Earliest Award of the 1939 Wound Badge?

[Scott]

Question: What is the earliest documented award date of 1939 Wound Badge?

 

The 1939 wound badge (first-pattern, aka ‘Legion Condor’) was instituted on 22 May 1939, and 183 were to be awarded to Germans wounded in the Spanish Civil War. Yet I haven't found a 1939 wound badge document dated from the summer of 1939 when all the Legion Condor award ceremonies took place, nor seen photo evidence of a wound badge being awarded like the Spanish Crosses were. LC veterans were eventually awarded their wound badges for Spanish service, but I am unable to determine exactly when.

 

Full disclosure: I am not a wound badge or document collector, but I am interested in the Legion Condor, and would like to determine if/when 1939 first-pattern/LC wound badges were awarded during the summer of 1939.

 

Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.

[hucks216]

Is it possible that they were awarded them after the start of WW2 so were issued around the same time frame as those for the Polish campaign?

Is there a list of the 183 awardees and are their service records available which could shed light on the dates for the award?

[Scott]

I am not aware of a list of those who would have earned/qualified for the wound badge for service in Spain. I do know of three: Lt-RKT Walter Fromm (LW-Flak), Lt-RKT Otto Bertram (LW-Pilot), Hptmn-RKT Hermann Hogeback (LW-Pilot). My online searches acknowledge their wound badges earned in Spain, but don't provide specific award dates.

 

Of the 183 badges to be awarded for service in Spain, 182 were in black, and one in silver. No gold badges were earned/awarded. I could be wrong, but Otto Bertram might be the silver winner, as there are period photos of him wearing a first pattern silver wound badge, and my research indicates he did not earn a further wound badge after the start of WWII. But again, no specifics on when his wound badge was presented. 

[hucks216]

The fighter pilot Walter Oesau is another one who won the award.