(Kriegsverdienst Kreuz)

Date Instituted

1 September 1939

Requirements

* Awarded the War Merit Cross 2nd Class

With swords:
* Repeated acts of bravery above and beyond the call of duty.
Without swords:
* Civilians or military personnel not directly involved in military operations who made major contributions to the war effort.

Number Awarded

483.603 (with swords) and 91.239 (without) swords

Recipients

One recipient of note was William Joyce, "Lord Haw-Haw", an Englishman who made propaganda broadcasts for the Germans.

Award Documents

Hauptmann Joachim Peeck

Known makers/markings

3, 4, 8, 15, 19, 50, 52, 56, 62, 65, 84, L/11, L/15, L/52, L/58, L 15

Estimated price (2009)

€90-150


Flak Oberleutnant wearing the War Merit Cross 1st Class

(Courtesy of Derek Jones)

Robert Ley honoring Kriegsmusterbetrieben (outstanding factories involved in the armaments industry) March 1944

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Comments

This award ranked below the Iron Cross.

The Kriegs-munsterbetriebsfahne awarded by the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF) to factories for outstanding production in the armaments industry, was decorated by an image of this award.

Photo courtesy of Rusfront & Craig Wagner

Sources used

Christopher Ailsby - World War 2 German medals and political awards
John R. Angolia - For Führer and Fatherland: Military awards of the Third Reich
David Littlejohn - Orders, decorations, medals and badges of the Third Reich
Detlev Niemann - Price Guide Germany 1871-1945 (2009)

Reference material on this award

Gordon & Williamson & Josef Charita - The War Merit Cross