BACKGROUND: Germany has a long history of producing some of the best master musicians in the world including the renown composers Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Hitler’s personal favorite Richard Wagner. The German government and military recognized the beneficial morale effect of music and along with larger units and Headquarters bands, German infantry battalions, excluding Jäger and Gebirgsjäger battalions, each had a fife and drum band that usually consisted of six buglers and drummers and a Drum Major. Regulations of March 16TH 1936 introduced new Standards, (Troop Colors Flags), for each battalion within the German army with most units receiving their new Standards by late 1937 which were generally displayed at the head of the units band when performing or on parade. Besides the distinctive swallows nest insignia worn by band personnel, regulations of August 4TH 1936 reintroduced special Standard bearer’s sleeve insignia, reviving a tradition that dated back as far as 1898, but hadn’t been in use since 1919. Battalion Commanders appointed an NCO to the position of Standartenträger, (Standard Bearer), with the following insignia to be worn on the upper right sleeve of the service tunic to distinguish this honorary appointment. Of Note: On mobilization in 1939 the band structure within the army changed with fewer units allowed to have band personnel although most units managed to retain some type of band.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Machine woven, ribbed, blue/green rayon construction shield shaped base with scalloped top tips featuring a highly detailed machine woven pattern. The machine woven pattern features a black Wehrmacht style eagle with down swept wings clutching a canted swastika in it’s talons with white accent threads to the center, superimposed over dual likeness’s of the unfurled, Signals Standard. The copper brown based standards each feature a smaller, black, Wehrmacht style eagle on a white field encompassed by a silver/aluminum flat-wire oak-leaf wreath, superimposed on a stylized black Iron Cross, bordered in silver/aluminum flat-wire. The standards also have a small black swastika in each corner and silver/aluminum finials and streamers with tassels. The bottom of the shield has five large oak-leaves with dual acorns again in silver/aluminum flat-wire threads.