The medal bar of a Imperial officer a TR General

[Paul C]

I was fortunate enough to acquire the medal bar of General Kienitz from the recent Thies auction. It is now the center piece of my collection and offers me an opportunity for additional research. The bar is from the George Seymour collection and I would like to thank Dan Krause, Rick Research and Wild Card for assisting with the research and acquiring the bar. Kienitz was a very well decorated office in both wars and as a commanding general of 17th army corps won the Knight's Cross! The bar must have been worn extensively as the HOH has worn away some of the enamel on the Bavarian order. The decoration are:

1. 1914 EK2

2. HOH3X

3. Bavarian MVO4X

4. Hohenzollern House Order 3X w/swords

5. Hessen Honor Cross

6. Hindenburg with swords

7. Prussian Crown Order 4th Class

8. TR 25 year LSC

9. TR 18 year LSC

10.Austrian Military Cross 3rd Class

A very impressive 10 place bar! During my research of Kienitz I found several web pages with details of his career and post war detention. He was detained in Special Camp 11 in England with several high ranking German soldiers and officials. The website is:

http://www.camp198.fsnet.co.uk/General%20d...r%20Kienitz.htm

The site has many pictures and career information of Generals and Officials. Another site is the Axis Forum and has a pic of Kienitz wear his ribbon bar. The address is:

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WEHRMACH...ITZ_WERNER.html

I have found several pics of Kienitz wearing his ribbon bar and RK but I have been unable to find a picture of him wearing his medal bar. If anyone can provide a pic of Kienitz wearing his medal bar I will reward them with a copy of my Ranklist on CD - Volume 1 or any of my CDs. If anyone has the Kienitz's entry in the multi-volume book set of RK holders I would appreciate it if you would post it. Enjoy the pics.

Edited January 20, 2007 by Paul C

[Guest Rick Research]

Kienitz also got a very lucky German Cross in Silver on his fortuitous retirement immediately before the Soviets swept over his homefornt command in 1945.

Here is a xerox George sent me decades ago after the anonymous bar turned up (at an OMSA convention, if I recall, late 1970s-early 1980s)

Hey! Tuck that EK ring back in!!!!

[Guest Rick Research]

In Pre-Internet Days the only photo of the General I could ever find was of him in about the 6th row of a mass of Generals at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin after the defeat of France in 1940. Kienitz's head was about the size of a pencil eraser end.

George always held onto this bar for the happy someday when a GOOD portrait would turn up!

And here is Kienitz's entry from the HE3bX roll:

A crappy typist myself, I can empathize with the Roll Keeper, who had to crank giant pages thrrough some sort of super-large typewriter. Any typos on the printed version when it comes out will be MINE and not the original's!

[Lukasz Gaszewski]

Congratulations of a successful hunting! This excellent piece comes probably from between 1936 and 1939, as the TR long service decorations are already present. In 1939 new regulations were introduced, with which the Austrian Military Cross 3rd Class (and the other awards of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire) would be worn together with other WWI decorations. The Military Cross was usually placed after all German WWI decorations, directly before the "Hindenburg Cross", unless the recipient was Austrian himself. In the latter case Austrian gongs were worn before German ones, but still after the EK and HOH (if the recipient had one). Decorations of the Austrian Republic with a few exceptions were not authorized to wear.

[Claudio]

Hi Paul,

I just wanted to congratulate you for your very interesting purchase!

I had the pleasure to see this bar in flesh before the auction. The presence in the bar of the Hohenzollern House Order 3X w/swords makes it particularly interesting and special.

Ciao,

Claudio

[derGeneral]

A very nice bar, Congratulations The Crown Order is a 4th class

[Paul C]

Thanks and I corrected it.