The rare Nazi badge displays a startling similarity
to the Three Lions emblem worn by the England football team.

There would have only been 30 of the patches made and this one comes from a uniform which has since been destroyed.

The Nazi unit who wore them, which is shrouded in mystery, is thought to have been formed in January 1944.

Members had been recruited from a variety of sources and were formally accepted into the Waffen-SS when it was named the British Free Corps. The Waffen-SS was the armed part of the Nazi Party's SS and fought throughout World War II alongside the regular army, the Wehrmacht.

Those in the brigade were given German uniforms bearing the Union Flag shield and the badge bearing the famous three lions.

The Nazis even appropriated the swastika symbol, called the Hakenkreuz (hooked cross), the name of which originates from the Sanskrit which means 'good to be'.

Because of its associations with this period it is now rarely used and is outlawed in Germany however it is still widely used in modern-day India.

The World War II patch goes under the hammer on June 25 at a Mullocks auction at Ludlow racecourse, Shropshire. It is expected to fetch £1,000.

Historical documents expert Richard Westwood-Brookes said it was the rarest item he had ever sold, adding: 'The unit these badges would be part of was apparently never larger than a platoon, and its final fate and operation is shrouded in total mystery.”

'Some claim that it never operated as a combat unit, and was only formed as a propaganda exercise.

'Others suggest that it was involved in the final conflict in Berlin and fought against the Russian advance.

'Today it seems unbelievable that British men would be part of Hitler's evil SS.

'But it must always be remembered that while not all Germans were Nazis, many British people were.'

The University of Salford's war studies expert Professor Eric Groves said most of the group that would have been recruited from prisoners of war.

He said: 'Most of them were from prisoner of war camps but they did manage to a get a small number straight from this country.

'The three lion’s imagery was used because even back then it was seen as a symbol for England.

'People would have been recruited from lots of different countries, but there wasn't an amazing response from Britain, I must say.’

These posters were used in the drive to recruit more British men to the SS unit

 Adolf Hitler, pictured in 1933, at the start of his rise to power

'The Nazis went round these POW camps trying to create this group, or as it was called back then, a Legion of St George.

'These Brits would be offered freedom in return for fighting for the Germans.

'Those that took part would be very anti-communist so it would not be that they preferred Nazi over British ideologies - more that they were totally anti-Soviet.

'They wouldn't have necessarily have fought against British troops, but they would have been asked to take on the Russians.

'One or two of them would have been killed trying to protect Berlin though, but it is a very little-reported part of history.'

The unusual badge is being auctioned together with an equally bizarre letter addressed to the late Olive Hudson, from Preston, Lancashire. Why she was writing to Hitler or came into possession of the badge remains a mystery.

'The Nazis went round these POW camps trying to create this group, or as it was called back then, a Legion of St George.

'These Brits would be offered freedom in return for fighting for the Germans.

'Those that took part would be very anti-communist so it would not be that they preferred Nazi over British ideologies - more that they were totally anti-Soviet.

'They wouldn't have necessarily have fought against British troops, but they would have been asked to take on the Russians.

'One or two of them would have been killed trying to protect Berlin though, but it is a very little-reported part of history.'

The unusual badge is being auctioned together with an equally bizarre letter addressed to the late Olive Hudson, from Preston, Lancashire. Why she was writing to Hitler or came into possession of the badge remains a mystery.

Both items were sold by a member of Mrs Hudson's family to the current owner, a collector who wants to remain anonymous.

History of the British Free Corps

The unit was the brainchild of John Amery, seen here at a party in war-time Paris

The German Waffen-SS 'British Free Corps' was the brainchild of John Amery, son of Conservative Cabinet minister Leo Amery.

The company was never deployed in action but was rather more used as a propaganda machine by the Nazis.

He was a staunch anti-Communist who admired the National Socialist doctrines of Nazi Germany.

Amery was also a fantasist who pretended to have joined Franco's Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and claimed to have been awarded a medal of honour while serving as a military intelligence officer with Italian volunteer forces.

However, in 1942 Amery, who was working for the Vichy French, made his way to Germany with the hope of creating an elite British unit to help fight the Soviets. The men were to be selected from POW camps.

A unit was later formed under the name the British SS Freikorps Brigade, and at the height of its powers boasted up 50 members.

Amery was tried for high treason and hanged in Wandsworth Prison on December 19, 1945.

A crowd of civilians and servicemen gather to view the notice posted on the gates of Wandsworth Prison in London announcing the execution of Amery