Der Zug Sample Article Number 2
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Enlisted Men’s Collar Insignia: The
History Behind the “Litzen” by Brian Bell
weapons, uniforms, and tactics employed by the French. In this era of
military history, it was common for
armies to adopt similar styles of
military clothing. For the Prussian
army, this included the creation and
use of a variety of laces that were
used to enhance the appearance of
military uniforms. In many armies
it was common to use cloth or metallic lace around the collars of uniforms. Unique or distinct guard
units often received the most detail
when it came to uniform design.
The level of uniform quality made
the men who served in these units
“elite” in the sense that they often
hand the best training and also the
best uniforms.
During the 19th and the early
part of the 20th Centuries (prior to
the First World War) the military as
a profession was considered a prestigious enterprise. There was no
greater reflection of this prestige
than the uniforms of the various
As WWII re-enactors we often
new style in art that was called Emtake for granted the insignia that are
pire style.
worn on our uniforms. We often
The development of the double
see these items as something that
bar collar insignia closely parallels
needs to be present
that of the heraldic eagle. Hein order to look
raldic eagles have for a long
proper and historitime been the emblems of
cally correct. Little
European countries such as
do we often know
Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
about the history of
In 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte,
these insignia
under the throne of the new
whether it be their
empire, declared the “the
designs, color variarealm of the eagle'“. Along
tions, and reasons
with this declaration came
for being worn. Not
various forms of heraldic
knowing the answer
symbols directly acquired or
often means we
adopted from ancient Roman
cannot answer any
heraldry. Since no European
questions about
country since the time of the
them if asked by
Roman Empire had acquired
someone passing
the power and might that
through our lager
France did
(camp) at a public
under Naevent. One of the
poleon, the A close-up of the double pattern of Garde Litzen
items I have been
use of such worn on the collar by some 19th Century Prusasked about more
symbolism sian Regiments. Garde Litzen could be found in
Prussian Line Infantry
white or yellow fabric in a wide variety of patthan any other is the
became
terns depending on the unit.
collar litzen we all
widewear on our tunics. This article will
spread among
deal with the history of the “litzen”
many armies
and how they became a prominent
who were influpart of the enlisted man’s uniform.
enced by
As with all military insignia, the
France’s military
double bar insignia worn on the
victories. In fact
collar of every infantryman’s tunic
it was Napoleon
(including officers) has a long hiswho proclaimed
tory of development. The birth of
his country to be
the litzen can be traced as far back
the heir of the
as the Roman Empire. During the
great Roman
days of early civilization, the RoEmpire.
man Empire played a significant
Like other
and influential role in shaping the
countries, the
culture of central Europe (and speearly Prussian
cifically Germania). Roman milimilitary was
tary symbols became an inseparable
greatly influpart of the ornamental motifs of the
enced by the
Der Zug Sample Article Number 2
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men who wore uniforms
decorated with this type
of lace. While officers
were generally entitled
Continued from page 5
to wear a higher quality
version of the litzen,
during the early days of
armed forces. One might even surthe Prussian military the
mise that before the advent of
use of this insignia was
modern sports that the men in milipermitted only for wear
tary service of their country might
by enlisted men who
be considered the "team" that repserved in prestigious guard units.
resented national, regional, or local
During WWI the collar litzen
pride. In Europe most large comslowly
began to appear on field unimunities had "Honor Guards"
forms of the common infantryman.
made up of societies finest who
While not widespread, its use by
would don their fancy if impractiselected military states serving under
cal uniforms for ceremonial occathe Kaiser’s combined military can
sions and to escort visiting dignioften be seen in use during the latter
taries. Following the Napoleonic
part of the conflict. Following GerWars military fashmany’s defeat in
ion was at its peak
WWI, the collar
as the combatants
litzen was abanand their heirs on all
doned by not forsides of the conflicts
gotten altogether.
relived and reveled
Military traditions
in their past glories.
inspired by the
During the height
Prussian army
of this time in miliunder the directary fashion the
tion of officers
Prussian army
who helped readopted the litzen as
build Germany’s
a standard form of
military during
uniform decoration
the 1920’s and
for use on tunics
1930’s inspired
worn by guard units.
the resurgence of
The actual design of
military tradition.
the litzen can be
These men reinRoman columns like the ones
traced back to the
shown above are the inspiration
troduced the inimage of the Roman
for the design of the collar litzen.
signia for wear on
stone column. In
both officer’s and
Roman architecture,
enlisted
men’s
uniforms
of the
as well as military structures, the
Reichswehr.
