Friedrich August medal

[laurentius]

Dear people of GMIC

I have a question, Was the saxon FA-medal in bronze or silver also given to people from other german states? 

Kind regards Laurentius

[dedehansen]

Hi Laurentius,

are we talking about peacetime or wartime awards?

Kind regards
Andreas

[laurentius]

Dear Dedehansen

I'm talking about wartime awards, but as I like to learn I'd also love to new it about the peacetime medals.

Kind regards Laurentius

[tompress]

Hi,

General awarding crtiteria of the German States were serving in a unit of this State or on his teritory.

Greetings
Tomasz

Edited July 12, 2017 by tompress

[saschaw]

Besides men "serving in a unit of this State or on his teritory" as the main recipients, technically everyone else could receive this medal as well. Most German states' awards were not strictly limited to residents! This, by the way, applies to both war and peace-time awards!

 

[Graf]

2 hours ago, saschaw said:

Besides men "serving in a unit of this State or on his teritory" as the main recipients, technically everyone else could receive this medal as well. Most German states' awards were not strictly limited to residents! This, by the way, applies to both war and peace-time awards!

 

Thank you

[Dave Danner]

As I've written before in a few places, the most common ways to receive a state award were to be a citizen of the state, to serve in that state's contingent, or to serve in a unit whose Chef or Inhaber was from that state.

 

Saxon citizens normally served in the Saxon Army, so for Saxon awards like the Friedrich-August-Medaille, the first two categories usually overlap. As for the third, Friedrich August III of Saxony was Chef of the 2. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment and Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 16 in the Prussian Army, Inhaber of the 15. Infanterie-Regiment of the Bavarian Army, Chef of Infanterie-Regiment Alt-Württemberg Nr. 121 of the Württemberg Army, and à la suite the 1. See-Bataillon.

 

That said, for an enlisted award like the Friedrich-August-Medaille, these awards to non-state citizens/units were less common than was the case for officers. For example, a good 1/3 or more of the officers of the Bavarian 15. Infanterie-Regiment received the Albrechts-Orden. I just went through part of one of the Kriegsstammrollen for the enlisted men, and only about a dozen of the first 150 names had a Friedrich-August-Medaille in either silver or bronze.