BACKGROUND: The War Order of the German Cross was introduced by Adolf Hitler on September 28TH 1941 in two classes of Gold and Silver. The Gold class Cross was awarded to military personnel for exceptional acts of bravery or achievement in combat while the Silver class was awarded for distinguished acts of service in the war effort. Criteria for bestowal of either Cross included that the recipient must first have been awarded the 1939 Iron Cross 1ST class or the 1939 Bar to the 1914 Iron Cross 1ST class. On introduction of the award a cloth version was also authorized for wear with the color of the base material indicating which branch of service the cross was awarded to with a field-grey base for award to Heer, (Army), and Waffen-SS, (Armed-SS), personnel, a black base for Panzer, (Armored), personnel, a blue/grey base for Luftwaffe, (Air-Force), personnel and a navy blue base for Kriegsmarine, (Navy), personnel. The German Cross was to be worn on the lower, right, breast of the service tunic and field blouse.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Five piece, slightly convexed, die struck, tombac and alloy construction badge with black and red enamel work. The cross features a double, overlaid, eight point, sunburst pattern with the top sunburst layer retaining about 20% of its original black finish with wear to the base alloy at the high lights. The bottom sunburst layer retains about 60% of its original silver finish with light to moderate age tarnish. The center of the sunburst pattern has a separate, roughly, 40mm diameter, silver plated, circular panel with a raised, canted, black enameled swastika encompassed by an embossed, gilted, circular, stamped alloy, laurel leaf wreath with the impressed introduction date, "1941", to the bottom center, seated on a red enamel base. The red enamel base is visible as a fine outline to either side of the wreath. The retains about 70% its gilt finish. The enamel work to the swastika is nicely intact. The central, circular, silver base shows spots of wear to the base alloy with light to moderate age tarnish. The solid reverse features four, small, hollow, dome headed retaining rivets, a soldered barrel type hinge on a rounded corner rectangular base plate inset in a rounded corner rectangular recess, a heavy, broad, tapered, vertical pin and a heavy soldered catch on an oval base plate inset into an oval recess all intact. Nicely marked with the impressed LDO manufacturer's code in a rectangular recess, "L/52", indicating manufacture by C. F. Zimmermann, Pforzheim. Of Note: The LDO, Leistungsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Ordenshersteller, (Administration of German Medal Manufacturers). began regulating the manufacture of German awards in March 1941 as a quality control agent for awards that were intended for retail sale and manufacturers were to use an assigned LDO, "L", code on their products destined for retail sales. Awards that were to be bestowed by the government were also issued an official numerical government contract code known as a Lieferantnummer, (Contractor's Number), that was issued by the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers, (Presidential Council of the Führers), for formally approved manufacturers. The manufacturing firms that were licensed by both the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers and the LDO and would have used the same dies to stamp both the official issue and retail sales types of awards making them virtually indistinguishable from one another except for the markings. The cross comes housed in its original roughly, 11cm square, 27mm thick, cardboard and wood construction presentation case with a simulated, grained, black leather cover. The top lid of the case has a fine gold stripe running horizontal along all the sides just below the top edge indicating the class of the cross enclosed. The fold back top lid has dual, magnetic staggered internal bar hinges to the reverse and a magnetic spring loaded closure button to the obverse. Both the hinge and the closure button still function. The interior of the top lid is lined in white satin while the interior bottom of the case has a black flock lining with a vertical cut-out to secure the hinge, pin and catch assembly of the badge. The case is in overall very good condition with small areas of light to moderate chafe wear to the exterior and minor yellowing to the white satin lining. Rare to find with the L/52 marking.