The German Eagle

EMBLEMS: THE GERMAN EAGLE

The origin of the German eagle, the national emblem of Germany can be traced back to the ninth century and Charlemagne. Crowned emperor in Rome on Christmas Day in the year AD 800 Charlemagne claimed to be the successor of the Roman emperors.Because it was the emblem, the 'standard' carried by the Legions, he adopted the Roman eagle as his ensign and had it placed conspicuously on his palace at Aachen.

The German spread-eagle can be traced back to about AD 1100, the period of Hohenstaufen. The spread-eagle of the Holy Roman Empire was borne by successive German emperors in the attitude known as 'displayed', that is with the eagle's body upright, the wings on either side raised to the level of the head and the legs extended beneath them. An example of this type of displayed eagle is to be found enamelled on the hil t of the ceremonial sword which once belonged to Charlemagne and is now preserved in the Imperial Treasury in the Burg at Vienna. A distinction was later made between the spread-eagle with one head, and the double-headed eagle, the latter symbolizing both royal and imperial dignity.

The revolutionaries of 1848, the German II Reich of 1871 and the Weimar Republic dating from 1919 all adopted the earlier singleheaded spread-eagle symbol.

In the years between 1933 and 1945 the eagle was featured clutching in its talons a garland of oak leaves containing the swastika (Hakenkreuz), the emblem of the National Socialist Workers Party of Germany. This combination of eagle and swastika constituted the official emblem of the Third Reich.

A distinction was made between the form of the German eagle used by the armed forces (Army and Navy) and the Party with its multitude of political formations. Because it was the youngest of the three fighting services the new German Air Force, brought into being under the National Socialist regime, and from the outset strongly influenced and controlled in its development by Hermann Goring, chose a style of eagle that was in a sense a compromise between the traditional military forces and the new political movement. The German eagle with outstretched wings in an attitude of flight was featured on the new regimental flags of the Luftwaffe.

The Army and Navy used the displayed style of eagle known as the 'Wehrmachtalder, the armed forces eagle. This too was featured as part of the design used on their flags and standards. On the standard for the Fuhrer Escort Battalion the armed forces eagle and the political form of the eagle were used in combination.

In one form or another the German eagle was used on almost every military flag during the period of the Third Reich.

Brian Leigh Davis: "Flags & Standards of the Third Reich - Army,Navy & Air Force" Arco Publishing, 1975