German Army Officer Breast Eagle – Bottle Green Backing

The German Army breast eagle, or Brustadler, was the national emblem worn on Heer uniforms and was positioned on the right breast above the tunic pocket.

Its design featured a stylised eagle with outstretched wings holding a wreath containing a swastika. Versions intended for officers were generally produced to a higher standard, frequently using silver-coloured metallic or aluminium thread, with both hand-embroidered and machine-embroidered variations known.

This version features the characteristic bottle green backing (flaschengrün), a very dark blue-green shade used for Heer insignia cloth from the mid-1930s. The contrast between the bright metallic embroidery and the dark backing was especially pronounced on early field-grey tunics and Waffenrock service and parade uniforms.

The exact shape of the eagle and the execution of its feathers varied between manufacturers. On higher-quality embroidered examples, different sections of the wings were worked with metallic threads running in different directions, producing greater visual depth and changing reflections across the surface.

A lesser-known detail concerns the backing itself: some of the earliest Army breast eagles were still produced on grey badge cloth inherited from Reichswehr uniform practice. The change to bottle green badge cloth in late 1935 therefore provides a useful chronological detail when distinguishing certain early patterns of the insignia.