ost medal

Medal 'Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42' (Ostmedaille), awarded to soldiers who participated in the winter campaign on the Eastern Front during the Second World War.The medal was designed by SS-Unterscharführer Ernst Krause and has a diameter of 3.6 cm, usually made of zinc.On the obverse, a German eagle is depicted holding a swastika, with a laurel wreath behind it.The ribbon has a central white-black-white stripe (white for snow, black for the fallen soldiers) with red edges (for blood).More than three million of these medals have been awarded.