Original WWII German Army (Heer) LARGE Artillery Bandsman Swallows Nest” Taken By A U.S. Veteran Certified

WWII German Army (Heer) “Cutoff” Artillery Bandsmen Swallows Nest  Brought Home By A U.S. Veteran Certified.  Germany has a long history of producing some of the best master musicians in the world including the renown composers Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Hitler’s personal favorite Richard Wagner. Military bands date back to the middle ages and were originally utilized for acoustic signaling long before eventually evolving into a form of entertainment. The German military recognized the beneficially morale effect of music and along with larger units and Headquarters bands, German infantry battalions, excluding Jäger, (Light Infantry), and Gebirgsjäger, (Mountain Troop), battalions, each had a fife and drum band that usually consisted of six buglers and drummers and a Drum Major and a wide variety of acceptable music was readily available to these musicians. Along with their instruments the musicians wore the distinctive, identifying, “swallow’s nest”, insignia when performing with the band. The “swallow’s nest” insignia was utilized from at least the 1800’s if not earlier and was carried over into the Imperial, the Weimar Reichswehr, (National Defence Force, Circa 1919-1933), and the Third Reich eras with minor variations. The Reichswehr era “swallow’s nests” consisted of seven, or eight, wide vertical stripes on a colored background field and all had a fringe applied to bottom edge until regulations of 1923 abolished the fringe for drummers and fifers but maintained the fringe for Drum Majors. Regulations of September 1935 altered the seven/eight, wide vertical stripes on the “swallow’s nests” to nine, narrower, stripes. A  Reichsheer swallows nest, roughly, 24cm long and 10cm high at the center is half-moon shaped, “swallow’s nest” consisting of a red wool waffenfarbe base (denoting artillery) with seven, alternating, evenly spaced, vertical matt silver braid, with a zig-zag pattern that gives the appearance of squares. A 3cm horizontal braid extends horizontally to the bottom. The bright white wool base shows through as a narrow, vertical stripe between each of the tress stripes. The reverse has a protective, feldgrau fabric backing handstitched in place. The reverse of the “swallow’s nest” has five, evenly spaced, attachment hooks. The “swallow’s nests” are in overall good condition with minor age, nap wear and usage toning.  In good condition with some  wear. Complete museum documentation (COA) Provided. Certified by The Gettysburg Museum of History. 100% guaranteed to be authentic. The Gettysburg Museum of History does not support or condone Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party and is only offering this as a historic relic. Please see our other items.    Also note when browsing our web site there are several pages of items, at the bottom of the list look for other page numbers . Don’t Miss It! SEE OUR VIDEO ON WAR TROPHIES (we talk about cutoffs)