I would like to share my small Norwegian collection with you.

pic 2: The Frontkjemper Medals

Pic 3: The Frontkjemper Backs

pic 4

pic 5

pic 6

pic 7

pic last

Interesting stuff, most is new to me. I only know a bit about the Norwegian Fronfighter badge.

Beautiful display John.
Now, we all know where your ancestors were from.

Nice John!
that small blue stic pin with the hands..
Unity of Norway,,Finland,, and?,,and??

Thank you.

Pat, I am not of Norwegian background, but my wife is. That is what got me started on Norwegian collecting. That and the great national reluctance of Norway to accept and acknowledge their participation in WWII.

Gaspare, the pin with the hands is called a 'Nordens Frihet Nal', loosely translated as 'Northern Freedom Pin'. It was given to Swedish and Norwegian participants in the 1939-40 winter war against Russia in Finland. The other Finnish pin is a Northern Support Pin.

Norwegian soldiers who participated in the war in Finland and soldiers who won medals in the Norwegian army were allowed to wear many of these medals upon joining the German armed forces. Most of the Norwegians ended up in several SS units. Norwegians in the German armed forces who fought on the Eastern Front were eligible for the Frontkjemper medal ('Front Fighter Medal') for their fight against Bolshevism.

There is a lot of very good information on the website hosted by ErikofNorway of this forum:

http://www.frontkjemper.com/

John

Very nice collection John Z
Many rare badges you show here. The frontkjemper marks are very rare and expensive items now.

Thanks for the show.

Regards LH 600 ......Norway

LH 600

Tell me about it. It took me quite a while and some good help from Erik before I managed to find the two silver ones in Norway, and, yes, at quite a price! Erik also was instrumental in me getting the zinc version.

Now, I am looking for a miniature, plus a few more Norwegian medals and a few Finnish ones that could have been awarded to foreign soldiers in the liberation war against Russia.

Thank you for your comments.

John

quote:

Originally posted by Gaspare:
Nice John!
that small blue stic pin with the hands..
Unity of Norway,,Finland,, and?,,and??

Denmark & Sweden.

Unity of the nordic countries who promised to help Finland in the war against Soviet Union in '39-40.

Best regards,

quote:

Originally posted by JohnZ:
Norwegian soldiers who participated in the war in Finland and soldiers who won medals in the Norwegian army were allowed to wear many of these medals upon joining the German armed forces. Most of the Norwegians ended up in several SS units. John

John, a very nice collection of badges & medals.
Of the approximate 750-800 Norwegians who enlisted in the Finnish-Soviet winter war, only about 30-50 of these later actually served with the SS or Wehrmacht.
These numbers are based on interviews and checks of their histories of approximately 1200 front-fighters while they awaited their sentence in '45-46.
Many front-fighters claimed (unrightfully) to have done service in the Finnish winter-war, to achieve more sympathy before their sentence after the war.

Best regards,

Tor-Helge:

Thank you. I have seen several (5+) different battle medals for the winter war issued by Finland. Do you know where I could search to find which of these battles, the Norwegian volunteers could have been in?

This is in relation to the winter war medal and the Die Nordfront campaign pins that were issued.

John

If we are talking strictly about the winter-war 1939-40 there are not many finnish medals eligible to the norwegians.
Most would have received only the Commemorative Medals to the Foreigners, which had the text on the rear in latin:
"Summo in periculo fautoribus adiutoribus Finlandia memor"
It would have been awarded with the "Lappi" clasp for service in the Salla region.

Very few norwegians fell or were wounded, but possibly 2 or 3 mourning crosses were awarded to next-of-kins.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

* Thanks 'Trigger'!

*John,,,what exactly is the small brass/bronze[?] plate with the Finnish Lion on it? Part of an award plaque?

VERY nice to to see a collection like this together very rare. Are any of these items known to be reproed yet ?

PAUL

Paul,
The frontkjemper badges are heavily reproduced. Also the finnish Nordfront-crosses are reproduced, and even the "Tapper og Tro" awards are reproduced.
Most norw.NS items are reproduced.

I have never heard of any repros of the finnish pins and norwegian pre-ww2 sports/shooting badges.

Best regards,

quote:

Originally posted by Gaspare:

*John,,,what exactly is the small brass/bronze[?] plate with the Finnish Lion on it? Part of an award plaque?

It is an award plaque.
All swedes in the Swedish Volunteer Corps (SFK)received such a plaque after their service.
It reads: For the Nordic freedom and Swedens honour.

The norw. volunteers enlisted through the SFK, but only a handful of the norwegians received such a plaque, and mostly organizational personnell and monetary sponsors in the norwegian volunteer organization were recipients.
Instead the norw. office for the volunteers instituted a medal for the service which all active voluneers (soldiers) received.
This is a very rare medal to come by, and as it was distributed after Norway fell in German hands it was never authorized for wear.

Cheers,

Reverse: Norwegian Volunteers 1940
Obverse reads: For Norway with Finland

Best regards,

Tor-Helge:

Very nice.

I picked up the Swedish plaque along with a Nordens Frihet pin, they looked really good together.

I am still in the hunt for NS items and Die Nordfront medals and pins. Any ideas where I can find them?

John

John, it depends what NS items you are looking for. Going through Erik may be a very sound idea!
The Nordfront crosses are more commonly found among german dealers sites.

Cheers,

Tor-Helge:

Thank you. I have also found Derek of Dereksmilitaria to be very helpful. In fact, it was Erik who gave me the heads up on the two Frontkjempers that I bought from Derek.

Both are very good people.

John

A few additions to my Norwegian NS collection:

Posters 1

Another view

My new one

And again.

John