Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice condition rare WWII German Kriegsmarine (Navy) EM/NCO's Belt Buckle (Koppelschloß). The Navy originally began the war using the standard Reichsmarine pattern that they had used for well over a decade. On 4 August 1936, a new pattern was introduced nearly identical to the standard Wehrmacht pattern buckles, but instead of the Field Gray color used by the Heer, they usually painted them a gold color, which was usually gilt but could be painted on steel examples.

The Buckle design features a smooth outer field with central, high relief, embossed Wehrmachtadler (Armed Forces Eagle) with down swept wings to slightly domed center, encompassed by an oak-leaf cluster to bottom and bears the Wehrmacht motto GOTT MIT UNS, (God [is] with us), on the top. The oak-leaf cluster and script are on a ribbed background and encircled by an inner and outer simulated twisted rope border. Nice aluminum construction box buckle with a smooth background. The buckle is in good condition, and is a single piece injection molded and crimped example, with the claw being bent steel finished with bronze paint. The gold wash on the body is relatively well retained on the front, though it is worn through on places on the insignia.

The rear has much more gilding present, probably 80% retained, and is marked R. S. & S. by the securing loop, for Richard Sieper & Söhne of Lüdenscheid, a city with a very large garment accessories industry. The leather tab is unfortunately missing.

A lovely example of a rare Aluminum Kriegsmarine buckle with an exceptional eye appeal!

The Kriegsmarine was the navy of NSDAP Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe, of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.

In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the Kriegsmarine grew rapidly during German naval rearmament in the 1930s. The 1919 treaty had limited the size of the German navy and prohibited the building of submarines.

Kriegsmarine ships were deployed to the waters around Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) under the guise of enforcing non-intervention, but in reality supported the Nationalists against the Spanish Republicans.

In January 1939, Plan Z, a massive shipbuilding program, was ordered, calling for surface naval parity with the British Royal Navy by 1944. When World War II broke out in September 1939, Plan Z was shelved in favor of a crash building program for submarines (U-boats) instead of capital surface warships, and land and air forces were given priority of strategic resources.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (as for all branches of armed forces during the period of absolute NSDAP power) was Adolf H, who exercised his authority through the Oberkommando der Marine ("High Command of the Navy").

The Kriegsmarine's most significant ships were the U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II. Wolfpacks were rapidly assembled groups of submarines which attacked British convoys during the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic but this tactic was largely abandoned by May 1943 when U-boat losses mounted. Along with the U-boats, surface commerce raiders (including auxiliary cruisers) were used to disrupt Allied shipping in the early years of the war, the most famous of these being the heavy cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer and the battleship Bismarck. However, the adoption of convoy escorts, especially in the Atlantic, greatly reduced the effectiveness of surface commerce raiders against convoys.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Kriegsmarine's remaining ships were divided up among the Allied powers and were used for various purposes including minesweeping. Some were loaded with superfluous chemical weapons and scuttled.