Officers and men of the Kriegsmarine, Luftwaffe or Heer that participatedin the Battle of Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign.
Required Qualifications:
Participation in the Battle for Narvik between April 9th, 1940and June 9th, 1940.
First Awarded:
March 21st, 1941 – to GenObrst. Dietl
Number Awarded:
8,577 total
Grades/Variations:
This badge was awarded in three versions, two silver versions and a goldversion. Each version was issued on cloth backing for attachment to theuniform. The version shown here at right is an example of the gold tintedshield issued to members of the Kriegsmarine. The Kriegsmarine shieldwas issued on blue cloth backing. The two remainingversions of the Narvik Shield were for issue to members of the Luftwaffeand Heer. The Luftwaffe and Heer version were both silver, with theLuftwaffe version being issued on gray-blue cloth backing and the Heerversion on field-gray cloth backing. Other than color and cloth backing,all three designs of the shield were exactly alike.
Method of Wear:
The Narvik Shield was worn on the upper left sleeve of the service,walking-out dress and guard uniforms of the respective arm of serviceof the individual. It was attached to the uniform using the cloth backingissued with each shield, but if the cloth backing was missing or not issued,it was attached to the upper left sleeve by a set of four prongs on theback of the shield. If a second shield was awarded to an individual, bothshields could be worn, one above another seperated by 5mm of space.
Notes:
The Narvik Shield was the first Campaign/Battle Shield designed andissued to the forces of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS during WWII. It wasa relatively highly regarded award and was issued to a relatively smallnumber of German soldiers. The nature of the struggle to maintain thelines around Narvik against very great odds created a very stong image ofthose who were awarded this shield. The design of the shield itself was amotif consisting of elements of all three branches of the Wehrmacht thattook part in the Battle, the prop for the Luftwaffe airmen and Fallschirmjäger, the Edlweisse for theHeer Gebirgsjäger and the anchor for the naval and ground troops of theKriegsmarine.
Kriegsmarine version of the Narvik Shield“Narvik Kampfer”
