Original German WWII Army Officer Dove Head Sword with Scabbard Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This Army Dove Head Sword is a very nice example, with some interesting features that we usually do not see. The hilt of this example looks to be gilt aluminum, compared to the usual brass alloys. The dove head and backstrap are engraved with oak leaves and acorns, a common decoration used on German ceremonial edged weapons, as well as with other types of foliage. The “flat” P guard repeats this oak leaf motif, as does the ferrule at the top of the grip. There are lots of hand enhancing and many of the backgrounds have received pebbled decoration. 

The chappe/langet features a raised out “closed wing” Wehrmacht eagle, which shows excellent detail to his beak, eye, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons and mobile clutched swas. The other side is blank and has had the plating removed, and would often be used for the officer to add a monogram. The grip of this example is a black celluloid over a carved wood base. The celluloid is still in very good condition. The grip is wrapped with 4 wires, with the center pair twisted together, and this is fully intact. There is a bit of play in the back strap and hilt overall, not uncommon for a 70 + year old sword.

The steel scabbard of this example is straight throughout. The black enamel paint of this scabbard is mostly complete, with some flaking and wear on the drag and on the “in” side of the scabbard. The enamel does look to have been redone once, or possibly a matte finish covered with a gloss finish, which can be seen by examining the scabbard. It has the usual checking and crazing of age, and still retains both throat screws.

The blade is 33inches long, with the original leather blade washer is in place. This blade is of high quality spring steel, and is still bright, with a very nice “brushed” look to the steel. There are a few areas of light staining, but overall it looks great. There is no maker marking on the blade, but this is not uncommon, as many smaller makers would buy bulk blades from the major producers, and then fit them in house.

Overall a very good example of a German Army Officer Dove Head sword, complete with scabbard. Ready to display!

The German Army (German: Heer, was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht also included the Kriegsmarine (Navy) and the Luftwaffe (Air Force). During World War II, a total of about 15 million soldiers served in the German Army, of whom about seven million became casualties. Separate from the army, the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. Growing from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II, it served alongside the army but was never formally part of it.

Only 17 months after AH announced publicly the rearmament program, the Army reached its projected goal of 36 divisions. During the autumn of 1937, two more corps were formed. In 1938, four additional corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the Anschluss in March. During the period of its expansion by Adolf AH, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground (Heer) and air (Luftwaffe) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with operational and tactical methods such as encirclements and the “battle of annihilation”, the German military managed quick victories in the two initial years of World War II, prompting the use of the word Blitzkrieg (literally lightning war, meaning lightning-fast war) for the techniques used.

The German Army entered the war with a majority of its infantry formations relying on the horse for transportation. The infantry remained foot soldiers throughout the war; artillery also remained primarily horse-drawn. The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the main reason for the success of the German invasions of Poland (September 1939), Norway and Denmark (April 1940), Belgium, France and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941) and the early campaigns in the Soviet Union (June 1941). However their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heer’s capacity at their peak strength.