The Soviet Army was unusual in the way it honored its wounded soldiers. The Wound Badge is a 50-mm long strip of cloth with either a red or a golden line in the center. Can anybody post a picture of a uniform with these strips sewn on? This award must have been low on the honor scale because pictures of soldiers wearing the Wound Badge are hard to find. Does anybody have the requirements that were to be met for the two levels and is the Wound Badge entered into the award booklet?
Thanks, Tal,
as always, instant and thorough response. I had searched for "wound badge" and could not find anything. Badge is really not the correct term to use, I guess.
I assume that wearing these strips was not common. Soldiers must have been wounded more often than indicated by pictures of soldiers with the wound strips.
I might add that they were usually discarded with the old uniform are are very rare.
Here's an interesting picture from one of my books. This 1919 machine gunner was wounded 26 times and is wearing his wound chevrons on his left sleeve.
I have Russian-language reference material that specifies the basis for awarding both versions (red and gold) of the wound stripe. I'll dig it up and post it. As DougD has noted on his Victory Parade Uniform web page, even Red Army general officers displayed them. General of the Army Eremenko can be seen wearing his wound stripes at the 24 June 1945 Victory Parade in Moscow.
An analagous situation would be American military members (of all ranks) who may wear the Purple Heart ribbon to indicate a wound suffered as a result of direct combat action or, in more recent times, a terrorist attack.
