That’s Ed Harris as a top Wehrmacht sniper in Enemy at the Gates. I’m wondering about the ribbon and miniature Nazi eagle over his top button, just below the Iron Cross. Thanks.
I think it is a wound stripe. The eagle would, I think, represent valor or that the wound was during a medal-winning escapade of some sort.
I guess it’s the ribbon of a second-class Iron Cross ( black and white ) on lapel besides second tunic button. The Eagle is just a regular German Eagle, not nazi. Many many countries have eagles, starting in the Middle East long before Rome.
Info here ( on another film I haven’t seem, an Indiana Jones forum ).
It has to be noted that the Germans didn’t do the fussbudget stuff and one could get away with a lot, provided one’s sergeant didn’t care at the start.
The German Army had a bewildering variety of insignia and the national symbol, the breast eagle, was no exception. There are two broad categories- enlisted, or issue eagles, and those privately purchased for officers. In practice, just about any combination of uniform and eagle can be found in original photos. The German troops appear to have been just as confused with the array of options and far less concerned with regulations than Living Historians.
*Which one is correct? Any and all of them. An M36 tunic is perfectly correct with an M43 eagle and M43 tunics sometimes had M36 eagles. It’s quite probable that any and all types were sewed onto any and all models of uniform at some point by some soldier. Not the answer you wanted? Sorry, the Germans were a mess. As said, the “M43” eagle is the most common. Officers often wore enlisted eagles on their uniforms.
*
At The Front Shop
Their easy attitude extended to offering the Iron Cross to Jewish Finn officers…
Not all eagles are equal. The egal we see in the picture is absolutely a nazi eagle. It is entirely different from the Weimar Republic, Imperial, Holy Roman and Prussian eagles. It was introduced in 1935, and there were various versions of it (looking to the left, looking to the right, straight wing tips, rounded wing tips), and they all sat atop a wreathed swastika. The design is radically different from any other eagle previously used in Germany.
It may “not be nazi” in the sense that this particular eagle isn’t the design that was used on party members’ uniforms, but the regular Weahrmacht eagle. It is, however, very much nazi in the sense that it was only in use during the nazi era, and features the swastika, a nazi symbol.
Yes, you can say that the swastika predates nazi Germany, but when a German wears a swastika, we all know that it most probably doesn’t represent the Hindu symbol of eternal rotation.
Agreed it’s a Nazi eagle - the wreathed swastika is small but clearly visible.
Following up on what Evan wrote:
*The Iron Cross 2nd Class came with a ribbon and the cross itself was worn in one of two different ways:
- From the second button in the tunic for the first day after award.
- When in formal dress, the entire cross was worn mounted alone or as part of a medal bar.
Note that for everyday wear, only the ribbon itself was worn from the second buttonhole in the tunic.*
From here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Cross#World_War_II
Thanks, all!