Hitler Youth marksmanship medals

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''X''
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Hitler Youth marksmanship medals

#1

Post by ''X'' » 28 Apr 2007, 23:40

http://www.hmsbrinmaric.com/badges.htm

Image

How many types of marksmanship medals were there available,just one ? Were they awarded at shooting competitions? About how many members of Hitler Youth received a marksmanship medal ? I heard that the criteria was nearly excellent shooting at a 50m target,any more information ?Last but not least,were the most talented Hitler Youth marksmen chosen for Sniper schools and did any famous WW2 German Sniper emerge from the HJ ?

Thanks in advance,
Giorgos

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#2

Post by eligius » 29 Apr 2007, 13:26

Hi, I can answer your questions in part. There were four shooting badges in total:

DJ shooting badge
HJ Anfängerklasse (Beginner). This is the badge you show in your post.
HJ Asbildungsklasse (Advanced)
HJ Sonderklasse (Special class)

In period publications the advanced badge was sometimes referred to as being a Scharfschützen-Abzeichen (sharpshooter badge). The german word for sniper is Heckenschütze and I have never seen the badge called this in a period publication. Despite this people today call it a sniper badge. I Don't know why.

The DJ used air rifles and the HJ .22 calibre small-bore.

The HJ badges could be achieved within the Bann/Gefolgschaft at locally organised shoots under the supervision of the local HJ-Schiesswart. They could also be achieved during training at the Wehrertüchtigungslager or alternatively I have read in period publications that the HJ Sonderklasse was also awarded during national/area shooting championships if the shooter achieved the required scores during the competition.

Here are the requirements for each class:

Target is a circle divided into 11 rings and a bullseye. Outer ring worth 1 point. Bullseye worth 12 points. Distance for HJ 50m. Target is changed after 5 shots.

Anfängerklasse:

Prone position with weapon supported. Must achieve 25 points with no single shot being worth less than 4 points unless target is hit 5 times.

Prone position weapon unsupported. Must achieve 20 points with no single shot being worth less than 3 unless target is hit 5 times.


Ausbildildungsklasse:

Prone position with weapon supported. Must achieve 35 points with no single shot being worth less than 6 points unless target is hit 5 times.

Prone position weapon unsupported. Must achieve 30 points with no single shot being worth less than 5 unless target is hit 5 times.


Sonderklasse:

Prone position with weapon supported. Must achieve 45 points with no single shot being worth less than 8 points unless target is hit 5 times.

Prone position weapon unsupported. Must achieve 40 points with no single shot being worth less than 7 unless target is hit 5 times.

Kneeling position. Must achieve 30 points with no single shot being worth less than 5 unless target is hit 5 times.



Number of badges awarded:

DJ. Around 280,000.
HJ Anfängerklasse: around 280,000.
HJ Ausbildungsklasse: around 32,000.
HJ Sonderklasse: around 900.

Hope this helps.

Edited to add a sentence.


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#3

Post by eligius » 29 Apr 2007, 13:53

Here are the badges:

From the top - DJ.
HJ-Anfängerklasse.
HJ-Ausbildungsklasse.
HJ-Sonderklasse.
Attachments
shootbook1.jpg
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eligius
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#4

Post by eligius » 29 Apr 2007, 13:54

...and a HJ target where someone has ignored the rule for changing the target after five shots :)
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''X''
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#5

Post by ''X'' » 29 Apr 2007, 16:10

Thank you very much for this great information!

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#6

Post by eligius » 29 Apr 2007, 17:25

No problem, glad I could help :)

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Re: Hitler Youth marksmanship medals

#7

Post by eligius » 23 Dec 2008, 16:55

Sorry for dragging this old thread to the top but my original post badly needs an update. I looked into these badges in greater depth and my original answer is actually wrong in many places.

So, the updated answer:

Post-war reference books sometimes classify the HJ shooting badges incorrectly so here's an explanation of how these badges were awarded and their correct classification. The DJ shooting badge is explained towards the end of this post.

So, we have the three levels of HJ shooting badge:

Basic
Scharfschütze
Meisterschütze

...and the HJ shooting book which shows three levels of shooting:

Anfängerklasse
Ausbildungsklasse
Sonderklasse

Three badges and three levels of shooting... This led to some confusion in post-war reference books and I have to say that until I started looking into this a little more that I also believed that each of the above shooting badges was linked to a shooting level in the shooting book like this:

Anfängerklasse.............................................. Basic badge
Ausbildungsklasse......................................... Badge with silver wreath
Sonderklasse.................................................Badge with gold wreath

This isn't the case though and the following is actually the correct classification:

Anfängerklasse )
Ausbildungsklasse )...................Basic badge
Sonderklasse )

Scharfschütze...........................Badge with silver wreath

Meisterschütze..........................Badge with gold wreath




So lets look at the requirements for each of the badges:

Basic shooting badge:

Date of introduction: 1st of January 1936

The weapon used was the 5.56mm DSM (Deutsches Sport Modell)

All boys started in the Anfängerklasse. Once they had satisfied the marksmanship requirements in this class they were moved to the next highest group. The boys had to maintain the level of this next group otherwise they would be 'demoted' back down to the previous level. The aim was to reach the Sonderklasse. Once the standards required in the Sonderklasse had been met the boy was then eligible for the award of the basic HJ shooting badge (DJ leaders were also eligible to shoot for this badge).

The following requirements had to met for each class:

The target distance was 50m. The target was a square of thick paper containing a circle (33cm diameter) with 12 rings. The outer ring was worth 1 point, the inner ring 12 points.

