Wound Badges are distinct in that it is the only award which, without exception, had to be earned with blood.
The German tradition of presenting their wounded warriors with a badge began toward the end of World War I.
It continued upon the return of the Condor Legion, the German troops that fought against communism in the Spanish Civil War,
when the wound badge was
reinstituted and presented to scores of bloodstained combatants. When World War II broke out, the final version of this award went into production, and was presented up until the last days of the Reich. The only other variant, the 20th of July 1944 wound badge, is covered in that section.
The wound badge was one of the awards authorized for wear in 1957.
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