WW2 GERMAN WOUND BADGE IN GOLD BY FRIEDRICH ORTH OF VIENNA

Die struck constructed solid backed badge with an early war gold wash. The badge is in the form of an embossed, vertically oval, laurel leaf wreath encompassing an embossed profile of a M35 pattern helmet with a high relief swastika to the centre, superimposed over crossed swords on a pebbled base field. The plain solid reverse has a thick 'coke bottle' vertical pin and applied catch. The reverse is well marked with the embossed manufacturer’s numerical code ’L/14’ indicating manufacture by Friedrich Orth of Vienna.

The wound badge was originally established on the 3rd of May 1918 by King Wilhelm II to recognise the sacrifice of those wounded during WWI. The badge was instituted in three classes, of black, silver and gold with the class bestowed reflecting the number or severity of the wounds received. On the 22nd of May 1939 Adolf Hitler reinstituted a slightly modified version of the wound badge with the addition of a swastika to the WWI pattern badge for award to German volunteers who had been wounded supporting the Spanish Nationalist Falangist Generalissimo Francisco Franco against the communist allied Republican Loyalist party in the Spanish Civil War. (July 1936 to March 1939). With the outbreak of WWII, on September the 1st 1939, Hitler once again re-instituted another slightly modified version of the wound badge by altering the WWI pattern helmet on the badge to the newly designed M35 style helmet. The badge was awarded to both military and uniformed non military personnel and later (March 1943), to civilian personnel who received wounds as a result of enemy actions. The gold wound badge was the highest of the three classes and was awarded for five or more wounds, or if the individual was totally disabled.