Description
The West Wall medal, its ribbon and medal packet are all in very good condition. The medal obverse displays a wreath of oak leaves, the medal itself being oval shaped. The central design on the front of the medal is a crossed shovel and sword and a concrete bunker.
The reverse of the medal has the words , “FÜR ARBEIT ZUM SCHUTZE DEUTSCH LANDS”.
This translates “For Work on the Defense of Germany”
The grosgrain ribbon is brown in colour with two white stripes on each edge. I’d suggest that this is most likely the original ribbon and not a replacement.
The packet of issue for this West Wall Medal is constructed out of a strong brown coloured Manila paper and is still in excellent condition. Across the front of the paper envelope in typical Germanic script are the words “Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen”.
On the reverse of the envelope appears the name of the maker, “Carl Poeliaht Schrobenhausen”.
This oval shaped West Wall medal is made from a bronzed zinc material due to wartime economy measures. It does have some oxidation, however it is a most attractively toned medal. This most likley is a 1944 issue medal due to the fact that it is bronzed zinc. The earlier medals were generally of brass, but during the course of the war measures had to be taken to preserve scare metals for the war effort.
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