Anfängerklasse:

Prone position with weapon supported. Must achieve 25 points with no single shot being worth less than 4 points unless target is hit 5 times.

Prone position weapon unsupported. Must achieve 20 points with no single shot being worth less than 3 points unless target is hit 5 times.


Ausbildildungsklasse:

Prone position with weapon supported. Must achieve 35 points with no single shot being worth less than 6 points unless target is hit 5 times.

Prone position weapon unsupported. Must achieve 30 points with no single shot being worth less than 5 unless target is hit 5 times.


Sonderklasse:

Prone position with weapon supported. Must achieve 45 points with no single shot being worth less than 8 points unless target is hit 5 times.

Prone position weapon unsupported. Must achieve 40 points with no single shot being worth less than 7 points unless target is hit 5 times.

Kneeling position. Must achieve 30 points with no single shot being worth less than 5 points unless target is hit 5 times.

After completing these three classes, a boy had qualified for the basic badge.


Scharfschütze

A further level of shooting badge, the Scharfschütze badge, was introduced in 1938 to reward the particularly good marksmen. It was accompanied by a special Scharfschütze shooting book. The requirements for the award of this new badge were as follows:

Standard HJ target at 50m.

Prone (weapon supported) - 10 shots must achieve at least 80 points
Prone (weapon unsupported) - 10 shots must achieve at least 75 points
Kneeling position - 10 shots must achieve at least 60 points
Standing (weapon unsupported) - 10 shots must achieve at least 45 points

Prone (weapon unsupported) - 5 shots )
Kneeling - 5 shots ) must achieve a combined total of
Standing - 5 shots ) 120 points

Rapid fire - 3 shots - all must hit the scoring area of the target. Time to complete: 1 minute

The following, and last, part of the Scharfschütze test was shot on a 'Figurenscheibe'. There is an example of this target shown later in the thread

Prone (weapon unsupported) - 5 shots three of which must hit the target.




Meisterschütze:

On the 3rd of December 1941 a further, and final, class of badge - 'Meisterschütze' was introduced along with a Meisterschiütze shooting book.

The requirements for the award of this new badge were as follows:

Standard HJ target at 50m.

Prone (weapon supported) - 10 shots must achieve at least 85 points
Prone (weapon unsupported) - 10 shots must achieve at least 80 points
Kneeling position - 10 shots must achieve at least 75 points
Standing (weapon unsupported) - 10 shots must achieve at least 65 points

Prone (weapon unsupported) - 5 shots )
Kneeling - 5 shots ) must achieve a combined total of
Standing - 5 shots ) 140 points

Prone (weapon unsupported) - 10 shots. All ten must hit the target.
(The following test was shot on the Figurenscheibe target shown later in the thread):
Prone (weapon unsupported) - 5 shots rapid fire in 40 seconds. 4 must hit the target.
(The following test was shot on a pistol Figurenscheibe):
Standing (weapon unsupported) - Rapid fire - 15 shots. Shots to be taken in groups of 5 and within 30secs. 130 points must be achieved with 15 shots.

Only the highest awarded level of the badge was worn on the HJ or DJ uniform and they were worn on the right breast pocket and below the Leistungsabzeichen. Adults wore the badge on the left breast pocket of any uniform.

The numbers of each badge awarded by 1943 were:

HJ basic shooting badge: 273,545
Scharfschütze: 31,904
Meisterschütze: 852



DJ shooting badge:

Introduced in 1939

The DJ shot air rifles as opposed to the 5.56mm used by the HJ. The rifles used by the DJ were:

Mars Junior
Haenel Junior
Diana Junior

The DJ shot at a distance of 8m. The target was a 12cm diameter circle with 12 rings spaced 0.5cm apart. The target was attached to a receptacle which caught the rounds as they passed through the target.
As they only fired air-rifles, the DJ was not restricted to shooting on club ranges and were able to take their 'range' with them to any open space.

The DJ also shot in three classes:

Anfängerklasse
Ausbildungsklasse
Sonderklasse

The successful progression through all three groups resulted in the award of the DJ shooting badge.

The requirements for each of the classes were as follows:

Anfängerklasse

Seated at table - weapon unsupported: 5 shots must achieve 15 points
Seated at table - weapon supported: 5 shots must achieve 20 points
Prone - weapon supported must achieve 20 points
Prone - weapon supported: must achieve 25 points

Ausbildungsklasse

Seated at table - weapon unsupported: 5 shots must achieve 30 points
Seated at table - weapon supported: 5 shots must achieve 35 points
Prone - weapon supported: 5 shots must achieve 30 points
Prone - weapon supported: 10 shots must achieve 65 points

Sonderklasse:

Seated at table - weapon supported: 5 shots must achieve 40 points
Prone - weapon supported: 5 shots must achieve 35 points
Prone - weapon supported: 10 shots must achieve 75 points
Prone - weapon unsupported: 5 shots must achieve 25 points
Prone - weapon unsupported: 5 shots must achieve 30 points
Prone - weapon unsupported: 10 shots must achieve 65 points

The DJ shooting badge had been awarded 273,545 times by 1943.

Okay, we're up to date now. Phew :)

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Re: Hitler Youth marksmanship medals

#8

Post by Sturmkreuz » 31 Jan 2009, 14:29

Glad you helped him but next time mention the source:
http://www.hitlerjugend.net/research-f8 ... s-t229.htm

eligius
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Re: Hitler Youth marksmanship medals

#9

Post by eligius » 16 Oct 2010, 13:42

Eh? That isn't the source. This is: http://www.hj-research.com/forum/f49/fo ... teria-283/

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