Wound Badge in Black (Verwundeten Abzeichen in Schwarz). With the outbreak of World War 2, on 1 September 1939, Hitler re-instituted a slightly modified version of the wound badge by altering the WWI pattern helmet on the badge to the newly designed M35 style helmet. The badge was awarded to both military and uniformed non-military personnel and later, (March 1943), to civilian personnel who received wounds as a result of enemy actions. The black wound badge was the lowest of the three classes and was awarded for one or two wounds. This is a non-magnetic heavy quality zinc example. The badge is nicely maker marked with 'E.S.P.' indicating production by the company of 'Eugen Schmidhäußler' from Pforzheim. The pin and catch are complete and functional. Rarer variant badge. Nice original badge in very good, near mint, condition!