As a result of a question posed on another forum I started to look into these HJ shooting badges. So, we have the three levels of badge:
Basic
Scharfschütze (silver wreath)
Meisterschütze (gold wreath)
The HJ shooting book shows three levels of shooting:
Anfängerklasse
Ausbildungsklasse
Sonderklasse
Three badges and three levels of shooting. Seems pretty 'open and shut' especially when the leading reference books make a definite link between level and badge. I have to say that until I started looking into this a little more that I also believed that each shooting badge was linked to a shooting level in the shooting book. This actually isn't the case though:
A boy had to progress through the three stages of shooting proficiency (Anfängerklasse, Ausbildungsklasse, Sonderklasse)listed in his shooting book in order to qualify for the award of the basic HJ shooting badge. I have a shooting book from 1941/42 and it shows that the boy went through all three levels and was finally awarded shooting badge number 197,326 so clearly the normal shooting book seems to have nothing to do with the award of the silver and gold classes of the badge and this at a time when both the silver and gold class of the badge were in existence. Various sources show the introductory date for these as 1938 and 1940 respectively.
On another forum I found a thread containing pictures of all three classes of the badge taken by the grandson of the recipient. All are authentic and the award certificate for the silver and gold class is exactly the same as that for the basic badge. This begs the question of whether there was a special HJ shooting book for these other badges. The standards of shooting would clearly have to be higher than for the normal badge but I've never seen a HJ shooting book other than the one usually encountered. Does anyone have any information on the award (and award criteria) for these badges? Were they perhaps awarded for the achievement of exceptional results at a Bann or HJ-Gebiet shooting competition?
Basic
Scharfschütze (silver wreath)
Meisterschütze (gold wreath)
The HJ shooting book shows three levels of shooting:
Anfängerklasse
Ausbildungsklasse
Sonderklasse
Three badges and three levels of shooting. Seems pretty 'open and shut' especially when the leading reference books make a definite link between level and badge. I have to say that until I started looking into this a little more that I also believed that each shooting badge was linked to a shooting level in the shooting book. This actually isn't the case though:
A boy had to progress through the three stages of shooting proficiency (Anfängerklasse, Ausbildungsklasse, Sonderklasse)listed in his shooting book in order to qualify for the award of the basic HJ shooting badge. I have a shooting book from 1941/42 and it shows that the boy went through all three levels and was finally awarded shooting badge number 197,326 so clearly the normal shooting book seems to have nothing to do with the award of the silver and gold classes of the badge and this at a time when both the silver and gold class of the badge were in existence. Various sources show the introductory date for these as 1938 and 1940 respectively.
On another forum I found a thread containing pictures of all three classes of the badge taken by the grandson of the recipient. All are authentic and the award certificate for the silver and gold class is exactly the same as that for the basic badge. This begs the question of whether there was a special HJ shooting book for these other badges. The standards of shooting would clearly have to be higher than for the normal badge but I've never seen a HJ shooting book other than the one usually encountered. Does anyone have any information on the award (and award criteria) for these badges? Were they perhaps awarded for the achievement of exceptional results at a Bann or HJ-Gebiet shooting competition?
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