Modesty Becomes Him 02

Count Schulenburg already had three ribbons BEFORE the war--

a Prussian Crown Order 4th Class, Mecklenburg-Schwerin's Griffin Order- Knight with Crown, and the 1897 Centenary Medal.

Here he is wearing a Mecklenburg-Schwerin Friedrich Franz Coss 1st Class (pinback)-- which means he had the ribboned 2nd Class.

So what IS he wearing on his ribbon bar?


1) Iron Cross 2nd Class 1914 combatant


2) Hmmmmmm. Flashed out, but very bright, with what seems like dark edges. Hmmmmm. Moving along...


3) This SEEMS to be all dark, but there are actually gradations in the shades visible under extreme magnification. The photo's focus isn't great, but this appears to be the ribbon of the Friedrich Franz Cross 2nd Class combatant-- mainly pale blue in the center, with yellow and red edges (See "Tricks of the Light" scans)... all of which sort of blur together in a photo of this period.


Haven't a clue what he is wearing in 2nd place. Presumably some wartime award.

Because Count Schulenburg has chosen the popular "reduced form" War Awards Only fashion. Peacetime trinkets were set aside as irrelevant. You'd think since he had at least 5 if not 6 ribbons, what would the difference have been to wear ALL of them?

For more on that style, see the main section of the Article text. This style of dress is what led to the famous "Prussian Front" in which members of that state wore ONLY their own awards, and left others off. In action, anything that made a less appealing target for snipers was a GOOD idea...


but it plays havoc in attempting to identify the original wearers of ribbon bars, if things have been left off!