When hostilities began in 1939, on the enlisted Feldbluse or field blouse the eagle was changed from silver-white to matte grey for reduced visibility and in 1940 backings began to be produced in field-grey ( feldgrau). The war brought several variations to the breast eagle, although it should be kept in mind that none of them was replaced or de-authorized, and all were being worn side by side at war's end. The backing was "badge-cloth" ( Abzeichentuch), a close-woven velvetish fabric this was originally Reichsheer grey, but in late 1935 the renamed Wehrmacht Heer changed its Abzeichentuch color to a dark blue-green called flaschengrün (bottle-green). For enlisted uniforms it was jacquard-woven ("BeVo") or sometimes machine-embroidered in silver-grey rayon, for officers machine- or hand-embroidered in white silk or bright aluminum wire, and for generals hand-embroidered in gold bullion. On tunics this took the form of a cloth patch about 9 cm (3⅝") wide worn on the right breast, above the pocket. The design adopted, in silver for the Reichsheer (army) and in gold for the Reichsmarine (navy), was a stylized eagle with outstretched, beveled wings clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, later to be called the Wehrmachtsadler ("armed forces eagle"). The Reichswehr's visual acknowledgement of the new National Socialist reality came on 17 February 1934, when the Commander-in-Chief, Werner von Blomberg, ordered the Nazi Party eagle-and-swastika, then Germany's National Emblem, to be worn on uniform blouses and headgear effective 1 May. Insignia National Emblem: Hoheitszeichen or Wehrmachtsadler
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