GREATER GERMAN REICH

COMMAND FLAGS & PENNANTS OF THE ARMY  •  1933-45

The German Army's World War II system of command flags and pennants was developed in the late 1920s, with additions and modifications being made as required. For the most part they were used as car flags and as marker flags for headquarters. The Chief of the Army Command (Commander-in-Chief of the Army from 1935) had a flag with a red frame and a white field bearing the traditional Iron Cross; the design was modified when the title was changed. In 1941, Hitler assumed personal command of the Army and this flag became obsolete. In 1944, a flag similar to the 1931-35 design, but with Nazi eagles in the corners and a white swastika on the Iron Cross, was adopted for the Chief of the Army High Command (the wartime title for the Chief of the Great General Staff). A distinctive flag for Army field marshals was adopted in 1940 after several generals were promoted to that rank. General officers below the rank of field marshal all used the same triangular pennant. The flags for higher headquarters were identical to those specified in the Army's 1905 Field Service Regulations. In 1939 an additional flag was introduced for army groups, similar to the flag for armies except for a white/red frame. The flag for panzer groups was adopted in 1940 but abolished in 1941 when these formations were upgraded to army status, e.g. Fourth Panzer Group became Fourth Panzer Army. Thereafter they used the army flag.The divisional command pennant usually displayed the division's number or badge, e.g. the pennant of the Großdeutschland Division, which bore the division's monogram in black on the white stripe. Brigades and regiments had, respectively, triangular pennants and rectangular flags with a black field, divided by a broad horizontal stripe in the arm-of-service color (Waffenfarbe), on which appeared the unit's numerical designation. The Staff, Artillery Commander (Arko) was a brigade-echelon headquarters unit assigned to  corps to coordinate their artillery assets. Battalions and companies had triangular pennants. All these flags were abolished in 1945 when the Army was disbanded after Germany's surrender, but in the 1950's, the newly organized West German Bundesheer adopted a similar system of flags and pennants that is still in use. Flag Proportions: High command and higher headquarters flags were made square. Other flags and pennants were made in 2:3 proportions. Page Revised October 2023 Command Flags & Pennants for Corps and Subordinate Units

CORPS  •  Korps	DIVISION  •  Division
Panzergrenadier-Division Großdeutschland	86. Infanterie-Division
STAFF, ARTILLERY COMMANDER  •  Stab, Artillerie-Kommandeur (Arko)
ARMORED BRIGADE  •  Panzer-Brigade	MOTORIZED RIFLE BRIGADE  •  Schützen-Brigade (motorisiert)

CAVALRY BRIGADE  •  Reiter-Brigade
REGIMENTS Command flags for regiments were horizontal tribands; the top and bottom stripes were black; the central stripe was in the Waffenfarbe and bore the regimental number in black. Initally, motorized rifle regiments in panzer divisions had command flags similar to those of armored regiments with the addition of S before the number. When they were redesignated as panzer grenadier regiments,the Waffenfarbe was changed to grass green.
INFANTRY & GRENADIER REGIMENTS  •  Infanterie-und Grenadier-Regimenter
RIFLE & MOUNTAIN REGIMENTS Jäger- und Gebirgsjäger-Regimenter	ARMORED INFANTRY REGIMENT  •  Panzergrenadier-Regiment
TANK REGIMENT  •  Panzer-Regiment	MOTORIZED RIFLE REGIMENT  •  Schützen-Regiment (motorisiert)
ARTILLERY REGIMENT  •  Artillerie-Regiment	MOTORIZED ROCKET LAUNCHER REGIMENT Werfer-Regiment (motorisiert)
CAVALRY REGIMENT  •  Reiter-Regiment
BATTALIONS & COMPANIES
Command pennants for battalions were triangular. Those for battalions organic to regiments displayed the battalion number in Roman numerals and the regimental number in Arabic numerals. Those for independent battalions displayed the battalion number in Arabic numerals. These pennants had a field in the Waffenfarbe, with a broad black horizontal stripe or cross. Beginning in 1942, the independent motorcycle rifle battalions were merged into the armored reconnaissance battalions of panzer and panzer grenadier divisions. Of the fifteen motorized machine gun battalions, six were converted to motorcycle rifle battalions in late 1940, and two were converted to motorized rifle battalions for the Afrika Korps in early 1941. Pennants for companies within regiments had a vertical black stripe and displayed the company number or, for independent battalions, the company and battalion numbers. Independent companies displated their number.

TANK (Panzer) BATTALION ANTITANK (Panzerjäger) BATTALION	MOTORIZED RIFLE (Schützen) BATTALION MOTORCYCLE RIFLE (Kradschützen) BATTALION
INFANTRY & GRENADIER BATTALIONS Infanterie-und Grenadier-Bataillone	MOTORIZED MACHINE GUN BATTALION Maschinengewehr-Bataillon (motorisiert)
ARTILLERY (Artillerie) BATTALION ASSAULT GUN (Sturmgeschütz) BATTALION	ARTILLERY OBSERVATION (Artillerie-Beobachtungs) BATTALION
MOTORIZED ROCKET LAUNCHER BATTALION  •  Werfer-Bataillon (motorisiert)
ARMORED RECONNAISSANCE (Panzer-Aufklärungs) BATTALION	RECONNAISSANCE (Aufklärungs) BATTALION (INFANTRY DIVISION)
ENGINEER (Pionier) BATTALION	SIGNAL (Nachrichten) BATTALION
SUPPLY & TRANSPORTATION TROOPS (Fahrtruppen)
COMPANIES & DETACHMENTS
MILITARY POLICE (Feldgendarmerie) COMPANY	SIGNALS (Nachrichtentruppen) COMPANY