Bidspirit auction | German WWII Wehrmacht 4-Year Long

German WWII Wehrmacht 4-Year Long Service Medal - A circular military long service award featuring an eagle grasping a wreathed swastika above the inscription ”Treue Dienste in der Wehrmacht” on one face, with the numeral ”4” set within an oak leaf wreath on the other. The medal is suspended by a ring for wear on a service ribbon. This award was issued to members of the German armed forces who completed four years of service, part of a graduated series of Wehrmacht long service decorations introduced in the later 1930s to recognize continuous military duty. The Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung) scheme was instituted in 1936 to recognise years of continuous service across the Heer, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe, replacing the fragmented long-service awards of the Weimar and Imperial periods. It was issued in graded classes for four, twelve, and twenty-five years of service, with higher tiers rendered in silver and gold and accompanied by higher distinctions for career officers and NCOs. The four-year grade, awarded in bronze, was the most commonly issued class, reflecting the large intake of conscripts and volunteers into the rapidly expanding German armed forces in the years preceding and during the Second World War.