The Wound Medal

“The war 1914-1918 brought about a completely new dimension in warfare, never before had the k.u.k. army been so continuously in action with so many personnel engaged. This necessitated the consideration of decorations that had previously not been thought about. A large number of soldiers had given their “blood & health for the fatherland” without the possibility to earn an award for merit or bravery and it was an often expressed desire of the troops under arms to have a special sign to recognize this fact. When Kaiser Karl acceded to the throne – he always had an open ear and heart for his soldiers in the field – he brought about this wish into reality by his order, dated 12th August 1917, in which he announced that orders had been given to work out the look and the details for the awarding of such a decoration. It took nearly a year before the “Statuten” (13th July 1918) and the details for awarding (25th July 1918) were published.

The medal was to be made of “Kriegsmetall” a zinc-alloy popular during the war and the ribbon, field-green with red edges, would show in the middle small red stripes for each wound received e.g. 1 strip for one wound up to 5 strips for 5 or more wounds (wounds which were received during the same day/action would count as one) and no stripes for severely damaged health caused by the circumstances of doing duty with the army in the field. The drawings of both sides of the medal and the ribbons were published together with the Statuten and are shown below.”

Credit-http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/woundmed.htm

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