland', and 'Germania'.

The personnel of this division wore collar tabs that featured SS runes, although, it is alleged that members of this division wore a collar tab that featured a Viking ship. There is little proof to substantiate this claim, although, examples of this collar tab were produced.

The collar tabs for the ranks of SS-Mann up to and including SS-Obersturmbannführer were produced out of black cloth, while the collar tabs for the ranks of SS-Standartenführer and above were produced out of black velvet. From 1934 until 1940, Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Men were issued collar tabs that were piped with twisted black and aluminium piping. Officer ranks wore collar tabs that were piped with twisted aluminium cord.