During
this
time many
stone column represented the noenlisted
men
wore
high
quality
offition of “strength and solidarity”.
cer’s grade insignia that differed
The double bared litzen insignia is
from those used during WWII.
actually a modified form of the
When Hitler assumed control
image of the Roman column
over
Germany in 1934 and estabplaced on its side and slightly anlished
the Wehrmacht as the comgled for appeal. Worn on either
bined
military
forces of Germany, he
side of the collar, this image carcontinued to permit the collar litzen
ried the message of strength for the
The History of the
Collar Litzen
to be used on the uniforms of both
officers and enlisted men.
After being redesigned for modern appeal, collar litzen worn by
enlisted men took the form of a
stylized and angled litzen similar to
those used in early Prussian uniforms of the 19th Century. These
new litzen were slightly smaller
that previous examples with the
addition of having colored highlights denoting army branch of service (waffenfarbe). The new collar
litzen had five basic components
which included the:
Dopplelitze: This portion of the
insignia contained the main horizontal bars angled slightly to the
rear both top and bottom. The entire insignia was produced by a machine woven process on a continuous strip of woven material. The
Dopplelitze were produced in a variety of colors starting with white
(1934-1936) and quickly moving to
shades of dull gray (1936-1945)
often referred to as “mouse gray“.
The dopplelitze was generally produced in artificial rayon silk but can
also be found in cotton.
Kragenpatte: This was the bottle
green wool backing to which the
Dopplelitze was sewn. The color of
the wool varied from very dark
Continued on Page 9
Der Zug Sample Article Number 2
green to field gray depending on
the maker and time period in which
they were constructed. The backing was supported by a glue treated
burlap fabric. Beginning as early
as 1939 the Dopplelitzen was often
sewn directly to the uniform collar
without the Kragenpatte backing.
This practice became the standard
about 1941 although many insignia
with dark green backings continued to be used from old stocks
through May 1945.
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Fig. 1: Litzen with Cloth Backing (Dark Green Universal Stripes)
Hand Sewn Tack Down Points (same on right side)
Right Collar Example
Machine Sewn (straight stitch same on top)
Mittelstreife: The wide stripe in
the center of the two parallel Dopplelitze. This stripe was generally
the same color as the Kragenpatte
backing. However it could also be
found in black, green, or mouse
gray colors for all branches of service. The color remained consistent and did not change from one
branch of service to another.
Litzenspiegel: These were the
center lines running down the middle of each of the main bars. The
woven lines or “lights” as they
were termed by many soldiers were
different in color from one service
branch to another. White was the
color that denoted infantry. In an
effort to standardize supply and
transfer of men and material between various branches of the
army, beginning in 1941 many
litzen were produced in mouse
gray color without branch waffenfarbe. These insignia were
“universal” in nature and made it
more efficient to transfer men from
one unit to the next without the
need for changing collar insignia or
re-issuing a new uniform.
The first pattern of collar litzen
issued as part of the new insignia
introduced in 1934 was a version
that was white or light gray in
color with black or dark green
Fig. 2: Litzen with Cloth Backing (White Infantry Stripes)
Tack Down Points (same on right side)
Right Collar Example
Machine Sewn (straight stitch same on top)
Folding Technique on Backside of Litzen
litzenspiegel and mittelstreife. This
was soon changed to a light gray
color with a dark black or green
center stripe with litzenspeigel
“lights” in the correct branch color
for the wearer. These early versions were sewn to the kragenpatte
backing directly to the uniform collar. As the war progressed, the use
of the kragenpatte backing was
eliminated and the litzen were sewn
directly to the uniform collar. In
addition these mid– to late-pattern
insignia were generally mouse gray
in color with dark green litzenspeigel and mittelstreife. The last
type of litzen elminated the dark
green portions of the insignia making the entire litzen appear uniformly gray in color.
