Dave Danner

Here is the continuation to section 1b of the Dienstbescheinigung:

In keeping with Rick's discussion of how common awards can sometimes make for uncommon combinations, I present this medal bar. I got this bar in 2007 at Gunzenhausen because it looked nice, but I didn't give any though to research at the time. After all, it's just Prussia, Bavaria and Württemberg, three of the largest states of the German Empire. And there were some 3000 awards of the Bavarian Militär-Verdienstorden 4. Klasse mit der Krone und mit Schwertern (BMV4XmKr) and over 5000 awards of the Ritterkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern of Württemberg's Friedrichsorden (WF3bX). But when I got back home, something occurred to me. The BMV4XmKr was normally awarded to majors. Captains and lieutenants got the BMV4X without the crown. But the WF3bX was awarded to lieutenants, while majors and captains got the WF3aX. However, as the war progressed, a number of BMV4XmKr were awarded to Bavarian captains and lieutenants who had earlier received the BMV4X. Also, there is no long service or 1911 Prinz Regent Luitpold Medaille, so the recipient was likely a junior officer as the WF3bX would indicate. My main source for Württemberg awards to Bavarians is Erhard Roth's volume on non-Bavarian awards to Bavarians. I checked those against recipients of the BMV4XmKr, and eliminated those with other known awards such and the Prinz Regent Luitpold Medaille. As I noted back in 2007 in an earlier thread, at first I found one possibility - Lt.d.R. Heinrich Fichtbauer. Unfortunately, further research eliminated him, as he also received the Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern. I then found one other possibility, Ernst Ritter von Müller, but he only worked if his Military Order of Max Joseph was worn on the buttonhole, and not mounted on the medal bar. However, further research eliminated him anyway, as he was killed in action in 1917. ... Skip ahead several years to today. I just got access to the Bavarian personnel records on Ancestry.com and began searching for various people. One place I looked was for BMV4XmKr recipients who might have gotten the WF3bX but were missed by Roth because the award came late in the war and wasn't gazetted in the Verordnungsblatt des Königlich bayerischen Kriegsministeriums or other sources. And who do I find? One Lt.d.R. Ludwig Franz Dürr of bay. 4. IR, recipient of the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the WF3bX (W.F.5. m.Schw. in the Bavarian notation), and the BMV4XmKr. The BMV4XmKr replaced an earlier BMV4X, which itself replaced a Military Merit Cross 2nd Class with Crown and Swords received as a Vizefeldwebel u. Offziers-Aspirant. There is still a chance that he is not my guy. There might be someone else I missed with that uncommon combination. But out of hundreds of possibles I went through, he is the only match I found. So I think the odds are good on this one, if not 100%. :cheers:

The Reichsheer Stellenbesetzungen for 16 Mai 1920, 1 Oktober 1920 and 1 Oktober 1921 all have Maj. Hausser as a general staff officer on the staff of the 2. Division.

