0849 German Third Reich WW2 West Wall Medal Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen

Original WW2 German West Wall Medal (Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen) in award envelope, IN VERY NICE CONDITION, ON GENUINE BUT SLIGHTLY FADED RIBBON, MAKER MARKED "Sohni Heubach und Co, Idar-Oberstein", A GOOD LATE WAR ZINC EXAMPLE

HISTORY OF THE AWARD:

The West Wall Medal (German: Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen) was a military decoration of Nazi Germany. It was instituted on 2 August 1939 and was given to those who designed and built the fortifications on Germany's western borders and the troops who served there prior to May 1940. In 1944 as Germany was expecting the arrival of the allied invasion, a second badge was given to those who took part in the fortification of the western borders. In all 622,064 medals were awarded until the end of the war. The medal was struck in bronzed brass. Its oval shape featured on the obverse (from bottom to top) a bunker, a crossed sword and shovel, and the German Eagle.# On the reverse it bore the inscription "Fur Arbeit zum Schutze Deutschlands" (For Work in the Protection/Defense of Germany). The ribbon is golden brown with a white stripe towards each edge. The design on the ribbon and on the medal are the same so that it can be identified as such. In 1944, a second production run was conducted to reward the workers and military personnel strengthening the notorious Siegfried line. This version of the medal was commonly known as the "German Defense Medal", to distinguish the decoration from its 1939 counterpart, and was constructed of a bronzed zinc. A bar with the date "1944" was authorized for those who already held the 1939 version, but this award was never mass produced.