Original Item: One-of-a-Kind. This is an absolutely fantastic piece which recently came to IMA from an old collection. This is a massive scale German Army Reichsadler which was painstakingly carved out of Knotty Pine, standing at an impressive 43” in height with a wingspan of 33 ½”!  The craftsmanship is superb, and approximates the usual workmanship observed on period German wood carvings.We photograph it next to an M34 helmet for scale purposes and to show that the eagle in the decal is very similar to the massive carved eagle. The helmet is not included with purchase.

The Eagle was captured and sent home by a member of the U.S. Army’s  7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division in the summer of 1945. The Eagle likely had come from a German Army Barracks, Administrative Building, or possibly a General Officer’s home or quarters. We believe that originally the Eagle was mounted on a plinth with the Swaz mounted separately. The GI who souvenired the Eagle simply removed the eagle from the plinth and fashioned a square base for the sphere to stand on, which is contemporary to the period. The GI had cut off the  left wing shipping, which had remained removed until a short time ago, when it was professionally reattached, and is now barely noticeable.

Interestingly, members of the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Regiment were the first to liberate A.H.’s home, the infamous Eagle’s Nest in the town of Berchtesgaden on May 4, 1945. Whether this had come from the Eagle’s Nest we do not know, but we can only speculate that it had come from one of the areas liberated or occupied by the 3rd Division in Southern Germany and Austria during that period of time. Originally when we first viewed this eagle several years ago a capture paper and the original shipping label was included with the eagle, which was sadly lost by the intermediary. Therefore, the exact date the Eagle was shipped, and the officer’s name is unknown.

The Eagle shows some cracking due to age, which is natural for a large piece of wood this size, but is certainly solid. It is unquestionably a genuine article, showing signs of honest age and wear from handling and storage over the years in a dry environment.

This would make an absolutely fantastic centerpiece for a WWII German collection! This is the first we have ever had the pleasure of offering! Truly a one of a kind piece!

Berchtesgaden:
Adolf had been vacationing in the Berchtesgaden area since the 1920s. He purchased a home in the Obersalzberg above the town on the flank of the Hoher Goll and began extensive renovations on his Berghof in the following years. As other top Third Reich figures, such as Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, Heinrich Himmler, and Albert Speer, began to frequent the area the Party began to purchase and requisition land in the Obersalzberg.
In order to serve as an outpost of the German Reichskanzlei (Imperial Chancellery), Berchtesgaden and its environs (Stanggass) saw substantial expansion of offices, security, and support services, mainly on the Obersalzberg. Included in the town were a new railway station, with a reception area for Adolf and his guests, and an adjacent post office. The Berchtesgadener Hof Hotel, where famous visitors such as Neville Chamberlain and David Lloyd George stayed, was substantially upgraded.
Even though a feared Alpine Fortress last stand of the Regime in the Alps failed to materialize late in World War II, the Allies launched a devastating air raid on the Berchtesgaden area in the spring of 1945. The 25 April bombing of Obersalzberg did little damage to the town. On 4 May, forward elements of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division arrive and received the town's surrender.

The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division in 1945:
The division advanced through the defenses and crossed the Rhine, 26 March 1945; then drove on to take Nuremberg in a fierce battle, capturing the city in block-by-block fighting, 17–20 April. The 3rd pushed on to take Augsburg where it liberated thousands of forced laborers from the Augsburg concentration camp, a force labor subcamp of Dauchau, and Munich, 27–30 April, and was in the vicinity of Salzburg when the war in Europe ended. Elements of the 7th Infantry Regiment serving under the 3rd Infantry Division captured Adolf's retreat near Berchtesgaden