Reichskriegsflagge battle flag, Cotton 3′ x 5′ WWII German

WWII German Reichskriegsflagge battle flag (National War Flag), approx. 3′ x 5′ (90cm x 150cm).

Designed personally by the new dictator Adolf Hitler, this flag served the Heer and the Luftwaffe as their War Flag, and the Kriegsmarine as its War Ensign. 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.[citation needed]

The proportions of the flag are 3:5. Fusing elements of the Nazi German Flag (swastika 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 7 November 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 23 May 1945.

The red flag with white central disk and black swastika was introduced by Hitler in the 1920s as the flag of the National Socialist political party. In 1933, shortly after the Nazis took power, this party flag was recognized alongside the black-white-red Imperial tricolor as one of Germany’s national flags. In 1935, the use of the tricolor flag was discontinued, and between September 1935 and May 8, 1945, the Nazi party flag was the sole national flag of Germany. From its creation in the 1920s through the end of the war, this swastika flag was made and used in endless variations, from the massive banners hung at Party Day rallies to small pennants, bunting flags, and hand-held paper flags distributed along parade routes. These flags, banners and pennants flew from ships, were hung from official and private buildings, and were displayed outside business and private homes. At the end of WWII, the Allied military governments abolished the use of all Nazi symbols, including the national flag. Most Third Reich era German national flags were simply destroyed.