Tank Memorial Badge


The Tank Memorial Badge was a military decoration of the Weimar Republic awarded to former tank crewmen who fought in World War I.
Officially known as Memorial Badge for former German tank crews it was usually referred to as Tank Memorial Badge or simply Tank Badge ''. Draft cards of this era show that it was sometimes written as Tank-Abzeichen.

History and criteria

The Tank Badge was instituted by the Minister of Defence Otto Gessler on 13 Jul 1921 and laid down in the Heeres-Verordnungsblatt Nr. 41 of 15 July 1921. It was to be issued to veterans of World War I who qualified by: being a crewman of a tank; either an A7V or a Beutepanzer, and either participated in three armored assaults or being wounded during an armored assault.
Potential recipients had to apply to the Inspectorate of Motorized Troops to receive a certificate; the actual badge had to be obtained privately. Because of this unusual method of application the badge was officially certified in only 99 cases.

Design

The silver oval-formed badge featured a Totenkopf on the top in reference to the Brunswick skull. It was enclosed by a two-part wreath, oak leaves on the left and laurel leaves on the right; both tied with a bow at the bottom. The central piece was a stylized A7V tank crossing a barbed wire entanglement from east to west with three bursting shrapnels above it. It was to be worn as a stick-on decoration below the left breast pocket.

Resources

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