The history of the WWII German Sword -
The sword has been a great weapon in battle as well as a symbol of prestige and status for many centuries and
for various regions and countries. German armed forces and civilian organizations employed swords during WWII.
They were used as a symbol of status. For dress occassions rather than combat.
This section of the website takes a look at some of the swords of the Nazi era.
SWORD CHARACTERISTICS
Several of the swords were issued in paper bags. Here is an example of an Army sword and the issue bag. The bag
contains information such as the name of the manufacturer, which in this case is F.W. Holler from the town of
Solingen. Additional information has been hand written on the bag.
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Other Third Reich edge weapons such as daggers were also issued in envelopes.
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Sword tags were manufactured from a variety of materials.
The example shown here is a combination of tin with a paper tag attached at the bottom.
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Other items issued with the sword may include a tag with the manufacturer's logo.
The tags themselves have become collectible because they are hard to find as little importance was given by the
owner to this piece making it one of the first things that was disposed.
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The handle was decorated with a variety of additions. many of the swords were wire wrapped. This process consisted
of runing a single or multiple lines of wire in a spiriling pattern down the length of the handle.
The example on the left has a single strand of multi-piece wire. The example on the right shows a double strand of
wire.
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With very few exceptions the wire wrapping was done using silver wire. The various designs could be picked from
catalogs available at the stores where the swords were sold. Over the years the wire wrapping can become undone
and in some cases it is lost.
THE ARMY SWORD
The following are two examples of the handles used by the German Army. The one on the left is known as the "Dove" head
because of the shape of the pommel. The one on the right is known as the "Lion" head, which has red stone eyes, this is
one of the nicest looking pommels.
The spine of the handles can be decorated in a variety of ways. The following are some examples of how it is
done.
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The top example has decorations that involve branches and leaves where vitually the entire spine is
covered. The example in the middle is decorated with a series of patterns where some are rectangular while
others are circular.
There were times when the decorative engravings extended beyond the spine and into the pommel, as it is the
case of the Luftwaffe sword featured on this page. The pommel has been decorated with a leaf and acorn
pattern.
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As far as pommel styles is concerned there are some differences that are worth noting.
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The picture on the left shows a highly decorated German Army officer wearing the Army sword.
The scabbard has a single suspension ring which is attached via the use of a bracket. All items are painted black.
The uniform of the soldier comes with a heavy duty leather belt with restangular metal braces attached to it (bottom
and top). The upper brace is used with the shoulder cross-strap.
The lower brace is the one where the hanger attaches.
A cloth and leather hanger was looped through the uniform belt. The opposite end was secured to the suspension
ring of the sword.
Swords had to be purchased by the soldier. He had the choice to get a simple model or one that has upgrades to
make it more attractive.
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THE LUFTWAFFE SWORD
The German Air Force during WWII was known as the Luftwaffe. it was founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946. The officers from the Luftwaffe were allowed to wear three basic types of edge weapons with their dress uniforms;
The First model dagger ,
which was replaced by the Second Model Luftwaffe dagger.
The last edge weapon soldiers could wear was the sword.
The design of the sword consists of a round pommel with a swirled swastika in gold. Displayed on both sides. Dark corynthian leather handle. Silver wire wrapped. The handguard consists of dounward pointing curved sections.
The scabbard is also wrapped in blue Coruynthian leather. The throat and chape are decorated with aluminum inserts.
The throat has a ring on each side. The sword hanger attaches to the rings. It consists of a semi-circular section of blue leather. The top part has two aluminum, rectangular shaped structures, one mounted on top of the other. A belt goes through the rectangular pieces in order to attach the sword to the uniform.
The center of the crossguard has a circle with a swirled swastika in the center which matches the one found in the pommel.
This is a photograph of a high ranking Lyuftwaffe officer at a special event.
Notice that the officer is wearing his Luftwaffe sword. It is hanging from his
side via the use of a leather strap which attaches to his uniform belt and the
sword hanger.
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The front and back of the Luftwaffe sword are shown here. The back clearly illustrates the blue leather hanger.
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The pommel of the Luftwaffe sword consists of a circle with guilded swirl swastikas in front and back. The
example shown here has engravings of oakleaves on the edge as well. This was a special order item which
cost more than the traditional pommel.
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| WWII GERMAN ARMY SWORD EXAMPLES |
The more examples of a particular dagger that are examined the more knowledge is gained about the particular piece.
Differences in construction can be better appreciated. Markings on the blade and other sections are better understood.
The overall knowledge about the dagger is expanded.
This section of the site provides several examples of the army dress swords.
| WWII GERMAN SWORD MANUFACTURERS |
The following is a list of some of the companies that manufactured the various swords during WWII. It is important to
note that this may not be a complete list as it is possible that others manufacturers exist.
| Count |
Unique Makers |
Company |
Description |
Logo |
Comments |
| 1 |
1 |
Eickhorn |
Squirrell holding a sword. Big letter E in front of squirrel. Name of town below. |
 |
Solingen |
| 2 |
1 |
F.W. Holler |
n/a |
n/a |
Solingen |
| 3 |
1 |
Paul Weyersberg |
Consisting of an oval shape with the name of the company above and the name of the town below. |
 |
Solingen |
| 4 |
1 |
|
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
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