Cloth wound badge in wear!

[WEISNER]

Greetings Gang, I wonder if any of you have a photo showing a cloth wound badge in wear? I have seen examples for sale yet never seen any proof they were worn!

Thanks for any consideration of posting a photo, and be sure to watermark your photo so it does not wind up on ebay for sale.

Happy Hunting!

Kevin

[panzer1432]

wb

I have never seen a cloth wound badge.

Mike

[WEISNER]

Hello Mike, as they say... Who ever they are? "you learn something new every day!" Now for you to view a cloth wound badge, one of two for sale on John T's site.

http://www.germanwarbooty.com/item-w...und%20w162.htm

Now for the photo showing it in wear, I would love to see one!

Kevin

[panzer1432]

wb

I have seen one now !

Thank You,

Mike

[WEISNER]

I have seen one now !

Thank You,

Mike

Yes you have Mike, I had not either until recently. I wonder if any long time collectors (notice I did not say old collectors LOL) remember seeing one of these around for sale loose or sewn on a tunic in the 50's or 60's?

Happy Hunting!

Kevin

[Don Bible]

I had never seen or heard of a cloth wound badge until two weeks ago. I was allowed by the daughter of a WW II veteran to view many medals and badges along with original envelopes and medal ribbons which had been in a wooden box her father sent home from the war in 1945.

The items were to be sold three days later in an estate sale. There was about 10 Wound badges in cloth that were uncut. I intended to buy one or two examples of the cloth wound badge, but everything went so high that I ran out of money early in the game, in order to get two pieces I especially wanted.

I had known this veteran for well over 60 years and was in school with his younger brother and sister during WW II. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that EVERY piece in that sale went back to 1945 or earlier.

From the sale I bought an ultra rare Heer paratrooper badge in fine condition and a scarce CHOLM campaign shield. By that time I was out of money. Other items sold were a tank destruction strip, and a German Cross in gold (cloth) still in the cellophane.. along with several cased medals and badges

Everything appeared and smelled unused but very old. The box was only discovered by the daughter recently in an obscure part of the house. Her elderly mother is now disabled and they were selling the house and furniture.

Only about four dealers and collectors showed up for the sale but there was fierce competition for such rare pieces. At least four other experienced collectors of German militaria saw the wound badges in cloth and one or two of them bought the entire lot.

[12thPanzer]

I've never seen one in a period photo either Kev. I remember reading somewhere that they weren't meant to be put on tunics, but sport shirts or something? could be wrong though...

[WEISNER]

Interesting remembrance Don, sound like you got two fine items there and I appreciate your digging the old thread up and sharing this most interesting day with us!

Bob, first I hope all is well with you and your's! second, I think you are onto something there, perhaps there were sporting events for war wounded and these were worn during the games as a badge of pride! thanks for your post and perhaps pointing me in the right direction! Now to research sporting event photos from the period!

Kevin

[cesky67]

There is a good site at www.heimatsammlung-essen.de where they have a section on wound badges( go to deutsche militaria then orden and then verwundetenabz.) and on there it say that in 1944 there was a hold up with getting the metal for the badge as the reason it was made in cloth. Examples of it are shown in the article.

[Don Bible]

cesky67---this is an excellent site with great pictures of ALL the German wound badges from both World Wars along with documents and shipping tags.

There are great photos of all three of the WWII era wound badges in cloth, along with much documentation.

Although the entire long article and picture captions is in German----

I THINK THAT ANYONE WHO HAS ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE AT ALL, WILL LEAVE THIS SITE FULLY CONVINCED THAT THE WOUND BADGE WAS INDEED PRODUCED IN CLOTH------AND SHIPPED TO THOSE WHO HAD EARNED IT !!

cesky 67---Thank you for this great link that should settle this question once and for all!

[12thPanzer]

That is an excellent site. very informative, in many aspects....

Kev, I knew I had read that sports shirt thing somewhere!! Here is a caption from Feldgrau.com ..... which I must have read at some point. lol :

"A cloth version of the Wound Badge in Black is believed to also have been made, but this would not have been worn on the uniform or tunic and was most likely for use on sport or work attire."

Note how they don't mention the silver or gold though. I personally had never seen a Gold one before going onto that site Cesky67 linked.

[WEISNER]

Wow great site cesky67 and thanks for the link! So the cloth badge had a glue material backing to prevent fraying. also I think they say in German that this type has not been found in wear in a photo? I agree with Don's statement and am myself now convinced they were awarded.

I should think had it been distributed and awarded it would have been popular with Panzer crews to say the least, as any cloth badge would have been for obvious reasons.

well there must be a photo out there which perhaps the owner of has no idea it shows a cloth specimen in wear, perhaps with time it will surface?

Kevin

Edit; the site linked to is great and well worth a look, great section on entrenching tools and other fieldgear besides the section on awards!