The Crimea Shield
Published on June 04, 2019
The Crimea Shield (German: Krimschild) was instituted on 25 July 1942. It was awarded to those soldiers who fought in and conquered Crimea (Crimea in German is Krim) between September 1941 and July 1942 under the command of Generalfeldmafrschall Erich von Manstein of the Eleventh Army. The shield was presented with a provisional certificate (Besitzzeugnis). The shield could be posthumous awarded, in this case the shield and an official certificate (not the provisional document) were sent to the soldiers family. The shield was awarded “in the name of the Fuhrer” through General Field Marshall Erich von Manstein. Rumanian troops also qualified for the shield.
The Germans were met by heavy Russian opposition while trying to capture the important Black Sea ports around Sevastopol. This was a very difficult campaign that started on the 21st of September and lasted till the 4th of July. The campaign was recognized in the form of the Crimea Shield.
Regulations stated that in order to be awarded the Crimea shield you had to:
- Have participated in one of the following battles:
- The breakthrough battle at “Perekop” from the 21st to the 30th of September 1941
- The breakthrough battle at “Juschun” from the 18th to the 27th of October 1941
- Crimea sequel battles, breakthrough at “Kertsch” from the 28th of October to the 16th of November 1941
- First attack on “Sewastopol” from the 17th to the 31st of December 1941
- Battle at “Feodosia” from the 15th to the 18th of January 1942
- Defensive battles at the “Parpatsch-position” from the 19th of January to the 7th of May 1942
- Recapture of the “Kertsch-peninsula” from the 8th to the 21st of May 1942
- Capture of “Sewastopol” from the 7th of June to the 4th of July 1942
- Been injured in battle
- Fight continuously (south of the Genischesk-line Salkowo-Perekop) for 3 months on the Crimea Peninsula (including cities)
Officially the shield was sewn onto the upper left arm of the uniform using the backing cloth. However, instead of sewing it on, soldiers removed the cloth and used the shield’s prongs to pin it onto their uniforms.
The backing cloth of the shield came in 3 colors denoting the military branch the soldier served in:
- Green for the Army divisions
- Blue for the Air Force divisions
- Black for the Armored divisions
The exact amount of shields that were awarded is not known, this information got lost. But it is estimated that there were 200.000 to 300.000 shields awarded, of which 2 shields in gold were awarded to:
- General Field Marshal Erich von Manstein
- Marshal Ion Antonescuo
Sources: Bewertungskatalog Orden und Ehrenzeichen Deutschland 1871-1945; Detlev Niemann; 2008
