War Badges

[gjw]

Hi all, was wondering were the idea of War Badges came from? None from WWI, seems to be a TR idea. Any info will be helpful.

Thanks!

Greg

[Avitas]

Hi Greg,

I know there were a couple Imperial war badges produced (the tank, flight, and submarine badge are a few examples) and they were of a similar design as the Third Reich badges, but they were extremely rare and you don't see too many real ones around. In the TR era they expanded hugely on the idea as another effective form of morale boost for the soldiers, as now every division and specific role had a badge of honour, giving them a much more personal feel. One could argue they were just another form of propaganda, but if so, very effective. Many career soldiers didn't care less about the badges, but I think for the majority they took pride in their badges. I am sure there are more examples of war badges from pre-ww1 (maybe someone has an example?) but they are obscure and nobody took the idea to the level of the Germans (they still do it to this day, with many specific qualification badges and achievement badges that resemble the original ww1 style and ww2 styles).

There is a bit of my limited knowledge, but check out the Imperial forums for the ww1 German badges!

Cheers,

Pat