Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is one of the most tremendous captured German flags/banners we have ever offered. This enormous 6⅓ x 19 foot HJ Youth banner is signed by 28 soldiers with their addresses within the center swas, but on the sides of the swas there are two lists of men’s names, one with gold stars stitched next to them, and the other with purple hearts stitched next to them. These are the lists of men killed in action & wounded in action within the unit. After the war, this banner was taken home, and someone, likely the wife of the soldier, hand-stitched every single name on the flag as well as the symbols to preserve their legacy forever. Because of this work, every name and word on this banner can be read crystal clear.

The banner was captured by men of the 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) of the 2nd Mechanized Cavalry Group.

In July 1944, the 2nd MCG landed in Normandy as part of General Patton's Third Army. Their early assignments during the Battle of Normandy included rear area security, attempting to disrupt the activities of German infiltrators. They were then attached to General Troy Middleton's VIII Corps during Operation Cobra, and served as a flank security and reconnaissance element for the 4th Armored Division. The cavalry scouts performed such daring reconnaissance missions that their German foes gave them the nickname, "Ghosts of Patton's Army." In August, the 2nd MCG conducted recon of the city of Nantes and aggressively used its light armor and firepower to probe the edges of the Wehrmacht's defense.

As the Third Army began to advance east, the 2nd MCG protected the vulnerable rear and supply lines over a large frontage of 45 miles between Nantes and Angers, as well as the area west of Nantes. In small patrols, the cavalrymen screened the main drive east and disrupted German movement in the Rennes-Nantes Corridor for ten days until 23 August 1944. Now assigned to XII Corps, the 2nd MCG began moving east toward Lorraine. On 26 August, the 42nd Squadron attacked a German regimental-sized unit near Carisey, protecting the southern flank of the 4th Armored Division as it drove on Troyes. On 30 August, the Dragoons led the XII Corps assault across the Marne River, with the 2nd Squadron in front of the 80th Infantry Division and the 42nd Squadron in front of the 4th Armored Division. By 2 September, the drive reached the Moselle River near Toul and the 2nd Squadron began scouting for possible crossing points. Despite a failed crossing attempt by 80th Division troops against stiff resistance, the 2nd MCG was active in scouting and screening during this period. On 4 September, B and F Troops of the 42nd Squadron defeated a column of 1,000 German soldiers attempting to attack the XII Corps flank by massing direct fire from their light tanks, and indirect fire from artillery units.

This is a phenomenal banner with tons of provenance, making this a great research project. There are so many names to research and stories to uncover on this phenomenal piece. Comes ready for further research and display.

AH believed German youth to be the future of his 3rd Reich. The HJ AH Jugend or HJ) was formed officially in 1935, and with the exception of NSDAP ideology indoctrination was very similar to the Boy Scouts. Beginning at about the age of ten years, both boys (AH Jugend) and girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel) were enlisted in the Party-run organization. The The Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ) was the junior branch of the HJ, for boys aged 10 to 14.

History of the HJ National Youth Organization:
In 1922, the Munich-based NSDAP established its official youth organization called Jugendbund der NSDAP. It was announced on 8 March 1922 in the Völkischer Beobachter, and its inaugural meeting took place on 13 May the same year. Another youth group was established in 1922 as the Jungsturm Adolf “AH”. Based in Munich, Bavaria, it served to train and recruit future members of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the main paramilitary wing of the NSDAP Party at that time.

One reason the HJ so easily developed was that regimented organizations, often focused on politics, for young people and particularly adolescent boys were a familiar concept to German society in the Weimar Republic. Numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I. They were created for various purposes. Some were religious and others were ideological, but the more prominent ones were formed for political reasons, like the Young Conservatives and the Young Protestants. Once AH came onto the revolutionary scene, the transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focused on AH was swift.

Following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch (in November 1923), NSDAP youth groups ostensibly disbanded, but many elements simply went underground, operating clandestinely in small units under assumed names. In April 1924, the Jugendbund der NSDAP was renamed Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung (Greater German Youth Movement). On 4 July 1926, the Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung was officially renamed HJ Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend (HJ League of German Worker Youth). This event took place a year after the NSDAP Party was reorganised. The architect of the re-organization was Kurt Gruber, a law student from Plauen in Saxony.

After a short power struggle with a rival organization—Gerhard Roßbach's Schilljugend—Gruber prevailed and his "Greater German Youth Movement" became the NSDAP Party's official youth organisation. In July 1926, it was renamed H -Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend ("H” Youth, League of German Worker Youth") and, for the first time, it officially became an integral part of the SA. The name H -Jugend was taken up on the suggestion of Hans Severus Ziegler. By 1930, the Hjugend (HJ) had enlisted over 25,000 boys aged 14 and upward. They also set up a junior branch, the Deutsches Jungvolk (DJ), for boys aged 10 to 14. Girls from 10 to 18 were given their own parallel organization, the League of German Girls (BDM).

In April 1932, Chancellor Heinrich Brüning banned the H Youth movement in an attempt to stop widespread political violence. However, in June, Brüning's successor as Chancellor, Franz von Papen, lifted the ban as a way of appeasing “AH”, the rapidly ascending political star. A further significant expansion drive started in 1933, after Baldur von Schirach was appointed by H as the first Reichsjugendführer (Reich Youth Leader). All youth organizations were brought under Schirach's control.