Ost Front Medal Group

Product Description: This Ost Front Medal Group is a nice display. The award, packet, and award document have been collector mounted, with a custom cut mat. The medal is a nice example, with most of the original silvering remaining, and all of the original detail. The correct medal ribbon is clean and bright. The typical tan paper packet bears the designation of the award on the front, printed in black ink. The original document for the award was issued by a medical replacement unit to a Gefreiter named Georg Manus. It is signed by a doctor and acting Abteilung commander, and shows that the medal was awarded in August 1942, though the document itself is dated February 1944. The document and packet have been mounted to the paper backing with Scotch tape. We will let the next owner decide if they would like to remove them. This is a tastefully done, eye-catching display. The overall condition rates as excellent.

Historical Description: The Eastern Front Medal (Medaille “Winterschlacht im Osten” 1941/42) was a German military campaign decoration awarded to all Axis personnel who met specific criteria pertaining toduty on the Eastern Front between November 15, 1941, and April 15, 1942. This was the bitter, horrible first winter on the Eastern Front, in which millions of men who were unprepared for the brunt of the Russian winter were forced to fight in often inhuman conditions. The award was designed by SS-Unterscharführer Ernst Krauit. The obverse featured a striking Wehrmacht eagle on a massive, static swastika, surmounted by a Wehrmacht steel helmet and hand grenade. Early examples of this award were tombak, with later issues being struck from zinc. The medal had a chemically darkened finish, with silvering on the rim and to the helmet and hand grenade motif. It was suspended from a red, white and black striped ribbon. On field uniforms, only the ribbon was worn; the medal could be worn as part of a medal bar on dress uniforms. To earn this award, soldiers had to have served within a specific geographic region that had been officially designated as the area of the Eastern Front. Within this region, to qualify for the award, ground soldiers had to have experienced 14 days of active combat, or 60 days of continuous service in a combat zone. Soldiers who were wounded in combat or who suffered frostbite severe enough to merit the award of a Wound Badge were also eligible for the Eastern Front Medal. Luftwaffe soldiers had to have flown 30 combat sorties over the Front to qualify. In 1943, the award criteria were expanded to allow for awards to non-combatants who had served within the area of the Front. By the time award of the Eastern Front Medal ceased in September 1944, over three million of the medals had been awarded.

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