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In the hope of
liberating their country from Communism, many thousands of former Soviet
citizens volunteered to join German sponsored military formations. At
first, these were raised mainly to combat partisans in the rear of the
German front in Russia, but later a large number of national "Legions" and
other combatant units were raised partly from amongst Soviet prisoners of
war and partly from volunteers from the German occupied areas of the Soviet
Union. These people (who included citizens of the former Baltic states of
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) were known collectively, and somewhat
contemptuously as the "Ostvolk" (Eastern People).
On 14th July, 1942, a special decoration was created for their
benefit (although they were not entitled to German war decorations &
badges). It [was issued] with swords for combat bravery and without swords
for non-combatant work. It is worn on the left breast pocket. The badge
[shown above] is a first class decoration (breast badge), the second & third
class were medals with attached ribbons.
(Our gratitude to Jeff Combs
for his research efforts in identifying this previously unidentified
medallion and for the description show above.) |
