History

The II Class Clasp (Wiederholungsspange) was instituted by Adolf Hitler on September 1, 1939, as part of the renewed Order of the Iron Cross. The Clasp was awarded to military personnel who had won the II Class Iron Cross during the First World War and received the award for a second time during the Second World War. The Clasp was most commonly awarded to senior NCOs and Officers.

The clasp features an eagle with outstretched wings holding a wreath with a swastika in the centre. The bottom of the wreath is attached to a trapezoid shaped box that features the inscription “1939”.

Two sizes of the clasp are commonly found, the standard size (31 x 31mm) and the Prinzen size (24 x 24mm). The standard sized clasp attaches to the ribbon of the 1914 Second Class with four prongs, although there are rare examples that were produced with only two prongs. When the standard-sized award was first produced, the sides of the trapezoid box curved inward. This style is referred to as Type I. Later examples of the award feature a box with straight sides at a fifty-five-degree angle. This style is referred to as Type II.

The Prinzen size award was a private purchase item and is much rarer than the standard sized clasp. The smaller award has finer detailing and was usually produced with two sharp vertical prongs that pierced through the 1914 Second Class ribbon. The Prinzen size award was generally attached to a parade mount.

If a clasp features a maker’s mark, it will be stamped on the reverse. Each manufacturing firm was allocated a code number to indicate which decoration they had produced. Official award pieces were regulated by the Präsidialkanzlei, and pieces intended for private purchase were regulated by the LDO. LDO pieces were generally stamped with a maker’s code that had an ‘L’ prefix, with or without a slash (ex: L or L/), while Präsidialkanzlei items were stamped with numbers without an ‘L’ prefix.

The clasp was usually awarded in a small brown or blue envelope, although private purchase items came in small cardboard boxes stamped with the LDO logo.