Polish Wound Insignia.

[leigh kitchen]

[attachmentid=62743]Instituted by the State Defence Council 14/7/20, awarded to members of the Armed Forces who were wounded in action, provided surgical treatm,ent was required.

The ribbon is that of the Virtuti Militari but in miniature and worn horizontally, the blue is Garter Blue, but light blue was used by the Communist regime, the badge is worn above medal ribbons on the left breast.

A varying amount of stars indicate the number of wounds, although all wounds sustained in the same action count as one.

Introduced during the Polish - Soviet War, 1920, Until WWII no more than 3 stars were allowed to be worn, but then additional stars were allowed, initially being applied to a secnd ribbon placed above the first, but this was altered so that they were worn on the one ribbon, the ribbon lengthening accordingly.

These two are Communist era badges, one of them being an enamelled miniature.

[Paul R]

Great piece Leigh! Do you have any photos of this one on a tunic?

[leigh kitchen]

'Fraid not..........

[eitze]

Here are my wound badges.

Textile for one wound and enameled stick pin for three.

greetings

eitze

[Lukasz Gaszewski]

Lt. Gen. Wladyslaw Anders, commanding general of the 2nd Polish Army Corps in the Middle East, later C-in-C of the Polish Armed Fores in the West, proudly wearing his Wound Badge with stars for eight (!) wounds he obtained.

(source: http://www.videofact.com/polska/gotowe/a/anders/anders.html)

Lukasz

Edited December 13, 2006 by Lukasz Gaszewski