DRL Sports Badge (Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibsübungen)

The badge Karl has been given is the DRL Sports Badge. He must be an athletic type :o)

He wears the badge correctly on his left chest pocket and I must say that it is incredible correct and detailed. Little details like this makes Karl a great figure IMHO.

Only comment on my part is that the medal is fixed on the uniform in a way that you cannot decide for yourself if you want it on or not. It is melted in the backside of the uniform. Ofcourse you can remove it (leaving little holes in the pocket).

Im still thinking of a way to make a little needle on the badge so you can award any one of your soldiers :o)

As you can see DRL stands for Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibsübungen which means as much as German National Society for Physical Training.

In this form the medal was instituted in 1937. Before that the same badge already existed but without the swastika. I'm not sure when it was instituted exactly but even before the DRL medal there was a DRA medal (about the same form).

The award had 3 classes :

• Bronze (for men and women in the age of 18-32 who passed the test for 12 months.
• Silver (for men and women in (18-32) who passed the test for 8 years or for men and women in the age of 32-40 who passed the test for 12 months)
• Gold (for holders of the silver who passed the test for 7 years or for men and women over 40 who passed the test for 12 months)

Here an image of the DRL badge in Gold

The test consists of 5 parts :

Part 1. (Men) Swimming 450 yards in nine minutes. (Women) Swimming 250 yards in open sea or in a lake.

Part 2. (Men) Jumping a height of 4 feet 5 inches or a length of 15 1/2 feet. (Women) jumping a height of 3 feet 9 inches or a length of 11 feet 5 inches.

Part 3. (Men) Running 109 yards in 13 1/2 seconds, or 436 1/2 yards in 68 seconds, of 1636 1/2 yards in 5 minutes 20 seconds. (Women) Running 82 yards in 12 seconds, or 109 yards in 15 1/2 seconds.

Part 4. (Weight Throwing) (Men) Throwing a ball of 1lb. and 12 1/2 ozs. a distance of 98 1/4 feet or more, or a discus of 4 1/2 lbs. at 27 1/4 yards, or driving a ball of 14 1/2 lbs. a distance of 26 1/4 feet or more. (Women) Throwing a ball of 1lb. 5 ozs. a distance of 72 feet or more, or a discus of 2 1/2 lbs a distance of 25 yards or more, or driving a ball of 8 1/2 lbs. a distance of 24 feet or more.

Part 5. (Speed Test) (Men) Run 10,911 yards in 50 minutes, or swim 1,091 yards in 29 minutes or cycle 12 1/2 miles in 45 minutes. (Women) Walk 15 1/2 miles in 5 hours, or run 2,182 yards in 12 minutes, or swim 1,091 yards in 29 minutes.

This is some info I got from a place somewhere on the net, so I'm not sure if it is correct.

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