Wound Badge 1939

The Wound Badge (1939) (Verwundetenabzeichen (1939)) was a decoration of the National Socialist German Reich, awarded during the Second World War. On 1 September 1939, the day of the German invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler issued the decree instituting the Wound Badge (1939). From that point on, the Wound Badge of 1918, instituted by Kaiser Wilhelm II, was no longer to be awarded. However, during the invasion of Poland and also during the occupation of Norway (Operation Weserübung), this was scarcely practicable, as the new Wound Badge (1939) was not yet available in sufficient numbers to award it to all wounded soldiers (about 40,000 by mid-1940).

The Wound Badge (1939) was intended to recognize all soldiers who were wounded or left disabled by enemy action, through no fault of their own by their own weapons, or by severe frostbite during combat operations in the Second World War. The system of grades followed that of the Wound Badge of 1918 and was:

black for one or two wounds,

silver for three or four wounds,

and gold for more than four wounds.

In cases of severe wounds, a grade could, where appropriate, be skipped.