Wound badge post ww1 or ww2

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Gewehr41
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Wound badge post ww1 or ww2

#1

Post by Gewehr41 » 01 Dec 2019, 13:26

Did happen that for post war mutilations or wound had in war, aggravated after the war a veteran could get the wound badge? for example if a leg was badly wounded and after the war was amputated, did a veteran ask a wound badge, for example in Weimar Republic or West Germany?

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Simon H
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Re: Wound badge post ww1 or ww2

#2

Post by Simon H » 02 Dec 2019, 13:37

The criteria for the award of the wound badge was for injuries sustained during the war. It would not have been awarded after 1945 and the potential recipient would not have qualified for it after 1918, even if the initial wound had occurred during wartime.
WW2 Battlefield Relics: German Erkennungsmarken Identification.


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HPL2008
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Re: Wound badge post ww1 or ww2

#3

Post by HPL2008 » 02 Dec 2019, 20:13

As for WWI Wound Badge:

Due to the many difficulties of the immediate post-war period, awards of the badge (and other WW I decorations like the Iron Cross) to eligible persons dragged on for several years after the end of hostilities. The first cut-off date for awards of the badge was 31 December 1925, after which no more awards were to be made.

Awards were again resumed under new legal regulations in 1936. At that time, award criteria for the badge were retroactively modified. Originally, the grade of the badge solely depended on how many times the recipient got wounded (with multiple wounds sustained in a single incident counting only as one): Black was for getting wounded 1 or 2 times, silver for 3 or 4 times and gold for 5 or more times. This had always been considered an injustice by frontline soldiers: 3 superficial soft-tissue injuries with no lasting damage got you a silver badge, but if you had your arms and legs blown off as your first or second injury, you only got the black badge. Under the new statutes*, silver was also awarded for loss of a limb or an eye, deafness, facial disfigurement and brain injuries and gold for cases meeting two criteria for the silver badge, blindness and severe brain injuries. (This was carried over to the WW2 badge as well.)

Thus, not only those who for some reason or the other never got a Wound Badge at all now submitted requests for an award, but also many men who had become eligible for a higher grade than they had initially been awarded and thus could "upgrade" their original award. Such retroactive awards were made until 1945.


As for the WW II one:

Under § 7 of the new Ordensgesetz of 1957**), those who were able to prove that they had sustained injuries due to the war were entitled to wear the WW2 Wound Badge in the appropriate grade, even if they had not been awarded it during the war. They were required to have this confirmed by the proper official authorities to whom they had to prove their being injured in the war. Technically and legally, the badges were not "awarded", though. (Also, entitled holders had to purchase the badge at their own cost.)


*) Verordnung über das Verwundetenabzeichen of 30 January 1936, RGBl. I p. 47
**) See: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ordeng/__7.html

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Simon H
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Re: Wound badge post ww1 or ww2

#4

Post by Simon H » 04 Dec 2019, 17:55

Thank you for the comprehensive reply to this one HPL2008.
WW2 Battlefield Relics: German Erkennungsmarken Identification.

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