BACKGROUND: On June 17TH 1936, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed to the newly created position of Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effectively giving him full control of all police agencies within Germany. The assorted police agencies performed a variety of different functions and were divided into no fewer then eight branches of service which were controlled by the appropriate administrative office. All the uniformed civil police were under direction of the Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei, (Main Office of the Order Police), which was commanded by SS-Obergruppenführer Kurt Daluege. On January 17TH 1942 Daluege formed the Landwacht, (Rural Guards), to police rural areas and to guard prisoners of war when on work details outside of the prisons, but within the borders of the Greater German Reich. The Landwacht personnel were outfitted with Gendarmerie, (Rural Police), police uniforms with a distinctive identifying armband and a cap badge. The design of the Landwacht cap badge was based on the second pattern, (circa June 1936-May 1945), Police cap badge with the addition of a scripted banner. Of Note: On September 25TH 1944 the Volkssturm, (People’s Militia), was raised by decree to act as a local defensive militia and consisted of all "able-bodied" men between the ages of sixteen and sixty years old, who were not in the military. In October 1944 the Landwacht was incorporated into the Volkssturm and on January 17TH 1945 they were officially disbanded.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Single piece, die stamped, aluminum construction Landwacht cap badge. The badge features a right facing eagle with out-stretched, extended wings, clutching a wreathed, canted swastika in it’s talons, superimposed on a vertically oval, oak-leaf wreath with the eagle’s wings extending beyond the outer edges of the wreath. The bottom of the wreath has a banner with the embossed script, "Landwacht". The eagle and the wreath both have nice, high relief, detailing. The reverse of the badge is a mirror image of the obverse and has both attachment prongs. Nice example.