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'This breast star was introduced on 28 September 1941 and was to recognise bravery of the fighting forces above that which was required for the bestowal of the Iron Cross 1st Class, but not up to that required for the award of the Knight's Cross...' (source Combat Medals of the Third Reich by Christopher Ailsby, which has more details). Approximately 30,000 of these crosses were awarded to the Wehrmacht, of which the army and the Waffen SS received 17,000 and the Luftwaffe and navy approximately 13,000. Obviously, this is a cloth example, worth considerably less than the metal ones. Both were worn on the uniforms in the field; perhaps the cloth examples were more favoured by Luftwaffe personnel for practicality. This example has a Luftwaffe blue wool base, the back of which has the traditional paper covering. The wreath is made of gilding metal, dated 1941; aluminium braid is used for highlighting the 'silver' elements; the white field is probably silk or possibly rayon. On one of the apexes of the star, there is a small pinhole where the piece has been mounted on a board (I suspect), while the wool base has some minor moth tracking and also a small hole in between two of the apexes of the star. Otherwise, it is in excellent shape for its age. |