Condition: Excellent
Maker: Steinhauer & Luck
Base Material: Tombak
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Product Description: This tombak S&L Panzer Assault Badge in Bronze is a beautiful and extremely rare badge. These early top-quality badges made of Tombak are very sought-after; this one is made by the firm of Steinhauer & Lück, a very rare maker to find in this material. The obverse of this badge is gorgeous, with beautiful bronze finish remaining. Slight wear exposes the golden-colored base metal in some areas. The badge is stamped, and the design is visible in reverse on the back of the badge, which has full original finish. There is no maker mark, but this is undoubtedly a product of S&L. The hardware setup is textbook for this maker, and features a functional round wire pin. The sheet metal hinge and wire catch are held in place with the original solder. Original finish on the solder shows that this badge has never been repaired. This Tombak S&L Panzer Assault is a stunning piece that could be the highlight of a collection of wartime badges. It remains in wonderful, excellent plus condition.
Historical Description: The Panzer Assault Badge was instituted on December 20th, 1939. It was awarded in the silver grade to Panzer crewman who met the combat requirements. On June 1st, 1940, following the start of the blitzkrieg against France, the bronze grade was introduced to award armoured reconnaissance, motorcycle riflemen, and panzer-grenadier units. The requirements for both versions were the same, the soldier must have participated in three combat assaults on three separate days to be eligible.
The design of the Standard Panzer Assault Badge consists of an oakleaf wreath surrounding a Panzer (Tank) with the German National Eagle positioned at the top clutching a swastika. The Standard Panzer Assault Badges can still be a common occurrence at local gun and military shows even now. The German Army had tens of thousands of Panzer crewmen who became eligible for the award as the war progressed. Because of the large number of soldiers who had fulfilled the requirements to wear the award, a high demand for producing of the Panzer Assault Badge was needed. In response to this, approximately 35 manufacturers were authorized to produce the award between 1939 and 1945. Many of these manufacturers created their own version of the badge by artistically designing their own version of the eagles, wreaths, and tanks on the badge. The design of one Panzer badge may not be identical to the next one encountered. This makes the collecting of the different manufacturers and their variants its own niche in the hobby.
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