Original German WWII 2nd Pattern RLB Armband by BEVO with Depot Stamp marked Hagenau-Stadt Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great German WWII second Pattern RLB – Reichs Luftschutz Bund (National Air Defense League) Cotton Armband, complete with an original purple depot stamp! We have had several before, but never one with a stamp! This one is even still legible, and reads:

Reichsluftschutzbund
Gemeindegruppe
Hagenau-Stadt

This translates to “National Air Defense League Community Group Hagenau-City”. This is particularly interesting as Hagenau, known today as the French city of Haguenau, has been a contested city between France and Germany since the 17th century. It is located in the area of Alsace on the German French Border, and after losing it after WWI, Germany was obviously very eager to get it back, and promptly recaptured it in 1940. This means that enough of a German infrastructure was installed as to have it’s own air protection units. Definitely an interesting bit of information!

The blue cotton band is still very soft with a great color, with the embroidered swas (hook cross) and starburst organizational emblem of the Reichsluftschutzbund still in excellent condition. Also, the back of the RLB armband is manufacturer marked BEVO-WUPPERTAL, indicating manufacture by Bandfabrik Ewald Vorsteher in Wuppertal, Germany. This company specialized in high quality embroidery on thin fabrics, and made all types of insignia during the war.

All in all this is a very fine RLB Armband, with some areas of staining due to age.. These are always hard to find, especially in such nice condition.

History of the RLB

The RLB was organized by Hermann Göring in 1933 as a voluntary association. Existing volunteer air raid precaution associations were forced to merge with RLB. In 1939 the RLB became a Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization), while in 1944 it became an affiliated organization of the NSDAP Party. It was in charge of educating and training ordinary German men and women in civil defense procedures necessary for the basic level of local self-help of the civil population against air raids. The local level was formed around air raid wardens and operated in small first intervention squads. The training include fire fighting, protection against chemical weapons, communication procedures and preparation of houses and apartments against air raids.