Original German WWII Kriegsmarine 100cm x 170cm Naval Battle Flag – Reichskriegsflagge Original Items

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 size. It measures 39.4″ x 66.9″ or 100cm x 170cm, and would have been used on a smaller ship.

Constructed of what feels like a wool & cotton blend, 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) cross pattée. It features a canvas header, with a halyard running the full length inside that terminates in loops on both ends.

This Naval battle flag is totally original and is in very good service used condition, with the expected wear and damage due to age. It shows staining and holes from real use in the field. Most of these we see look like they got taken right from the factory, while this example has a fantastic “been there” look. The flag is marked on the header with an Eagle / M indicating German Kriegsmarine (Navy) acceptance. The header is also stamped with the correct naval designation and size number, along with the measurements:

Dl. Reichskriegsfl. 100 x 170

This marking is quite faint, stamped by the manufacturer and not by the Navy, so the ink was not as durable. We looked for a maker mark, but it must have completely washed away, or never had one.

This size flag is an “6”, as noted in the Kriegsmarine Flaggenbuch (Navy Flag Book), which would be for a ship 500 to 1500 tons, unfortunately one size 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 service used example of this classic Third Reich Naval Battle flag. It’s very rare that we get examples that have actually seen real use! Ready to 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.”