Hi, Not really any good ones for Baden. The various grades of the Order of the Zähringen Lion were Baden's basic award for officers, but it was generally a one-time deal. A Baden officer might typically get his Zähringen Lion at roughly the same time as his Iron Cross 2nd Class and then that was it. If there were cases of an officer getting a lower grade of the Zähringen Lion early in the war and a higher grade later on, they were exceptional and I don't know of any. Baden's other main military award was the Militärischer Karl-Friedrich-Verdienstorden, but this was extremely rare, like the Pour le Mérite, with only 288 awards of the Knight's Cross of the MKFVO. Also, since awards of the EK to Badeners weren't separately published, I don't know the award dates for most. One I do know is the later General der Flieger Karl Friedrich Schweickhard. His EK2 came on 15.9.1914 and was followed shortly by the Knight 2nd Class with Swords of the Zähringen Lion on 3.10.1914. His EK1 came on 6.10.1915. He then received Baden's MKFVO on 14.6.1916. Another Prussian award, the Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, came on 18.10.1917. He also got a Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross 2nd Class, but I've been generally leaving off awards other than the Prussian and home state, since that's what your question related to. Another aviator example, though, shows how complex this all is. Albert Dossenbach was a native of Baden, but when the war began the then-medical student enlisted and ended up in Füsilier-Regiment Nr. 90, a Mecklenburg-Schwerin regiment. He got the EK2 on 20.9.1914 and the EK1 very soon thereafetr, on 23.11.1914. Mecklenburg-Schwerin awarded him the Military Merit Cross 2nd Class on 15.9.1914, basically at the same time as his EK2, so apparently Baden felt no need to decorate him as well. All of these came as an enlisted soldier. He was commissioned a Lt.d.R. on 27.1.1915. Baden then got around to decorating him on 1.6.1915 with the Knight 2nd Class with Swords of the Order of the Zähringen Lion. He was still in a Mecklenburg regiment, and got the Military Merit Cross 1st Class on 29.9.1915. He then transferred to aviation in November 1915 and a year or so later, in rapid succession, got the Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern (28.10.1916), Prussian Pour le Mérite (11.11.1916), and Baden MKFVO (9.12.1916). He was shot down and killed on 3.7.1917. The only other example I have at hand is similar to Dossenbach and thanks to the research of Christoph Deruelle. Ernst Hischmann, a native Badener, did his initial military service in Baden's IR 114, but on mobilization in 1914, the Landwehr lieutenant was activated with Füsilier-Regiment Nr. 40, the regiment of the Hohenzollern principalities (but closely connected to Baden because of where it recruited). His first decoration thus came from the prince of Hohenzollern, the Honor Cross 3rd Class with Swords of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, on 1.10.1914. I can't find his EK2 date (maybe Christoph can recall), but his EK1 came on 9.11.1916, shortly after his Baden Zähringen Lion Knight 2nd Class with Swords on 19.6.1916. The Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern came on 31.10.1917, at about the same time as the Baden MKFVO on 3.10.1917. He was killed in action 18.7.1918. But these Karl-Friedrich knights were pretty exceptional. Most Baden officers would have gotten an EK2 and the appropriate grade of the Zähringen Lion, and then maybe later the EK1, and that's it. Regards, Dave

For some reason, when I merged the separate topics and deleted the duplicate post, it deleted the entire thread. I undeleted it and now I am bumping it in case anyone missed it in searching for new content. The only post-1867 Baden court handbooks I have access to are 1869, 1876, 1884, 1898, 1905 and 1913. 1884 is too early and 1898 may be too late. The closest match in 1898 is Maj. Karl Friedrich August Schmitt, Kommandant d. I. Gendarmerie-Distrikts. He had the four on the medal bar above, plus the 1897 Centenary Medal and the Romanian Order of the Star, Officer.

Last but not least, Rudolf Witzig, famous for the battle of Fort Eben-Emael.

Ludwig Bauer Wilhelm Anhalt

Karl Herzog Klemens Behler

Günther Bahr, night fighter ace Herbert Kaminski, fighter pilot

The following photos are neat, because they pair up a World War II photo with a post-war one. I'm not sure who did them; I found them on a military photos forum, and the person who posted them there didn't say where he got them (they weren't his own work; he didn't even know who the people were). If anyone has seen the pairings before, let me know so they can be properly credited. Friedrich Anding of the Großdeutschland Division Friedrich-August Freiherr von der Heydte, who led the last major German airborne operation of the war.

Florida death records have a Gordon Percival Chase who died in St. Petersburg. Born 26 Jan 1916, died 26 Apr 1993. There's another Gordon P. Chase, born 6 Mar 1918, died 23 Sep 1992 in Baltimore, whose age would be in roughly the right time frame (Chase was a Lieutenant, USNR in 1942 and a Lt. Commander at the time of the actions for which he got the Navy Crosses). My instinct says our guy is the former; he also lived in Pensacola at some point in the 1980s, and Pensacola is the home of naval aviation. There was a Robert Featherstone Birch, born 25 Jan 1892 in Chicago, Illinois, in the World War I and World War II draft indexes. He is too old, so perhaps the father. There are several Robert F. Birch's born in the late 1910s and early 1920s who would be the right age in World War II. The most likely would seem to be one born 14 Jul 1920 in Geneva, Illinois, who died 22 Dec 1991. Geneva, Illinois is the residence listed on the elder Robert Featherstone Birch's draft cards.

