Dunkirk Shield

[pantherv]

Hi all....I'm thinking of putting this rare shield up for sale on the e-stand. So before I do, I think it should be put up for discussion.

I posted the award on another forum about a year ago and was given the thumbs-up by a couple of notable collectors.

KR......Peter

[David S]

No disrespect intended or inferred

Since 'officially' only about 50 were awarded what provenance
do you have that this is one of the 50

I have seen a number of repros

[pantherv]

.....

No disrespect intended or inferred

Since 'officially' only about 50 were awarded what provenance
do you have that this is one of the 50

I have seen a number of repros

This was never an official shield....the number awarded was thought to be low but no-one knows the exact numbers.

I've never seen a repro....could you post a pic or a Link.

Peter

[Robert J.D.]

I wouldn't take a chance on it...

[Robin Lumsden]

It looks fine to me.

[Bill Gaynor]

Fifty issued, how many made ? Usually if a company is consigned to make a badge or medal didn't they get a minimum order that made it worth designing, setting up the dies and machinery to do so ? I am wondering if there were not boxes of these sitting around after they went to production.

[Robin Lumsden]

Usually if a company is consigned to make a badge..............

These were made by the troops themselves..............or at least by someone from the garrison inside the Dunkirk pocket.

They were worn on the side of the field cap.............like the windhund, Sardinia Shield, etc.

There are citations for these that have been posted some years ago on the forum.

[pantherv]

Fifty issued, how many made ? Usually if a company is consigned to make a badge or medal didn't they get a minimum order that made it worth designing, setting up the dies and machinery to do so ? I am wondering if there were not boxes of these sitting around after they went to production.

Bill, some history on the Dunkirk Shield

Konteradmiral Frederich Frisius had introduced, some time in January or February 1945, a small shield produced in thin stamped brass measuring 40 mm by 34 mm. The bottom of the shield is rounded and the top square. The edge running all the way round is gently rolled under and there is a small hole in each top corner, with one centrally at the bottom. These holes were there to allow the badge to be attached to the hat. I have seen three examples of this shield, two had no backcloth but the other one did. So, whether or not it was to have been awarded with a backcloth is a point of conjecture. The central device is the watchtower of Dunkirk with stylised waves in three lines on either side of it. To each side of the tower, in line with its top, is the date '1944' two numbers on either side. Across the top in small capitals is stamped, 'DUENKIRCHEN', and round the bottom of the shield is a chain of seven unbroken links. It is considered that there were only 50 awards of this very rare shield. There is a citation that clearly indicates that it was known as, 'Stoßtruppabzeichen' and that it was awarded, in this particular case, for participation in two raiding parties. Whether or not a citation was rendered with every award of the shield is unknown but an official entry was made in the pay book of each recipient to allow him the wearing of the shield. This entry and citation tends to make the award a more official decoration than some of the previous unofficial ones. It is possible that this shield was to reward members of the force who were engaged in such adventures as operation Blücher and would thus give rise to the very small number that were supposedly awarded out of a total garrison of 15,000. One known recipient of the award was Gefreiter Sigfried Rubusch, whose pay book was made up on 30.1.45 and had a piece of paper stuck into the last page stamped with the Dunkirk command stamp on 18.3.45. This gives rise to the possibility that the award was introduced as early as January 1945 and was issued to commemorate the coming to power of Hitler. Thus it could have been given for operations against the Czechs as early as October 1944 and this would account for the date '1944' appearing on the Shield. Another known recipient was Stabogefreiten Wilhelu Tjardes who received the award on 1 May 1945.







Dunkirk was surrounded by the allies after the D-Day invasion and held out until 9 May 1945. Hitler had decided that it was most important to turn certain ports in the Channel Islands and those situated on the west coast of France into fortresses, and this was made in response to Admiral Krancke's telegram which contained the following paragraph illustrating graphically the thinking of the fortress policy which encompassed La Rochelle, St. Nazaire, Lorient and Dunkirk. It has already been discussed that the principle of the production of a shield is in recognition of the defence of that fortress and gives rise to the production of this particular example. It is also therefore possible, but highly improbable, that shields exist for the other two fortresses. Krancke's telegram states, "It is absolutely essential that the most important harbours on the south and west coasts are denied to the enemy for the longest possible time... The navy will support the defence of the fortress and the fortress areas through the use of all available naval forces, and when these are lost the weapons and the men are to be used in the defence of the landward perimeters".



Needless to say, many of those supposedly fortress ports fell to the allies quickly. However La Rochelle, St. Nazaire, Lorient and Dunkirk remained uncaptured until the end of the hostilities. One of the last to surrender was Dunkirk and the garrisons of Nieuport and Ostend reinforced the German perimeter around the hinterland. The British forces surrounding the pocket were made of battle hardened Czechs. When the fighting in North Africa came to an end, the Czech troops in the Middle East returned to England where, in 1943, they formed into the 1st Independent Armoured Brigade Group. Its 4,500 men were organised in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Czech Armoured Regiments. In June 1944 the Czech Brigade landed in Normandy and on 9 October infiltrated the German positions in and around Dunkirk. The fortress pocket comprised of between 12,000 and 15,000 men, who were made up by units of the 226th Infantry Division, navy and Luftwaffe contingents. Konteradmiral Frederich Frisius who commanded the overall garrison put all these together into an ad hoc defensive force. The garrison exhibited its fighting capacity when on the dawn of 5 April Rear-Admiral Frisius opened operation 'Blücher'. This offensive, which could be counted as little more than a raid but enacted with such ferocity, panicked the unsuspecting British forces. The strength of the attack so confused the British headquarters that it was driven to issue orders to blow up the bridges that surrounded Dunkirk. Regaining its momentum the British headquarters mounted a counter-attack, which was supported by rocket firing typhoons, but even with this superior force they were unable to dislodge the determined German units from their newly gained front line positions. Frisius perceived the close proximity to the final collapse of the Third Reich and signalled the navy high command to establish whether his forces were included in the armistice, which had been signed at Lüneburg. Montgomery, obviously peaked at the Admiral's pugnacious defence of Dunkirk, had demanded that Frisius should be included in the armistice agreement. The O.K.M. had only one response to Frisius and that was that they would inform him verbally when he was to surrender. Reassured by his high command that his garrison was excluded, he was able to reject the terms offered by the allies. His military honour and that of his men was his only concern and if he held out until the general surrender, the allies could not claim to have defeated his gallant force. Frisius signed the surrender document when the war was indeed ended, on 9 May 1945, his honour and that of his men being upheld.

This information on the Dunkirk shield comes from Chris Ailsby's book ' Combat Medals of the Third Reich'

[Bill Gaynor]

Robin and Pantherv,
I apprecaite the information and education on this badge .
Regards,
Bill

[Don D.]

One known recipient of the award was Gefreiter Sigfried Rubusch, whose pay book was made up on 30.1.45 and had a piece of paper stuck into the last page stamped with the Dunkirk command stamp on 18.3.45. This gives rise to the possibility that the award was introduced as early as January 1945 and was issued to commemorate the coming to power of Hitler. Thus it could have been given for operations against the Czechs as early as October 1944 and this would account for the date '1944' appearing on the Shield. Another known recipient was Stabogefreiten Wilhelu Tjardes who received the award on 1 May 1945.

There is so much wrong with this statement that I don't know where to begin.

[pantherv]

......

I would have thought it more likely the date 1944 refers to the point at which the garrison in Dunkirk became the Fortress (Festung) Garrison.