Luft Panzer Badge

[DaveJ]

I was able to photograph and examine the luft panzer badge pictured in Niemann's medal book, bottom photo page 525.
I am sharing it here for you to see.

[DaveJ]

here is the reverse, the green tint is from the scanner

[Richard]

I've never actually seen the badge other than in pictures. Many years ago I saw a wehrpass in a collection along with some other items of a LW member that had an entry for the LW panzer badge. The badge he received however, was the regular panzer badge.
Richard V

[Joseph D'Errico]

Hi Dave,

Any chance of getting some good quality digital pics of this piece. I mean thank you for posting it. Their is much I cannot tell from the pic that would really close some loose end on this award for me.

I hope this is possible. Do you own the piece ?

Best,
JD

[DaveJ]

Joe,

I can do that, I am going out of town today, send me a reminder and I will get some high res photos out to you. I do not own this badge but know the owner,
Dave

[Joseph D'Errico]

Hi Dave,

Thank you kindly


Very much looking forward to them.

Best,
JD

[Ludwig]

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According to some of the "experts" of this forum, this must be a fake!

"There are no known photos showing this badge being worn, so it was never produced..."

Personally I like it very much. You can also find the Luftwaffe Ground Assault badge by the same maker. There is one for sale in this forum.

Very nice. Looking forward to more detailed photos.

[Don D.]

According to some of the "experts" of this forum, this must be a fake!

"There are no known photos showing this badge being worn, so it was never produced..."

Personally I like it very much. You can also find the Luftwaffe Ground Assault badge by the same maker. There is one for sale in this forum.

Very nice. Looking forward to more detailed photos.

Actually, we know the award was instituted. We just haven't seen one awarded nor talked to anyone from the HG panzer division that saw one during the period.

Could there have been boxes of them awaiting issue? sure. Are there fakes out there? sure.

Lack of period proof makes this award problematic for the collector. You either believe in it or you don't.
Don

[Gene]

I spoke with two former HG Division members when I was stationed in Germany, and they never saw this badge (or the numbered ground assault or LW close combat clasp). I'll go with their recollection.

[Brian S]

I have a vet friend still alive who spent 1.5 years on the Eastern front and never saw a numbered PAB. I think the guys who earned those were all in command positions with regard to his Div./Rgt. Just because he never saw one in wear doesn't mean it wasn't produced and worn. And we have photos in wear.

This badge looks exactly like a Ground Assault in construction. But we have no photos of the badge in wear. So many photos of Luft guys on the fields before flight, etc., HG Div books, and not a single photo?

[Don D.]

Just because he never saw one in wear doesn't mean it wasn't produced and worn. And we have photos in wear.

This badge looks exactly like a Ground Assault in construction. But we have no photos of the badge in wear. So many photos of Luft guys on the fields before flight, etc., HG Div books, and not a single photo?

Exactly. We also know of several award entries in solduchs but where are the photos?? You would have thought there would have been an award ceromony for the first couple of guys and that it would have made news in one of the wehrmacht newspapers or something????

I don't say that they don't exist but I can blindly except one as original because I have nothing to compare it to that is original.
I would love to see one because then my Luft GAB would have some company.
Don

[Brian Dentino]

I have heard both sides to this dilema. I have read in books in the past that this is a fake and that this award never physically existed. I have read that it existed only on paper but that the award was never actually produced. And now I hear that we may have a sighting of a real, physical specimen. What is the REAL truth on this, or does no one have the answer. I suppose that this could be just like Hermann Goering's Grand Cross of the Knights Cross. Of course, that was seen in many period photos, but this Luft. Panzer badge could be along those same lines, no? I am confused.

Brian Dentino

[Brian S]

Scarey similarities...

[Ludwig]

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There are in fact wartime pictures of this badge in the Luftwaffe Verordnungsblatt. I think you can find a facsimile in Forman´s book.

Has anyone seen a wartime photo of the Sniper´s cloth badge being worn? No? So they were never produced? How about the Sawfish badge for the Navy small battle arms units?

I have been in contact with a number of "HG" vets and no one had seen a WL Tank battle badge, but that doesn´t mean they weren´t produced.

[Don D.]

Wartime pictures or drawings? Let's see one in wear. I'm not saying that they weren't produced, just that there hasn't been one presented with provenence that can be used as an example for comparison.
As far as the simularity with the late war Luft Ground Combat Badge there are also differences. The pin on the luft pab looks fatter and the hinge pin looks very thin. Late war badges with the hinges and catch cast in are the easiest to fake. Perhaps an analysis of the metal could determine originality but you would have to damage the badges to do it.
Brian, can you do side by side comparisons of the front and back, same size? The details of the eagle and wreath might provide clues.

The K-man badges, luft sea battle badge and sniper badges are all heavily faked. All were instituted pre-May 45. Which were produced and of those which were actually awarded? I don't have the answers to those questions and would be leery of buying any of those awards.
Don