Also, if the Vizefeldwebel und Offizierstellvertreter was Friedrich August Zöller, Rick's right about the silver grade. His MVK was a 2nd Class with Crown and Swords. Here is some more biographical information on him: Friedrich August Zöller, Vfw.d.L. I u. Offz.Stellv., born 22.6.1886 in Schierschnitz, Sonneberg, S-M. From 5.8.1914 to 23.4.1917 with bay. RIR 5; then 8.IR; promoted to Offz.Stellv. on 20.12.1916; killed in action 7.6.1918. 14.1.1916 EK2 12.9.1917 BMV5bXKr 28.3.1918 BDA3 1.2.1918 SMM

Oberst d.R. Wolfram Kertz, wearing the even less commonly seen miniature Ordenspange.

Given the political and social realities of West Germany, there probably weren't alot of opportunities for German officers to wear full-size medals. Heck, I don't think I ever wore full-size medals except at a Presidential inauguration. In the picture, Graf von Kielmansegg is wearing his at his retirement ceremony.

Johannes Steinhoff, Inspekteur der Luftwaffe Josef Kammhuber, Inspekteur der Luftwaffe Admiral Armin Zimmermann, Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr

Johann-Adolf Graf von Kielmansegg

For some reason I can't see your attachments. Is anyone else having this problem? Here is Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz: and Friedrich Foertsch:

Unfortunately, none of these four pan out from the regimental rolls. None got the Baden decoration. 1) Gefreiter Karl Böttner of 3rd Company Kurt Böttner, born 22.4.1891 in Sonneberg, S-M, Kaufmann in Würzburg. Promoted to Unteroffizier on 7.3.1918 24.8.1916 Bavarian Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with Swords (BMV5cX) 8.11.1917 SMM 23.3.1918 Bavarian DA 3. Klasse (BDA3) 19.5.1918 EK2 2) Gefreiter Friedrich Dreßler of 6th Company Friedrich Karl Dressler, born 30.9.1890 in Saalfeld a/Saale, Schreiner in Munich. 27.2.1916 SMM (A.E. v. 27.2.16 Ihr. K. Hoh. der Frau Herzogin Charlotte v. Sachs.-Meiningen) 19.1.1918 EK2 (Verf. d. 14.b.I.D. No. 275/IIa) 3) Gefreiter Artur Jakob of 9th Company Arthur Jakob, born 30.1.1891 in Beuern, Schalkau, S-M. Promoted to Unteroffizier on 10.5.1916, transferred to bay. 22.IR on 7.6.1917 11.6.1916 EK2 20.8.1916 SMM (maybe 28.8.1916) 14.10.1916 BMV5cX 4) Unteroffizier dR Christian Kallenbach of 9th Company Christian Kallenbach, born 17.5.1889 in Leimbach, S-M., Schneider in Leimbach. Promoted to Sergeant on 12.3.1918. 11.11.1916 EK2 1.2.1918 SMM 2.8.1918 Verw.Abz.schw. 4.4.1918 BDA3

He is still listed in the 15. April 1918 Bavarian rank list for active officers. Would that have been the case if invalided out?

And the reverse:

Crisper images:

Hptm. Holler survived the war. He was char. as a Maj. a.D. with permission to wear the uniform of 17.IR on 26. Okt. 1920. Regards, Dave

Alois Holler was promoted to Oberleutnant in mid-1914. He received the BMV4X on 30.11.14. He received his BZ3bX in March 1915 while still with 8.IR (whose Inhaber was the Grand Duke of Baden). He was killed in action as a Hauptmann on 7.4.17 at Arras (St. Laurent), while still serving with 8.IR.

Seven people were awarded four Navy Crosses in World War II: Samuel Dealey, Eugene Fluckey, Slade Cutter, Glynn Donaho, Anton Gallaher, Harold Mazza and Dudley Morton. Roy Davenport was awarded five Navy Crosses. Chesty Puller also received five Navy Crosses, but these were in three different conflicts (Nicaragua (2), WW2 (2) and Korea). Preston and Vejtasa don't show up in the Social Security Death Index, though Vejtasa's wife appears to have died in 2004.

By the way, Paul's example is interesting. Even though Schmidt was a Bavarian officer, both his Bavarian awards came well after his Prussian ones. Even the two Mecklenburg-Schwerin awards, which he got because the Grand Duke was Inhaber of the Bavarian 21st Infantry Regiment, came before Bavarian awards.