These proficiency badges were strictly awarded to members of the Norwegian Army. They were instituted during the reign of King Haakon VII. The first badge is a bronze Army sharp shooter proficiency badge. This badge was instituted in 1924 until 1945 and came in three classes: bronze, silver and gold.
The military marching proficiency award was first instituted in 1915 until 1936 and it illustrated a soldier marching with a blue enamel background. By 1936 until 1945 another badge with the same design was awarded in silver class only.
It was presented to those soldiers that march, ran and walk 30kms carrying 11kgs of gear and weapons.
These badges were allowed and worn on German uniforms.
Illustrated is a Norwegian SS volunteer wearing such awards, picture courtesy of Derek.

The Norwegian Nazi party was founded by Vidkun Quisling in May 1933. This political movement was called the "Nasjonal Samling" (National Unity). By February 1942 Hitler appointed Quisling as Minister President of Norway, however, it was Reichskommissar Terboven who had the real power especially since Norway was an occupied country.

Quisling political party used the so-called "sun cross" of Saint Olaf (Patron Saint of Norway) as their national emblem. The metal insignia shows an open-winged eagle clutching the circular sun cross, which shows vertical ribbed red painted background. The reverse shows a hollow back with three slender prongs. The eagle and sun cross have faint remnants of its original silver wash. The silver class would indicate that it was worn by "Nasjonal Samlings Ungdoms-Fylking," the NS Youth organisation. This insignia was worn on the visor or field cap. The membership badge has a golden circular sun cross on a red enameled background. The reverse is golden with a safety pin held by means of a small square plate. The civil N.S. membership badge was worn on left breast pocket of the uniform or civilian clothing.

Very rare badge, awarded to those men who had been accepted as full members of the "Førergarde" (Quisling's personal bodyguard). The Førergarde was made up of 250 hand-picked volunteers. Total number of these badges awarded were approx. 300.
The badge has a silver oval ring surrounding the black enamel. Surmounted on top is Quisling's party emblem, which is a raven clutching the suncross. In addition, the badge has Quisling initials "VQ" shown in white color.
The reverse is stamped "830S" and membership number 264.


Quisling's personal bodyguards were led by the following Commanders:
Sveitfører Carlsson (20 April 1942 - 1 April 1944).
Sverre Henschien (1944 - 1945).
Sveitfører Sophus Kahrs (Feb 1945 - May 1945).

Special thanks to Mr. Bjørn Jervas for providing the information and allowing me to post his wonderful rare badge.

"Støttende Medlem" membership badge

Another very rare badge, the "Støttende Medlem" badge, which was "awarded" or handed out to anyone who paid the Germanske SS Norge. Members only paid 1 Krone a year.
The badge has an oval shape with the letter intials "S" meaning "Støttende" (SS) and "M" meaning "Medlem" (supporting) with the runes in the center.
The GSSN had more or less 3500 aiding members.

The man that owned this badge was first in the "frw. legion Norwegen" in the 14 kp(pak). Later was assigned to the 14 kp rgt "Norge" and finaly transferring to the SS-Standarte "Kurt Eggers." Special thanks to Mr. Øyvind for the information and allowing me to post his rare badge.

Front-Fighter & Police Cross Awards

The Party under Vidkun Quisling produced and issued many awards to legion volunteers and party members. One of the most recognizable and prestigious awards is the "Frontkjemper" Front-Fighter badge.

The Front-Fighters Badge

The Norwegian "Frontkjemper" Front-Fighter badge shown on the left was instituted in October 1943, by Vidkun Quisling and awarded for bravery to Waffen-SS Norwegian legionnaires and German cadre who saw action on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945.
This badge was made by the Oslo firm "Holmsen" and was issued in one class only, silver. Aksel Holmsen was a very famous Norwegian silversmith and designer.

The badge shows a Nordic warrior holding a shield and drawn sword, and standing in an archway, which bore the lettering "FRONT KJEMPER" (Front Fighter) in pseudo runic script. There exist two types of Front-Fighters badge. The first type is a silver version, high quality badge with sharp details. The early type badge has a twisted "M" in "frontkjeMper" later these badges had the "M" shape into a normal look.

Jarnkruss: A special decoration was awarded, which was probably instituted in 1941, to frontline volunteers in the "Norwegen Polizei Kompanie" (Norwegian SS Police Companies) that served briefly with the "Legion Norwegen" and later with the "SS-Skijager Btl "Norge." This was referred to as the "Jarnkross-Rikspolitiets Hederstegn" (State Police Honor Cross). An award document illustrating the Honor Cross with the facsimile signature of Jonas Lie (Head of the Norwegian State Police) was presented to the volunteers. The badge itself was made of solid metal stroke. The front side of the silver cross exist with either a thin enameled metal shield or painted shield, and are either solder or attached by means of a rivet on the reverse center part of the cross. The shield shows the "Saint Olaf's" Cross, which represents the Norwegian Political Nazi Party symbol "Hird." The obverse is flat with no markings. The needle pin is thin and has a small hinge. It has been debated among collectors whether or not the hook should be a "C" or a mechanical catch. I have seen them with both the "C" style catch and the mechanical closure type.

In addition, there is also a 2nd class award with yellow and red ribbon for State Police and Border Police (Grepo/Stapo), and a green ribbon for detectives given to police employees.

The Quisling Government made war merit and bravery orders for Hird servicemen who fought in the eastern front. This bravery award was only issued once but immediately Hitler gave orders prohibiting to be worn on German uniforms. Preferential status was giving to German awards. These awards were initially produced around 1942 time frame, all have the date "1941" marked in the center of the cross. Later in 1944 the date was removed or covered up with the Hird sun eagle.

Not much is known about these orders except that they were produced by the firm "Corneliusen & Olsen" in Oslo. Various classes of these orders were certainly made.
The order shown above is a late 1944, second type of the second class of the Quisling Order "Tapper og Tro" (Brave and Faithful). In the center of the cross with swords is the Hird emblem. The eagle is clutching the sun cross. The swords, eagle and cross are gilted with a red enameled background on the sun cross. The reverse shows the embosed runic letters "Tapper og Tro." The red and gold colors shown on the ribbon represent Quisling N.S. party colors.

Jens Holstad was born Jan 11, 1924 Drammen, Norway.

He is the holder of the "Frontkjemper" badge with citation and member of the Hird party.

He was an early "Den Norske Legion" volunteer, attached to the 1st Co.
He had the rank of Untersturmführer and left the legion on June 21, 1943.
Jens Holstad died in Feb 1996 in Oslo.

I would like to thank Mr. Hasse Holstad, the oldest son of Jens Holstad for his kind permission in permiting me to post his father's military information on this web site.