Description
Lappland Shield. 6.6 by 4.8cm, 38.85mg, pot metal alloy. There are a few correct variations of Lappland shields and this is one of them. They were all locally produced and this is why you see a few types.
The Lappland Shield (German: Lapplandschild) was awarded to military personnel soldiers in General Franz Böhme’s 20th Mountain Army which had been fighting a two-front campaign against the advancing Finnish and Soviet Red Army forces in Lapland between November 1944 and the war’s end in May 1945. It was awarded to men who had “honorably served” for six months in the region or had been wounded during operations therein. It was authorized in February 1945 and was the last officially instituted German campaign shield of the war. It continued to be awarded after the end of the war in May, 1945 by the unit commander.