There were several different
methods by which litzen were sewn
to a
Der Zug Sample Article Number 2
to a tunic. In most cases, all the insignia was applied directly at the
factory prior to delivery to supply
center’s and military warehouses or
bases. The following methods were
used to apply the insignia to the collar:
Litzen with Kragenpatte: Litzen
with backing were applied directly
to the collar as a single patch using
machine straight stitch all around
the rectangular patch. The litzen
itself was applied to the kragenpatte
in a technique the employed both
hand tacking and machine straight
stitch (see Figure 1). The exact
process was the same when the
litzen was sewn without the backing
cloth as described below. In some
cases, the litzen was applied to the
kragenpatte by machine sewing all
around the insignia in straight stitch.
However, this is not as common as
the technique that used both hand
and machine stitching.
Litzen without Kragenpatte: In
many cases the litzen was applied
directly to the collar. This was done
in an effort to shorten the production
time of uniform manufacture and
also to save on wartime materials.
The process involved cutting a right
and left side litzen from a manufacturer’s roll. The angle of the cut
determined which insignia was to be
applied to the right or left side of the
collar. The edges of the insignia
were folded under as well as the
inside corners. In many cases the
strings on top and bottom of the
backside of the litzen were also removed (see Figure 2). These were
generally steam pressed into shape
to initially form the material in the
proper shape. Because original
litzen are made of artificial rayon
silk, the steam pressing was sufficient to hold the material in shape
while sewing. Reproduction litzen
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Der Zug, Seite 7
are made of cotton and this requires
the collar. This technique mirrored
additional steam pressing in order
that used on late war eagle insignia
to get them to hold their proper
applied to the right breast of the
shape upon application. When the
field combat tunic. Its important to
insignia was ready to be sewn to
note that as re-enactors we should
the collar, it was positioned with
do our best to replicate the actual
the top front edge angled backtechniques used in the manufacture
wards. Some insignia can be seen
of our reproduction uniforms.
where this was not done at all.
Litzen were not hand sewn to the
These variations are due to the apcollar but machine sewn (or a complication technique of the worker
bination of the two) as already deemployed in the process of applyscribed.
ing the insignia. In general, the
In summary, a few final notes
insignia was designed to have an
regarding collar litzen are worth
angular look rather than being
mentioning. Many wartime tunics
straight or blocked on the ends.
saw service through May 1945 with
When positioned correctly, the
pre-1939 types of litzen applied. In
litzen was
addition,
hand
many tunics
tacked
received surusing gray
plus stocks
silk thread
of insignia
on the
which refront and
sulted in
rear sides
litzen with
as well as
kragenplatte
corners.
backings beThen the
ing applied
insignia
to field gray
A factory roll of uncut collar litzen.
was macollars that
chine
were not botsewn in the same thread color
tle green as found on the M36 tunic.
down the top and bottom inside
As one can clearly see from waredges. This sewing technique mirtime photos, a variety of uniforms
rored that used in the Prussian uniand insignia variations were used
forms of the 19th Century and prothroughout the war. While all of
vided the proper look intended for
them were made with the same
the litzen. As one might imagine,
standards, it is clear that in a warthe extra steps needed in this proctime economy many expected staness took additional time and was
dards are not held to as a result of
soon eliminated. When needs dicshortages and the need to expedite
tated, the litzen was properly
production.
folded as previously described and
Now that you know the history
then machine straight stitched all
behind the litzen that you wear on
around the outer edges. Most late
your collar, the next time you are
war tunics show this form of expeasked to describe what the insignia
dient application. While not as
means you will have a better undercommon as the techniques destanding of how to explain the
scribed here, in some cases litzen
litzen and its place in German uniwere machine “zig-zag” stitched all
form history!
around the outer edges directly to