German WWII Black Wound Badge-This black wound badge is made of a stamped brass or bronze, and has lost 50% of its original black finish. Some of the black remains in the lowest details on both the obverse and reverse. There is much more of the black finish in place on the reverse. This badge has a bronze color to it. It has excellent details, especially the pebbling seen behind the helmet. The pin setup works as intended. These bronze examples are usually early war, when bronze alloy was used more often. As resources became scarcer during the war, they changed to the zinc alloys etc. A good early example.
History: The wound badge was originally established on March 3rd, 1918 by King Wilhelm II to recognize the sacrifice of those wounded during WWI. The badge was instituted in three classes of black, silver and gold with the class bestowed reflecting the number or severity of the wounds received. On May 22nd, 1939 Adolf Hitler re-instituted a slightly modified version of the wound badge with the addition of a swastika to the WWI pattern badge for award to German volunteers who had been wounded supporting the Spanish Nationalist Falangist Generalissimo Francisco Franco against the communist allied Republican Loyalist party in the Spanish Civil War. (July 1936-March 1939). With the outbreak of WWII, on September 1st, 1939, Hitler once again re-instituted another slightly modified version of the wound badge by altering the WWI pattern helmet on the badge to the newly designed M35 style helmet. The badge was awarded to both military and uniformed non-military personnel and later, (March 1943), to civilian personnel who received wounds as a result of enemy actions. The black wound badge was the lowest of the three classes and was awarded for one or two wounds.