Narvik Shield
≈ 3 min read
Names in other languages
No names in other languages are held for this entry yet.
Article bodies are English and are not machine-translated. A name in another language is not a translation of the article.
The Narvik Shield ( ) was a World War II German military decoration awarded to all German forces that took part in the battles of Narvik between 9 April and 8 June 1940. It was instituted on 19 August 1940 by Adolf Hitler. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) published the order the same day. It was bestowed by General Eduard Dietl, the commander of Army Group Narvik. The award was the first of a series of arm shield campaign awards. A total of 8,577 personnel received the award. Specifically: 2,755 to the army, 3,661 to the Kriegsmarine, and 2,161 to the Luftwaffe.
The Narvik Shield ( ) was a World War II German military decoration awarded to all German forces that took part in the battles of Narvik between 9 April and 8 June 1940. It was instituted on 19 August 1940 by Adolf Hitler. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) published the order the same day. It was bestowed by General Eduard Dietl, the commander of Army Group Narvik. The award was the first of a series of arm shield campaign awards. A total of 8,577 personnel received the award. Specifically: 2,755 to the army, 3,661 to the Kriegsmarine, and 2,161 to the Luftwaffe.
Design
Designed by Professor Dr. Richard Klein of Munich, the shield is narrow with a pointed base and, at its apex, has an eagle with down-swept wings clutching a laurel wreath that surrounds a swastika. Below this in capital letters is written . The body of the shield features an edelweiss (representing the army mountain troops), an anchor (representing the Kriegsmarine), and propeller (for the Luftwaffe). The anchor and propeller are crossed, with the edelweiss placed at the top of the X. The numbers and appear at the top corners of the main body of the shield. The shield was hollow backed and stamped from sheet metal which was usually zinc. The shield was awarded in two versions: silver-gray for the army and Luftwaffe, and a gilded (golden coloured) version for Kriegsmarine. It was mounted on a cloth backing corresponding to the colour of the uniform, and worn on the upper left arm of the uniform.
See also
Campaign shields (Wehrmacht) Cholm Shield Crimea Shield Demyansk Shield Kuban Shield Lapland Shield Warsaw Shield
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1253668068 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.