Description
The Tank Destruction Badge (Sonderabzeichen für das Niederkämpfen von Panzerkampfwagen durch Einzelkämpfer) was officially instituted by Adolf Hitler on 9th March, 1942 to recognise the achievements of soldiers who single-handedly destroyed an enemy tank in combat
The award was authorised on 22nd June, 1941 during the invasion of the Soviet Union. The criteria were strictly written, and did not authorise issue of the award to crews of anti-tank cannons, but only to individual troops who destroyed tanks with weapons such as grenades, mines or Molotov cocktails. The Tank Destruction Badge was issued in the form of a woven cloth strip, silver in color, that would be sewn to the upper right sleeve of the recipient’s uniform.
The Tank Destruction Badge depicts a metal German Panzer IV tank mounted on a cloth strip, which originally issued in silver a second-grade was later authorised in gold on the 18th December for troops who destroyed five tanks or more.