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Krim Shield Award Numbers

Article about: Pondering the question 'How many Krim Shields were awarded'? I have come to the conclusion that there must have been about 1,500,000 This is based on the assumption that each soldier was awa

  1. #1

    Default Krim Shield Award Numbers

    Pondering the question 'How many Krim Shields were awarded'?
    I have come to the conclusion that there must have been about 1,500,000
    This is based on the assumption that each soldier was awarded 5 shields and the German forces numbered around 300,000 in the Crimea.
    Which then leads me to the question 'Did the Rumanians also get 5 shields'?
    If so that means there would be another 200,000 ish
    Making a grand total of 1.7 million shields minimum

    Am I correct or way off?

    The only reason I am asking is the very few number of these shields that come on the market and the small amount of recognised makers means that the shield dies would very soon become worn and were the dies then extensively re worked.

    All the best
    Doug

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  3. #2

    Default Re: Krim Shield Award Numbers

    I don’t know the answer but Wikipedia says 250 000 awarded if we take their word on it. Crimea Shield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Not saying your wrong but I read somewhere that four were given to any soldier, again not sure if that is correct.
    Hopefully someone will educate us. Im always ready to learn.
    But your right about the amount for sale, and half of them seem to be unissued or is it just me.
    best regards
    Rod

  4. #3

    Default Re: Krim Shield Award Numbers

    hmmm... Well, that's not including the many thousands which were probably produced and unissued.

  5. #4

    Default Re: Krim Shield Award Numbers

    If that kind of Shield is rare then why it is the least expensive one? Every reputable seller has some to offer but this doesn't happen with the other shields (Narvik, Demjansk, Kuban, Cholm) ...

  6. #5

    Default Re: Krim Shield Award Numbers

    Quote by LizardKing View Post
    If that kind of Shield is rare then why it is the least expensive one? Every reputable seller has some to offer but this doesn't happen with the other shields (Narvik, Demjansk, Kuban, Cholm) ...
    Good question

  7. #6
    ?

    Default Re: Krim Shield Award Numbers

    I always thought the Krim sheild was the most common based upon price and availability.

    Looking for LDO marked EK2s and items relating to U-406.....

  8. #7

    Default Re: Krim Shield Award Numbers

    Hi again,
    And thank you all for the input.
    I did check out Wikipedia and also saw the same number of 250.000. But my assumption would be that it was 250,000 individuals who were entitled to the award (This number is not substantiated).
    WAF have numbers quoted as 150,000-250,000 produced and 100,000 awarded. I do believe that this is a gross underestimate.
    Lets go with the numbers we know. There were about 235,000 Axis troops that were evacuated and the total casualties are listed as 65,100 Germans and 31,600 Rumanians according to the source Glantz/House When Titans Clashed. There is no mention of the Italian or Spanish forces. So the first total we have is around 331,700 troops.
    If we then look at the numbers provided by Wikipedia they quote Axis casualties (as a whole) the numbers are 57,500 killed or missing, 61,500 captured and 39,200 wounded. Add this to the approximate numbers who got away of 235,000 and we have a grand total of 392,700
    The award Criteria for the shield was 3 months in the area, to have been involved in one of the battles or to have been wounded.
    The recipient was entitled to 5 awards and then could purchase as many as they wished from the LDO office.
    The conservative estimate of 250,000 awards would lead us to the number 1,250,000 of officially given shields assuming that each person received 5 shields. Even the family of a fallen individual was sent the shield
    I actually think there must have been in excess of 2 million shields produced.

    So with this number in mind let’s look at the manufacturers.
    GCA have an ‘originals’ data base that quotes 4 known makers and 7 unknown makers.
    This very small number seems to be ridiculous. It means if we average the ‘made’ number of 2,000,000 shields by the 11 manufacturers it works out that each firm would have made 181,000 shields each. A figure that I think is quite unreasonable.

    Because the shields are only given a tag as ‘original’ if it falls in to the design or is very similar to one that is produced by one of the 4 known and 7 unknown makers we are adding reproduction tags to shields that are actually good.

    In conclusion I agree that this is the most common shield and most readily available from nearly every dealer site as I believe the massive numbers quoted above can’t be far wrong.

    Adrian, would it not be a good idea to add a Krim Shilde tag at the top of the Orders & Decorations of the Third Reich section of the forum.
    I would really like to get my teeth in to a discussion there

    All the best
    Doug

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