HJ Leaders Gold Sports Badge in wear

[Nordmark]

........

[Garry M.]

Just to expand a little on my post earlier in the thread; when I say that badge was worn on the right I mean it was worn this way on a HJ uniform*. I'm not up on uniform regs for the armed services but it would appear that the golden leader was treated as a sports badge and worn on the left. As has been pointed out though, it can be seen in wear on both left and right.

*Even within the HJ there was confusion because the golden leader, unlike the HJ achievement badges, was a pure sports award and it was unclear which badge had precedence. It was decreed in 1939 that the golden leader was to be viewed as the highest level achievement badge and that as such it would replace the HJ achievement badge in silver on the right breast pocket.

[Wim Vangossum]

What had me scratching my head was the HJ ss division , and the photo that started this thread, as it appears so close I did a double take...
With 475 being a known maker of original ss hat eagles, and a while back i saw a 475 marked screwback Iron


If you build up on this and keep an open mind, the green paint could be for camouflage? Combat awards like the GAB were available in matt finish, especially for soldiers in the front line.
But proof all this with a Golden HJ Sport badge is like banging with your had against a concrete wall. It gives you a headache!!

Regards, Theo
(Wim Vangossum)

[juoneen]

A few more thoughts on this old thread .

Although we may never know how or why this badge was marked this way I posted at the beginning of this thread that resembeled the one in the photo, I have figured out that the HJ's first year to be allowed to fight in combat was the year 1939.(as that makes sense now with the /39 at the end of the number)

We also , to my knowledge have never determined what the beginning numbers were for these golden leaders badges(1-consecutive or ??) , or if there is a master list of recipients(maybe someday, or maybe this was a special order badge the same number as the original award to be worn just in combat instead of the shiny original issued badge?)they claim medals companys would fill special orders,... but it seems to me the 4,000 serial number range is a rather low number .

(I'm sure that others may have lower numbered badges, but how could you tell the year they were awarded , without an award document?)

[Garry M.]

There is no mystery with this badge Juoneen. An original would be marked M1/101 - as previously stated on the thread. The LDO code shouldn't be there and it's wrong anyway - as previously stated on the thread. The badge construction, catch, pin, stamps: all wrong.

The procedure for obtaining replacements of the HJ Führersportabzeichen is clearly documented. We know how people ordered them, from where and how much they cost. We also know how the serial numbers were allocated. You don't need the documents for a badge , although that would of course be optimal. Just as useful are documents for badges above and below yours - as many as you can find. Combine that information with period regulations and you can then see how things worked.

We run a project over on the Hitler Youth Forum to collate such documents and although we have very few award documents for the HJ-Führersportabzeichen we have lots for the other achievement badges (HJ DJ BDM and JM) and as I say, it is clear how these badges were awarded.