Krim Shield

Product Description: This Krim Shield is an outstanding, near mint piece. The base metal is magnetic steel. This material has held the original finish extremely well over time. The factory applied bronze finish is beautiful, with dull golden tones that contrast with deeper brown color in the recesses of the design. This shield is crisply stamped, with bold, impressive detail. The backing cloth is typical wartime field gray wool. The wool retains the original surface nap, with only one tiny area of moth tracking, smaller than a pencil eraser. The reverse of this near mint Krim Shield still has the original buff colored backing paper. The edge of the backing paper shows regularly spaced tiny holes showing that this shield was machine stitched to a uniform sleeve. The outlines of the prongs can be seen, and the paper is complete and sound. This is a very eye-catching, choice piece, that would be difficult to upgrade.

Historical Description: The Krim Shield was a combat award of the German Wehrmacht, used to recognize the troops who fought on the Crimean Peninsula, on the Eastern Front, between September 21, 1941, and July 4, 1942. Crimea had been taken by the German Army Group South, specifically the 11th Army led by Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein.  The shield was officially instituted by Adolf Hitler on July 25, 1942, by a proclamation stating that the award would recognize the “heroic battles” in Crimea. The shield depicts a German national eagle and swastika emblem as well as a map of Crimea, along with the word “Krim” and the dates 1941 and 1942. It was worn on the left upper sleeve of the uniform. To qualify for the award, soldiers had to have participated on one of eight specific battles that were a part of the campaign, to have been wounded in action, or to have served 3 months, without interruption, in the Crimea region. Members of all branches of the Wehrmacht, including the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, were eligible for the award. The shield was made from steel, and later from zinc, and was issued affixed to a backing cloth that allowed it to be stitched to the uniform. Between 200,000 and 300,000 shields were awarded.

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