BACKGROUND: Following the army’s lead of creating the "Ehrenblatt der deutschen Heeres", (Honor Roll of the German Army), in July 1941, the Kriegsmarine established the, "Ehrentafel der deutschen Kriegsmarine", (Honor Table of the German Navy), in February 1943. These lists were created as a record of honor to register the names and heroic actions of personnel who performed extraordinary service in combat. Although considered a great honor to be registered on these lists there was no insignia awarded to the personnel as a visible sign that they were listed on the honor roll. This was remedied by the army on January 30TH 1944 by creation of the "Ehrenblatt-Spange des Heeres", (Honor Roll Clasp of the Army). On May 13TH 1944 Großadmiral Karl Dönitz followed suit by instituting the, "Ehrentafelspange-Kriegsmarine", (Honor Table Clasp of the Navy). The clasp was designed to recognize heroic acts by those who already held the Iron Cross 1ST and 2ND classes, but for which the German Cross in Gold or the Knight's Cross would not be suitable. The Honor Roll Clasps were worn mounted on an Iron Cross 2ND class ribbon and worn inserted through the second top front closure button hole of the field-blouse and service tunic. Of Note: The Kriegsmarine Honor roll clasp is by far the rarest of the three clasps, (the Luftwaffe authorized one in August 1944), with an estimate of only twenty-six being awarded with an additional eleven awards being granted posthumously, while it is estimated that the army awarded just over 4,500 clasp and the Luftwaffe bestowed as many as 30,000 honor roll awards.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 26mm diameter, hollow backed, die struck, alloy construction award with a bright, fire gilted finish with polished high lights. The award is in the form of an embossed, circular oak-leaf wreath encompassing a cut-out, canted swastika superimposed on a vertical anchor. The detailing includes a slightly off-set, circular, recess to the top ring of the anchor while the bottom edges of the anchor rest on the edge of the oak-leaf wreath. The award retains all of its fire gilted finish and is still quite clean and bright. The hollow reverse is a mirror image of the obverse and all four, small, soldered attachment prongs are intact (One is broken, but still attached to the ribbon). Original ribbon is also present. Nice, untouched original example.