Original German WWI & WWII Belt Buckle, Award & Insignia Grouping – 5 Items Original Items

Original Items: Only One Set Available. This is a very nice collection of German WWI & WWII Belt Buckles, Insignia & Awards, which was brought back from the European theater by a USGI after the war was concluded. The grouping cover a wide range of the types of items that soldiers typically collected.

This lovely set includes:

– One German WWII War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords and Ribbon – missing hanger ring. In really good cosmetic shape, except for the missing hanger ring, which could be source and repaired. The medal has a lovely oxidized patina, and the ribbon is in great shape.

– One German WWII Kriegsmarine Küstenartillerie (Coastal Artillery) EM/NCO Steel Belt Buckle. This shows moderate wear from service, but still retains much of the dark navy blue finish, which indicates use by the Coastal Artillery.

– One Imperial German Prussian M1915 Pattern Plated Steel Single Piece Stamped Belt buckle. This has the insignia stamped directly into the body of the buckle, a design that carried into the post war and WWII designs. It looks to be nickel or chrome plated, which possibly happened post war for parade use.

– One German WWII Army Heer Signals Officer Field Litzen Collar Tab – Left Side. This shows the correct bullion construction on a green badge cloth backing. The central stripes are the correct Zitronengelb (lemon-yellow) piping, the Corps Color (Waffenfarbe) used by the Heer Army Signal corps, responsible for setting up and maintaining communication equipment.

– One German WWII Era HJ National Youth Organization BeVo Embroidered Armband Insignia – Unissued with RZM Tag. This is in great shape, just as it was when cut off the strip of insignia that came out of the machine.

A wonderful totally genuine grouping perfect for the German Medal and Insignia collector.

War Merit Cross (Kriegsverdienstkreuz) with Swords (for Combat)
This was a decoration of NSDAP Germany during the Second World War, which could be awarded to military personnel and civilians alike. By the end of the war it was issued in four degrees, and had a related civil decoration. It was created by Adolf AH in October 1939 as a successor to the non-combatant Iron Cross which was used in earlier wars. The award was graded the same as the Iron Cross: War Merit Cross Second Class, War Merit Cross First Class, and Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross. The award had two variants: with swords given to soldiers for exceptional service “not in direct connection with combat”, and without swords for meritorious service to civilians in “furtherance of the war effort”. As with the Iron Cross, Recipients had to have the lower grade of the award before getting the next level.