Jacques

Re von Thoma, all veterans stories have to be taken with a "pich of salt" of course but I remember back around the early 1970s a friend of mine had an antique shop. A vet came in and sold him some stuff which if I recall correctly was reputedly taken from von Thoma when he surrendered . Amongst the items ( again I am working from a 30+ year old memory,) were a Generals shoulder strap, collar patch and a beautiful CEJ Spanish Cross in Gold. All the items were 100% original, no doubt of that. Whether the story can be believed is another matter, but the old guy would have no reason to make the story up especially as the price he asked for them was, I recall, very cheap.

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Thanks Gordon for this information. I do think that some good portraits of von Thoma do exist, showing his SC, we have just to find them

here is Oskar HENRICI

jacques

This ultra rare badge is to sell on Ebay May be SS rather than LC . Hope nobody will bid on it

A pic showing the cross worn by a Flak crew member. Note the Spanish cross on the other side.

jacques

J Temple is at the origin of this thread, thanks to him !

unfortunatly I do not have a pic of all the recipients, but I hope that somebody do !

Here is Haro HARDER, blurry pic from a period book. May be here is a better one somewhere

Hey ! Am I alone to post pics on this thread ?

Wilhelm BALTHASAR

He received the spanish cross with diamonds later, around 20 June, together with Galland. He gave back his gold one.

Note that he is wearing the ribbon for the "Medalla Militar".

Joachim Schlichting

Reinhardt SEILER

The problem is that I find the combinations unlogical .

Thanks Jacques,

That is the best looking gold SC I have ever seen!!!        

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Me too , and I'm still looking for a silver one in the very same mint condition in case

Because I bought him a ribbon bar, the very same as your second one. He is selling several one from LC which bother me.

jacques,

There's always been the question about von Thoma, did he receive the SC wih B, or not?

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Ah, Ah ! I was waiting for such a question. Some books, among them early one, gives 28 recipients, other 27 . But none of them give the name of von Thoma. In my opinion he didn't received the spanish cross with diamonds but only the gold one. Bill Stump (RIP) shown us a controversial document which in my opinion is a fake.

During the ceremony in Hamburg, von Thoma is closed to von Funck who received the gold cross. In my opinion, according to my experience in the Army, if he had been awarded the diamonds one, he should have been placed at the beginning of the line, close to von Richthofen and not at the end, even though he was not from the LW. During an award ceremony, the decorations are awarded in the order of the decoration and of the recipients rank. what's bother is that von Funck has nothing to do at the end of the line

May be some of you have more information about that. I'm still looking for a clear pic showing von Thoma wearing his spanish cross

jacques

Rick,

Did you buy these bar to "Nordwin" on Militariaweb ?

jacques

Martin HARLINGHAUSEN in the center

No opinion for the line of recipients of the spanish cross with diamonds ?

Well, I give you mine, from left to right:

Bertram, Schlichting, Harder, M?lders, Schellmann, Oesau, ? , Harlinghausen, Wolff ? .

These name have to be confirmed with the dates of return to germany.

Here is another pics showing the same guys, during the same ceremony but to a different place.

Walter FROMM & Hermann HOGEBACK wearing the medal ribbon on their ribbon bar. Sometimes crossed swords are pined on the ribbon to make more "fighter".

Another one for the future "Eichenlaubtr?ger" Hermann HOGEBACK

A document in the pure spanish tradition was sent to the family together with the other spanish medal and Spanish cross documents.

the medal that was awarded to the officers, gilded with enameled center

Another one with a different box

This spanish medal was destinated to the reward the wounded. A special ribbon was instituted for the foreigners to be awarded to the volunteers who fought with Franco troops.

Two variants exist, that in my opinion correspond to the ranks. the gold enameled one for the officers, the silver one for the other ranks. the ribbon is yellow with two vertical thin red stripes. Some sources state that 183 german wound badges were awarded for the LC soldiers, that means that around the same number received the spanish medal. This medal has also been awarded to the soldiers who died in Spain (around 300).

Here is the medal which I think was attributed to NCO's and Privates in the original box.

Hi SAL,

I own some of them.

It's not my own forum, and I hope that many guys will share their treasures . Com'on guys !

jacques

Otto BERTRAM

Note all the spanish decorations he is wearing. the ribbon bar shows ''Medalla Militar", "Sufrimientos por la Patria", "Medalla de la Campa?a".

Helmut VOLKMANN in France, near Chatillon/Seine in 1940, as Army general.

Gunther L?TZOW