BACKGROUND: When the Nazi Party gained power in January of 1933, the German railway system was maintained and administered by two civilian organizations, the DR, "Deutsches Reichsbahn" (German National-railway), and the DR-G, "Deutsches Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft" (German National-railway - Corporation), which were each overseen by the national government. Both the DR and the DR-G were uniformed organizations responsible for all the railways within Greater Germany, and eventually in the occupied areas. In February of 1937, in a restructuring of the national railways, the DR-G was absorbed into the DR. The uniforms and insignia of DR personnel were modified numerous times during the Third Reich, although, as a civilian organization, they were not graded with ranks but were assigned positions as officials. One of the new insignia, introduced in September of 1941, was the sleeve eagle that was utilized to differentiate between the four German Railway directorates, namely, the WVD, "Wehrmacht Verkehrsdirektion" (Armed-forces Traffic-directorate), the RVD, "Reichsverkersdirektion" (National-traffic-directorate), the HVD, "Hauptverkehrsdirektion" (Central-traffic-directorate), and the RBD, "Reichsbahndirektion" (National-railway-directorate). These four directorates were further broken down into divisions based on important railway yards or areas.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A machine woven, right facing eagle with outstretched wings and a wreathed, mobile swastika in its talons, positioned above the arching script, "RBD Hannover." All of the threads are bright golden-yellow, against a half-moon shaped, woven black base. The insignia indicates service with the "Hannover" division of the "Reichsbahndirektion".