Germany, Wehrmacht. A War Merit Cross I Class With Swords Hold with its vertical needle style

with its vertical needle style pinback

It is accompanied by a matching buckle

and is wrapped with twisted aluminum wire

The award was patterned after Napoleon's Legion of Honour of 1812 and the French Colonial Order of the dragon of Annam

Constructed of green fabric with grey machine embroidery on the obverse

Germany, Wehrmacht. A War Merit Cross I Class With Swords Hold with its vertical needle style(Kriegsverdienstkreuze I. Klasse mit Schwertern). Constructed of silvered zink, consisting of a Maltese Cross with crossed swords through the centre, the obverse with pebbled arms and a central wreathed mobile swastika, the reverse with an integral barrel hinge and banjo style pinback meeting a rounded integral catch, unmarked, measuring 49. 13 mm (w) x 48. 63 mm (h), weighing 16. 7 grams, with loss of finish throughout, in overall very fine condition.