CanCol

Thanks to Mike Fuller of Axis-Militaria.com, we have an answer. The 'D.W.' is for company Dykerhoff & Widmann, used for the REIMAHG-A aircraft factory near Kahla, Thuringia, Germany while constructing the underground Me 262 jet factory. The badge would date between 1944-45.

My best thought is variation 7-a.1, which is listed as 46 x 36mm. With all Soviet variations, it is the little details to watch for: a. inset pearl just below the flag on the left side; b. the upper flag edge is rippled; c. the defined double loop curls of the rope on the right side of the banner; d. the position of the two tassels; e. there is a pearl immediately to the left of the left hand tassel; f. the pearl below the tassel extends into the white enamel and is not attached to the leaf; g. the shape of the banner pole 'snake' ribbon above the star, at the right edge of the star, and bottom of the pole; h. pearls are defined within the curl of the scroll loops; i. the pearl on the bottom right side is inset and a leaf projects down and to the right from it. I am not an expert by any stretch but hopefully this gives a few items to watch for. I cannot say where these were made and I have yet to find a source that gives information on the factories producing Guards badges. However, yours is definitely from the Great Patriotic War, a very nice variation and likely worn with pride!

This is a tough one to answer as there are MANY variations of the Guards Badge. B.V. Hayrapetyan lists over 60 variations of Guards 'For Victory' badges in his book 'badges of the red army 1941-1945'. If you can provide the measurement in mm's (top and side), that can help narrow the variation down. As a reference book, this is one of the best as it covers Guards & Excellent Service badges & more. It is only available in Russian (to my knowledge) and has excellent photos /illustrations. Б. В. Айрапетян - "нагрудные знаки красной армии (1941-1945)"

Help! Can anyone identify what war factory this worker badge is from. It could be either German or Austrian. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.