Bidspirit auction | Third Reich Nazi Westwall Medal

Third Reich Nazi Westwall Medal - German WWII Westwall Medal, also known as the Schutzwallehrenzeichen, awarded to those who contributed to the construction of Germany's western fortification line. The obverse depicts an eagle above a wreathed swastika with crossed sword and shovel motif, bordered by an oak-leaf wreath, while the reverse carries the inscription ”FÜR ARBEIT ZUM SCHUTZE DEUTSCHLANDS.” This decoration was instituted in 1939 to recognize laborers, engineers, and organizers involved in building the Westwall (known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line), the extensive defensive fortifications constructed along Germany's western border in the years preceding the war. The Schutzwallehrenzeichen (Westwall Medal) was instituted by Adolf Hitler in August 1939 to recognize the roughly 500,000 workers, engineers, Organisation Todt personnel, and military labourers who built the Westwall, a defensive line of bunkers, tank obstacles, and fortifications facing France along Germany's western frontier. The Siegfried Line, as the Allies called it, was intended to secure Germany's west while its forces campaigned elsewhere, and construction was heavily publicised as a propaganda achievement in the pre-war years. The medal was also occasionally awarded to civilian officials and party figures associated with the project's organisation.