Berets with Skulls and Bones

If there is one military badge universally associated with the Nazi’s, it must be the Totenkopf.

In the early days of the Nazi Party, Julius Schreck, the leader of the Stabswache (Adolf Hitler's bodyguard unit), resurrected the use of the Totenkopf as the unit's insignia. This unit grew into the Schutzstaffel (SS), which continued to use the Totenkopf as insignia throughout its history. According to a writing by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the Totenkopf had the following meaning:

The Skull is the reminder that you shall always be willing to put yourself at stake for the life of the whole community.

The Totenkopf was also used as the unit insignia of the Panzer forces of the German Heer (Army) and the German forces aiding Francoist Spain, the Condor Legion.

However, they were neither original or the only ones choosing the skull and bones.

The Italian Black Brigades for example:

Or, well before all these, the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge's Own) cavalry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1759 and notable for its participation in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.

Their motto, unsurprisingly, "Death or Glory".