Oberst Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, commander of the Legion Condor Panerguppe “Drohne” created this first unofficial badge in September of 1936 when still in Spain. First examples were made probably by local Spanish jewelers. It took 3 years to June 10th of 1939 for this badge to get official OKW recognition and approval. It was a conclusion of German successful involvement in Spanish Civil war. Around that time also LCTB’s went in to production inside the Germany. Unfortunately there is not that much of the research data available on these very unique badges. Collector’s world is widely accepting 2 variants of type LCTB posted by me below. Main difference lies in production material (silver or buntmetall). There are also different catch variants on those. I personally also believe in LCTB’s featuring hardware known to us from Juncker PAB’s (PorschePAB’s).
As for the first Legion Condor Tank Badges made during Spanish Civil war, I’m unable to say anything, because the only research material available to collectors are low resolution images of badges displayed on the uniform…
Only 415 LCTB's were officially awarded.
Rarity scale: 9.9/100
LCTB: obverse
LCTB: reverse
LCTB: hinge
LCTB: catch
