German Army General Officer Breast Eagle – Bottle Green Backing

The German Army breast eagle, or Brustadler, was the principal national emblem worn on Heer tunics during the Second World War.

It was positioned on the right breast above the pocket and depicted an eagle with outstretched wings clutching a wreath containing a swastika. On uniforms worn by general officers, the breast eagle was immediately distinguished by its gold-coloured embroidery, rather than the silver or aluminium finish normally associated with other commissioned officers.

General officer examples were traditionally produced in elaborate gold bullion embroidery, frequently worked by hand. Different directions of metallic thread were used to define the feathers, body, claws and wreath, creating a pronounced raised surface and varying reflections across the individual sections of the design.

The embroidery was mounted on bottle green badge cloth, known as flaschengrün. This very dark blue-green material replaced the earlier grey badge cloth inherited from Reichswehr practice in late 1935 and became one of the characteristic features of early Heer insignia.

A lesser-known detail is that the gold breast eagle formed part of a broader system used to distinguish German Army general officers: the change from silver to gold was also reflected in several other uniform fittings, including cap insignia, cords, buttons and belt buckles. The breast eagle could therefore identify general-officer status even before the rank shown on the shoulder boards was visible.