Police Officer's Grade Sleeve Eagles

[W.Unland]

Hello,

We haven't had a good old sleeve eagle discussion for some time so here goes. This time Officer's Bullion eagles.

Presented here is a short discussion of civil police officer's grade sleeve eagles. For the most part officer's eagle were always hand embroidered in bullion, gold for Wasserschutzpolizei and general officers, and silver for all other police branches.They were NEVER named like nco's eagles except Werkfeuerwehr officers, which were not civil police in a true sense.

Officer's eagles were all "one off" and are all a bit different from each other. Some are very elaborate with contrasting grades of bullion and others are relatively simple, depending on the taste and budget of the officer that purchased it.

Here is a photo of a standard officers eagle on oval background. It is executed in shiny silver bullion and is typical of the insignia worn by civil police officers pre-war and on parade uniforms.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

This type of egle was also produced, particularly later during the war, with the background wool cut to shape. This was done presumably to conserve material as more eagles could be embroidered on a given piece of wool.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

"Subdued" eagles were also produced for use on field and combat uniforms where shiny bullion was not desired. Here is such an eagle executed in dull gray bullion. This eagle is embroidered on a field weight heavy cotton.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

Here is a very interesting eagle, obviously specially ordered by an extremely fashion conscious officer. It is executed in silver bullion and contrasting rayon "cellulon". It is my opinion that the cellulon was rendered in the gold color as shown here, and is not a faded silver. I base that on the fact that the cellulon not exposed to the elements is the same goldish hue. It is possible though that this color is the result in a chemical change in the cellulon over the years.

Whatever it's original color this eagle is extremely attractive and well made.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

Officers were entitled by regulations to purchase an optional white summer tunic and the white backed eagle as shown here was worn. It was attached via snaps sewn down to the back to allow for laundering the cotton tunic.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

Officers of the career and volunteer fire departments wore a silver bullion eagle on a dark blue backing. This eagle is on the earlier oval backing. These almost universally show heavy oxidation due to constant exposre to water during wear.

[W.Unland]

Here is an unused fire officers eagle to show the details, this time in the cut out form.

[W.Unland]

The Luftschutzpolizei wore gray Lufftwaffe flight blouses so a gray backed officers eagle was produced for this branch. This eagle has been attacked by moths, and it is a bit hard to see in the photo, but it is done on gray backing material.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

Mid war it was decided that the colored and bullion sleeve eagles of the police were to be discontinued and a standardized machine woven, BEVO type eagle was to replace the earlier insignia. This is the officer's version of that standardized insignia. This same eagle was done on a dark blue background for use by the fire department, but I don't have an example of that type.

These eagles are fairly rare , and I do NOT believe that they were ever issued or used before the end of the war. I have yet to see a period photo of one.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

The hand embroidered eagles were made using cardboard templates around which the bullion threads were applied. Here is one such template with the type of eagle that would result from it's use. Note the long legs on the bird and template.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

And here is the more typical short legged template and an eagle of the type that would be produced using it.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[W.Unland]

Conspicuously missing from this discussion are the gold Wasserschutzpolizei and general's sleeve eagles. I have never been able to acquire examples of these. Here is a photo of a WSP NCO's bullion cap eagle which will give the viewer an idea of what these might look like.

Thanks for looking, and I would encourage anyone having other examples to share to please add to this post.

Best regards,
Bill Unland<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

[Dave C.]

Hi Bill, always an interesting subject! Below are a few that I found photos of and I'll have to work on some of the good stuff,. Although sadly no General's insignia in my collection.

Here is one that I like since I appreciate the character of being used/removed, besides it interesting to see the black base still attached to a light weight green uniform material.

[Dave C.]

Example of silver bullion on blue with a silver swastika for fire service.

[Dave C.]

Luftschutz on gray material