Original German WWII USGI Signed and Dated Bring Back Kriegsmarine 150cm x 250cm Naval Battle Flag - Reichskriegsflagge

Original Item: Only One Available. The 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. Recently acquired from a private collector, this is without a doubt the most impressive battle flag design of the German WWII era, in a nice medium large size. It measures 59.1" x 98.4", or 150cm x 250cm. This larger size indicates it would have been used on a sizable ship.

Constructed of what feels like wool or a cotton and wool blend, the printed design features a red background with a large white central circle displaying a large Swas (hook cross or swas) with 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, which would usually have a long halyard rope inside for fastening, however that has been removed.

This could have been to use for another purpose, as this flag was captured at some point by a USGI, who looks to have written down all of the locations he visited during the war between the arms of the swas in laundry marker. The first entry we can see is DEC.2 / M. STANDISH, and Below this looks to be DEC.10 / S.S. RICHARDSON. This actually looks to be a reference to USS General W. P. Richardson, a troop ship during WWII, which sailed from Boston 10 December 1944 with over 5,000 fighting men and, after delivering them to Southampton, England, 21 December, returned to New York 4 January 1945 with troops and casualties.

The next entry is SOUTHAMPTON ENGLAND DEC. 23, with additional entries when they arrived in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. There are numerous entries with dates tracing their progress. We assume that "M. Standish" is the name of the owner, but it is possible that could be a home town or another location. Definitely a fantastic display and research piece!

Aside from the writing, this naval battle flag is totally original and is in very good condition, with the expected wear and damage due to age and use. The wool construction is unfortunately prone to degradation and moth, which it definitely has to some degree. There are a few small holes and tears, but nothing major, and there is also some staining, however that looks to possibly from long storage.

The flag is marked on the header with a black Eagle / M proof, indicating German Kriegsmarine (Navy) acceptance. The header is also stamped with the correct naval designation and size number, along with the measurements:

Reichskriegsflg.  1,5 X 2,5

This size flag is a "7" (150x250cm), as noted in the Kriegsmarine Flaggenbuch (Navy Flag Book), which would be for a ship 500 to 1500 tons, unfortunately too large to be for a U-Boat. Ships in this displacement class would be D-E Torpedo boats, which are 900 tons.

This is a very nice example of this classic Third Reich Naval Battle flag, brought home and extensively written on by a USGI. Ready to research and display!

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."