Please Help ID This Badge (moderator-marine frontspange)

[usmedalman]

I bought a small group of US Army WW2 medals and insignia that belonged to an AAF sergeant who served from 1944 to 1946 and was with the occupation forces in Frankfurt. I found this badge in the box with his other things. There is no swastika on it so I don't know for sure if it is Nazi era or maybe earlier.

The badge is bronze colored on the front and back, although the pictures show the back as more gray, it is bronze too but not so much as the front.

Any help would be appreciated.

[usmedalman]

Here is another picture of the back.

[djpool]

It's the Marine Close Combat Clasp. Whether it's wartime or a 57 version is beyond my expertise. WR Jim

[usmedalman]

It's the Marine Close Combat Clasp. Whether it's wartime or a 57 version is beyond my expertise. WR Jim

Thanks for the info. I am surprised that this award was made without a swastika.

[Norm F]

Hi Guys,

That's the style that was produced after 1957, but it's actually a cast reproduction of Rudolf Souval's "57 version". Here's the Souval type upon which that copy was based.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's a comparison of the two that's allows you to clearly see the crude flaws and casting pits in the copy compared with the Souval.

[djpool]

Thanks for the info. I am surprised that this award was made without a swastika.

I believe the wartime badges were also made without the swastika, just like the 57 versions. Again not my collecting area. Here's one for sale on the Ruptured Duck site.

https://therupturedduck.com/products...e-combat-clasp

Jim

[Norm F]

Hi Jim,

The one on Ruptured Duck is an "original" 57-style example which they have mistakenly called wartime, and is worth about $75. Everyone makes a mistake.

There are many discussion threads in the KM badge section to learn more about these, but briefly, the Marine Frontspange was anuthorized by Dönitz in late wartime on November 19, 1944, but not commercially produced before the end of the war. Wartime examples are "field-made" on board ship like the examples seen this thread and seen in period photos like this one of sailors on the Prinz Eugen (photo from Martin W.). The later '57-era design was a professional version based upon that look.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Thanks for the info. I am surprised that this award was made without a swastika.

According to Klietmann, this was the prototype wartime design that never made it to production which does indeed include a swastika. But the actual onboard ship-made examples were improvised by sailors, not politicians, and that's the version that inspired the '57 design.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's the original announcement of the sanctioned '57 style badge from February 1, 1958 (published in Ordensjournal in January, 2008). This type was then mass produced commercially by S&L and Souval.

[djpool]

Here's the original announcement of the sanctioned '57 style badge from February 1, 1958 (published in Ordensjournal in January, 2008). This type was then mass produced commercially by S&L and Souval.

Hi Norm,

Thank you for the clarification. I did read some of the threads on the KM badge forum, but the ones I read weren't all that helpful. Your comments explained it more clearly. Jim

[usmedalman]

Here's a comparison of the two that's allows you to clearly see the crude flaws and casting pits in the copy compared with the Souval.

Thanks for your help, Norm.

[Dennis J]

The one on Ruptured Duck is an "original" 57-style example which they have mistakenly called wartime, and is worth about $75. Everyone makes a mistake.

Yea right.

Dennis J

[BubbaZ]

I agree, a cast fake of '57 style clasp.
Cheers,
Hubert