Vol. 64, No. 3 (May-June 2013) 35

Figure 7: Iron Cross, 2nd Class.

Figure 8: Wound Badge in Gold

Figure 9: Medal of Winter War with issue envelope.

Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, the German Cross in Gold, The Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class (Figure 7), the Close Combat clasp in gold, silver and bronze, the Infantry Assault badge in silver, the Wound Badge in gold (Figure 8), silver and black and the Medal of the Winter War in the East (Figure 9). During his service, he was credited with 65 (some sources claim 75) days of close quarter combat.

In the beginning of 1943, Degrelle created the Burgundy Cross to be issued in four classes (bronze, silver, gold and gold with diamonds) to those members of the Rexist Party who served on the front with the Nazi forces. Based on the Rex Cross, it was approved as an official Waffen SS award on October 16, 1944.The Burgundy Cross was also known as the Walloon Honor Rexist Badge and the Blood Order Badge. The badge had the Walloon Burgundy Cross with a sword crossing it surrounded by a circle (Figure 10). The French language inscription reads BRAVERY, HONOR AND LOYALTY. The reverse shows a C-style hinge with a thin pin.

Figure 10: Walloon Burgundy Cross.

Although he was convicted of treason in absentia by a Belgian military court and sentenced to death by firing squad, the sympathetic Franco government in Spain afforded him protection. When threatened with invasion by the Allies over the return of Degrelle, Franco appeased the Allies by turning over other war criminals such as Pierre Laval, the Vichy French Premier, but not Degrelle. Degrelle continued to live out his life in Spain unmolested. Spain eventually granted him citizenship under the name, Jose Leon Ramirez Reina. He would often appear publically in uniform wearing his Nazi decorations and unrepentantly proclaim his beliefs in a far-right political agenda. At his daughter’s wedding, he

36 JOMSA

was photographed walking her down the aisle in a full-dress, white SS uniform. He also utilized his position with the neo-Nazi Circulo Espanol de Amigos de Europa to publish many of his own writings while in exile in Spain. His first hand account Campaign in Russia (The Lost Legion) published in French is considered a masterpiece. His continued outspokenness led Belgian authorities to serve an arrest warrant for him on the Franco regime in1970. Degrelle, apparently tipped off in advance, vanished from his Madrid home and went

Figure 11: Medalla Fascista Leon Degrelle.

into hiding. When things cooled down, he reappearedin southern Spain. His protected status continued even after the death of Franco in 1975.

While living in exile Degrelle created the Medalla Fascista Leon Degrelle (Figure 11), which is rarely found in private hands. The medal reflects a definite Belgian design with the Franco government symbols at its center (the original 1936 version of the eagle of St. John the Baptist) and a shield based on the arms of Navarre and the Pillars of Hercules). The ribbon drape reflects the colors of Spainish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive (FALANGE).

Degrelle’s last bout with notoriety came in 1985 when he publically denied the existence of the gas chambers at the concentration camps and protested that Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi “Angel of Death,” was simply a normal physician. For this open defense of the Nazi extermination program, Spain’s Supreme Court levied a fine on him resulting from a civil suit brought by a concentration camp survivor.

Degrelle suffered a fatal heart attack in Malaga, Spain on March 31, 1994 at the age of 87. His remains were cremated and his ashes scattered, in opposition to the Belgian government’s wishes, at the legendary Tombeau du Geant (Tomb of the Giant) near his birthplace, Bouillon, by a fellow Wallonien SS officer, SS First Lieutenant Jean Vermiere.

Degrelle was certainly a bold figure in combat, having fought ferociously against the Soviets in the face of daunting odds, but also a villain in terms of his allegiance to his unyielding Fascist beliefs. When asked if he had any regrets, he is quoted as responding, “Only that we lost.”

IN THE NEWS

Police Officers Get National Recognition

Eighteen police officers from across the nation were honored at the Medal of Valor ceremony at the White House on February 20, 2013. Among the officers honored in the ceremony hosted by Vice President Biden and Attorney General Holder were five officers involved in a January 2011 shootout in which two of the officers were killed.

From the Tampa Bay Times Submitted by Peter Hlinka

IN THE NEWS

President Honors Six Newtown Educators

At the White House on February 16, 2013 President Obama presented the Presidential Citizens Medal to relatives of six teachers killed in the Newtown Connecticut school shooting. The teachers honored were school principal Dawn Hochsprung, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, and teachers Victoria Soto, Lauren Rousseau, Rachel D’Avino, and Anne Marie Murphy.

From the Tampa Bay Times

Vol. 64, No. 3 (May-June 2013) 37

Figure 1: Obverse of a de-nazified German Cross.

In our November-December 2012 article on German Army decorations, we discussed how the German parliament enacted legislation in 1957 that permitted the wear of de-nazified Third Reich awards. Our list of de-nazified awards (on page 17) included the German Cross, but there was no illustration for the Bundeswehr version of this award. This is now corrected with Figures 1 and 2, which depict the obverse and reverse of a de-nazified German Cross in gold. When compared with the Third Reich decoration shown in Figures 21 and 22 in our original article, it is apparent that the only difference between the World War II-era German Cross and the Bundeswehr version is substitution of a cross patée (i.e. a cross consisting of straight end with outward curving arms) with oak leaves for the swastika. Note that this substitute is identical to the Bundeswehr version of the Iron Cross, 1st Class, except for the 1939 date.

Figure 2: Reverse of a de-nazified German Cross.

Our article also stated that the Anti-Partisan War Badge (Bandenkampfabzeichen) had not been approved for wear in 1957. We speculated that this Third Reich award was not de-nazified because it had been initially created by Heinrich Himmler as a Waffen-SS award. Thanks to OMSA member Kenneth Rogers, however, we now know that our article was wrong on this point. The Anti-Partisan War Badge was in fact approved for wear by Bundeswehr personnel who had earned it in 1944 and 1945 and a de-nazified version was manufactured for wear.

As Michael F. Tucker explains in German Combat Badges of the Third Reich, the Anti-Partisan War Badge was established on January 30, 1944 “in recognition of actions against partisans.” Awarded for “achievement and courage,” the badge was worn on the left-breast side of the uniform. There were three grades of the badge: bronze for 20 combat days against partisans; silver for 50 combat days; gold for 100 combat days. In general, each day guerillas were engaged in close combat (man-to-man) counted as one “combat day” toward the badge. Ultimately, German Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine personnel also were eligible for the Bandenkampfabzeichen, but most awards went to Army and Waffen-SS personnel.

Figure 3: Obverse of a Third-Reich Anti-Partisan War Badge in bronze.

Figure 3 and 4 show the obverse and reverse, respectively, of a genuine Third Reich Anti-Partisan War Badge (bronze grade). The badge is an oval wreath of oak leaves with the mythical serpent-headed Hydra resting upon a skull and crossbones. A vertical broadsword is centered with its hilt (containing a swastika) thrust into the Hydra.

GERMAN ARMY DECORATIONS AND MEDALS FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE WAR ON TERRORISM: AN ADDENDUM

FRED L. BORCH AND JEFFREY B. FLOYD