Original Item: Only One Available. This a very nice example of an original WWII German Naval Kriegsmarine Flag Car / Automobile / Vehicle Fender Pennant (German: Wimpel) used for officer vehicles. This pennant measures 8 1/2 inches in hoist by 12 1/4 inches in fly and is double sided. It is constructed of blue wool fabric around a central cotton layer, with a yellow cotton border and a yellow Kriegsmarine gold and brown embroidered eagle. It has a blue cotton header, with an integral elastic cord inside, which has a spring clip on either end. Both clips are fully functional, though they have lost their original nickel plating, and show oxidation.

Overall condition very good, showing light wear and staining from service. The front side has just a few small holes, while the reverse side has more, most likely from moth damage over the years. Most likely it was on display, and moths favor the dark, so they went for the back. Other than that, the colors are still vibrant, and it definitely is a colorful and attractive design. Ready to display!

More on the Kriegsmarine
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 ship-building 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 favour 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 AH, 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.