German prisoners waiting to be interrogated. Pilckem, 31 July 1917. Note a Gibraltar cuff-title worn by a German POW. The British soldiers are probably servicemen of the Irish Guards.
The story of the Gibraltar cuff title can be traced back to 1775 when the King of England, George III, Duke of Hannover was in need of fresh troops to allow British troops to serve in the colonies during the American Revolution. Five Battalions of troops from his native Hannover were recruited to replace British troops in the Mediterranean. Three of the Battalions were sent on 16 October 1775 to Gibraltar for service. In of June 1776 Spain declared war on England and immediately blockaded the island. Starvation, scurvy, and death were commonplace on Gibraltar. The Treaty of Versailles lifted the siege on 15 August 1783. The British garrison and their three Hannoverian Battalions had lasted over three years and seven months. To honor the survivors of the siege, the three Battalions were authorized to wear a blue cloth cuff-title embroidered GIBRALTAR on the lower right sleeve of their Waffenrock.