Original German WWII 80cm x 135cm National Battle Flag by LOH - Reichskriegsflagge

Original Item: Only One Available. Reichskriegsflagge (Imperial War Flag) was the official name of the war flag and war ensign used by the German armed forces from 1933 to 1945. This included the Heer, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine, as it was a National flag. Recently acquired from a veteran's estate this is without a doubt the most impressive battle flag of the German WW2 era, it measures 31.50" x 53.15" or 80cm x 135cm.

Constructed of what feels like light canvas, the flag design features a bright red background with a large white central circle displaying a large Swas (hook cross), overlaid on the German Naval Balkenkreuz (Beam Cross) design also in black to the edges. In the top corner (Canton) is a black on white Eisernes Kreuz (Iron cross). It features a canvas header, with a halyard running the full length of the header, with loops at both ends.

This battle flag is totally original and is in very good service used condition, showing small stains as well as overall wear and age toning. Some of the stains look to possibly be from rust. We can see just a few small holes, but no tears, and the printed colors are still vibrant and crisp. The flag definitely could use some pressing or ironing, as it looks to have been stored crumpled up for a long period of time. The flag is nicely stamped on the header with the manufacturer information fully legible, though a bit faint:

LOH. KR - FL. 80 / 135

LOH is the abbreviation for a common maker of German WWII flags, which unfortunately we have not been able to find information on. We have however seen the marking on all types of different original WWII Flags. The "KR-FL.' abbreviation stands for Kriegsflagge (Battle Flag), with 80/135 being the size.

There are no Naval markings, so this was most likely a flag intended for Army or Airforce use. However it is always possible that it was never stamped. This size of flag is a size "5" in the Kriegsmarine Flaggenbuch (Navy Flag Book), so when used with the navy it would have been used with ships up to 500 tons, including U-Boats, E-Boats, and tugs.

This is a very nice example of this hard to find flag, one that didn't spend the war in a depot!

Designed personally by Adolf AH, this flag served the Heer and the Luftwaffe as their War Flag, and the Kriegsmarine as its War Ensign (the National Flag serving as Jack). This flag was hoisted daily in barracks operated by units of the Wehrmacht combined German military forces, and it had to be flown from a pole positioned near the barracks entrance, or failing this, near the guard room or staff building. New recruits in the latter part of World War II were sworn in on this flag (one recruit holding the flag and taking the oath on behalf of the entire recruit class with the recruits looking on as witnesses - before, this was done on the regimental colors).

The flag had to be formally hoisted every morning and lowered every evening. These hoisting and lowering ceremonies took the form of either an ordinary or a ceremonial flag parade. At the ordinary raising, the party consisted of the Orderly Officer of the Day, the guard, and one musician. At the ceremonial raising, one officer, one platoon of soldiers with rifles, the guard, the regimental band, and the corps of drums were all present.

The proportions of the flag are 3:5. Fusing elements of the NSDAP German Flag (swas and red background) with that of the old Imperial Reich War Flag (four arms emanating from off-center circle and Iron Cross in the canton), these flags were uniformly produced as a printed design on bunting.

Raised for the first time at the Bendlerstraße Building (Wehrmacht Headquarters) in Berlin on November 7, 1935, It was taken down for the last time by British occupation forces after the arrest of the Dönitz Government at the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg-Mürwik, Germany, on May 23, 1945.

In his book, Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer states that "in only two other designs did he (Adolf AH) execute the same care as he did his Obersalzberg house: that of the Reich War Flag and his own standard of Chief of State."