Germany, Wehrmacht. A War Merit Cross I Class With Swords, By Deschler & Sohn United Republic of died on November 27

died on November 27

awarding a gold pin to pilots who successfully bailed out of a disabled aircraft using an Irving Parachute (although Leslie Irvin is credited with inventing the first free-fall parachute in 1919

with thirteen white stars arranged in the pattern that appears on the Great Seal of the United States

He was captured by the Red Army and held as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union until 1949

XVI - The Siege of Lens

Germany, Wehrmacht. A War Merit Cross I Class With Swords, By Deschler & Sohn United Republic of died on November 27(Kriegsverdienstkreuz I. Klasse mit Schwertern). Constructed of silvered tombak, consisting of a Maltese Cross with crossed swords piercing the centrepiece, the obverse with pebbled arms and a central wreathed mobile swastika, the revere with a barrel hinge and banjo style pinback meeting a flat wire catch, the pinback maker marked with Prsidialkanzlei code 1 for Deschler & Sohn, Munich, measuring 48. 66 mm (w) x 48. 54 mm (h), weighing 23. 5 grams,