Jump to content
News Ticker
  • I am now accepting the following payment methods: Card Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal
  • Latest News

    3rd Reich Medal bars... Show Yours!


    Recommended Posts

    I have never seen the Order of the White Elephant on a German bar! Talk about cool. I bet there is no problem in IDing this one, is there?

    Paul,

    Thank you for the nice comment. I have done some research and the Order of the White Elephant is a 5th class or "Member" Order. I assume it went to a diplomat working in Thailand. I would love to have it ID'd but I think the rank lists only list officers (I maybe mistaken). I don't think that this bar was to an officer, but again I maybe mistaken. If you have any suggestions on how I could ID this bar, please let me know.

    Dean

    Edited by Signalcorps45
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 1 month later...

    I can show you a medal which I found on board a German destroyer during scuba diving long time ago. The medal is in poor condition and I think it has been exposed to fire! Anyway, it is original!

    No marking is to be find on the back. Some of the German destroyers were involved in the Spanish civili war.

    http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2013/post-5674-0-37283600-1368180803.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2013/post-5674-0-89868900-1368180822.jpg

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 3 weeks later...

    The destroyer was "Hermann Künne" and I know some German destroyers were in Spain before the 2:nd ww.

    Why was she sunk and where was she? Is she in deep water? Do you have any underwater photos of her? It would be an interesting thread to see your dives on sunken military ships if you've done this more than once. :whistle:

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Hermann Künne was one of ten German destroyers which participated in the invasion of Norway the 9:th of April 1940. All ten destroyers were sunk by the Britts. Hermann Künne run on shore after all its ammunition were consumed.

    She was sunk by a Brittish torpedo and gun fire. Some years after the war one could see Künne´s front above the surface only 50 meters from the shore. No adays the ship has broken down but from a depth of fifteen to thirty-five meter,

    she is in a rather good condition. The stern lays on approx 35 meters of depth. I will check my wreck photos and lay out some on this forum! :)

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 8 months later...
    • 4 weeks later...

    Indeed. Seeing that the white cross was issued to non-combatants (red cross for combatants) the percent of elements such as medical, religious etc would have been very low in the "Legion"

    I 'm not sure the "combatant-red/non-combatant-white" rule was strictly adhered to, as a few period photos show recipients of the white cross also with the Spanish Cross with Swords.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    I 'm not sure the "combatant-red/non-combatant-white" rule was strictly adhered to, as a few period photos show recipients of the white cross also with the Spanish Cross with Swords.

    From what I gather, things were pretty fluid when it came to personnel...non coms being used in reserve positions in active units being commonplace. And yes, I've seen a few confusing photos with SCwS on guys known not to have been in active units, too. ;-)

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 4 months later...
    • 9 months later...
    • 9 months later...

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...

    Important Information

    We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.