page_title: Totenkopf
section_title: Non-German military
hierarchical_section_title: Totenkopf / Non-German military
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Иллюстрация Рихарда Кнотеля
context_page_description: Totenkopf is the German word for the skull and crossbones symbol. The "skull and crossbones" symbol is an old international symbol for death, the defiance of death, danger, or the dead, as well as piracy or toxicity. It consists usually of the human skull with or without the mandible and often includes two crossed long-bones, most often depicted with the crossbones being behind some part of the skull.
  The term Totenkopf is commonly associated with 19th- and 20th-century German military use.
context_section_description: A skull and crossbones has often been a symbol of pirates, especially in the form of the Jolly Roger, but usually having the crossbones beneath the skull rather than behind it, as used by pirate Samuel Bellamy in one example.
  The uniform of the Spanish Army's Lusitania Dragoon Regiment during part of the 18th century included three skull and crossbones in the cuffs, and in 1902 the skull and crossbones insignia was authorized again to replace the regiment number on the sides of the collar.
  It was used as the emblem on the uniforms of Greek revolutionaries of Alexander Ypsilantis Sacred Band (1821) during the wallachian uprising of 1821
  The British Army's Royal Lancers continue to use the skull and crossbones in their emblem, inherited from its use by the 17th Lancers, a unit raised in 1759 following General Wolfe's death in Quebec. The emblem contains an image of a death's head, and the words 'Or Glory', chosen in commemoration of Wolfe.
  In 1792, a regiment of Hussards de la Mort (Death Hussars) was formed during the French Revolution by the French National Assembly and were organized and named by Kellerman. The group of 200 volunteers were from wealthy families and their horses were supplied from the King's Stables. They were formed to defend against various other European states in the wake of the revolution. They participated in the Battle of Valmy and its members also participated in the Battle of Fleurus (1794). They had the following mottos: Vaincre ou mourir, La liberté ou la mort and  Vivre libre ou mourir - Victory or death; Freedom or death; and Live free or die.
  Although not exactly a Totenkopf per se, the Chilean guerrilla leader Manuel Rodríguez used the symbol on his elite forces called "Husares de la muerte" ("Hussars of death"). It is still used by the Chilean Army's 3rd Cavalry Regiment.
  The primarily Prussian 41st Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, Mustered in: June 6, 1861-Mustered out: December 9, 1865 wore a skull insignia.
  The Vengeurs de la Mort ("death avengers"), an irregular unit of Commune de Paris, 1871.
  The Portuguese Army Police 2nd Lancers Regiment use a skull-and-crossbones image in their emblem, similar to the one used by the Queen's Royal Lancers.
  The Kingdom of Sweden's Hussar Regiments wore a death's head emblem in the Prussian Style on the front of the mirleton.
  Ramón Cabrera's regiment adopted in 1838 a skull with crossbones flanked by an olive branch and a sword on a black flag during the Spanish Carlist Wars.
  Serbian Chetniks wore a death's head emblem in several conflicts: guerrilla in Old Serbia, First and Second Balkan Wars, World War I (both defense and resistance) and World War II.
  The Italian elite storm-troopers of the Arditi used a skull with a dagger between its teeth as a symbol during World War I. Various versions of skulls were also later used by the Italian Fascists.
  The Russian Kornilov's Shock Detachment (8th Army) adopted a death's head emblem in 1917. Then after World War I, the unit became Kornilov's Shock Regiment as a part of the White Russian Volunteer Army during the Russian Civil War.
  The Estonian Kuperjanov's Partisan Battalion used the skull-and-crossbones as their insignia (since 1918); the Kuperjanov Infantry Battalion continues to use the skull and crossbones as their insignia today.
  Two Polish small cavalry units used death's head emblem during Polish–Ukrainian War and Polish–Soviet War - Dywizjon Jazdy Ochotniczej (also known as Huzarzy Śmierci i.e. Death Hussars) and Poznański Ochotniczy Batalion Śmierci.
  During 1943-1945 the Italian Black Brigades and numerous other forces fighting for the Italian Social Republic, wore various versions of skulls on their uniforms, berets, and caps.
  The United States Marine Corps Reconnaissance Battalions use the skull-and-crossbones symbol in their emblem.
  The No. 100 Squadron RAF (Royal Air Force) continue to use a flag depicting a skull and crossbones supposedly in reference to a flag stolen from a French brothel in 1918.
  The Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais, a special unit within the military police of
caption: Swedish hussar in 1761
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