Dave Danner

Generally, the Order of Leopold II was given for long service as well as merit, similar to the Prussian Red Eagle and Crown Orders in peacetime. The Knight's Badge shown above is bilingual, so post-World War Two. Here is a French-only version, as awarded from 1900 to 1950: Here is an assortment of World War One medals - the Yser Medal, the Frontline Service Cross, the Commemorative Medal of the Campaign 1914-1918 and the World War I Victory Medal: The second one, the Frontline Service Cross, is also called the Fire Cross (Croix de Feu / Vuurkruis) and to me is one of the more striking Belgian medals. Last is a War Cross (Croix de Guerre / Oorlogskruis). This is the World War One version, similar to Laurence's in the other thread:

To clarify, the Saxon is the one on the right with trifolds. Besides the St. Henry, ZVO and EK, he has the Saxon Erinnerungskreuz 1866 and the KDM 1870/71. As for the precedence, Saxons and Bavarians generally put their own military decorations ahead of Prussia's. I note, though, that he also put a Saxon campaign award ahead of the EK. As for the other one, how is this von Marchtaler related to Gen. von Marchtaler, the W?rttemberg Minister of War in WW1?

Not only three sovereigns, but a 40-year span of history: Victoria on the QSA, named to Corporal E.W. Tabb, 2nd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry George V on the BWM, named to Serjeant E.W. Tabb, still Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry George VI on the Defence Medal, probably for Home Guard service by Mr. Tabb.

In trying to reconcile information from various sources, I have a minor mystery that hopefully some with more and better resources (especially ones with names like Rick and Glenn J) can possibly clear up. The website pourlemerite.org's list of plM recipients is full of typos. In looking through the list. I noted one name: This name probably should be Osiander, as Oslander is not a German name, but there are three Osianders in the Ehren-Rangliste des Heeres. The Baden MKFVO list includes a Wilhelm Osiander, who received his MKFVO as a Major on 24 March 1917. However, Daniel's list of his other awards includes wartime and post-war awards, but not the plM: EK, HOH3X, DA25, China, Centenar, BZ3bXmE, BZ3bmE, BadJubi 1903, SA3aX, FEK, HSH3b, Schles.Adler. This Osiander was a field artillery officer, the commander of FAR 15, and after the war apparently led the Freiw.Feldartillerie-Rgt. Osiander in the so-called "Division von Lettow des Garde-Kavallerie-Sch?tzen-Korps" of the Freikorps. There was one other Osiander, also a Badener, who was a Major in 1918 who might have been the plM recipient. He was a transport officer, so normally you wouldn't expect him to be the one with the decorations, but having served in German South-West Africa in 1905-07, he already had pre-war the KO4X and BZ3bX. My instinct is that it is the former, the field artillery officer, who is the plM recipient. Can anyone confirm and/or provide any additional details?

For Bremen's Hanseatenkreuz, the Navy's use of BremH is probably preferable, to avoid confusion with other "B" states (not that you're going to see it too often, but BH is the "standard" abbreviation for the Bavarian Order of St. Hubertus). For Lippe-Detmold, the Milit?rverdienstmedaille is usually LMV. The Kriegsehrenmedaille, being more a civilian award, doesn't show up in ranklists, so you don't see an abbreviation. LKEM probably works. Also, keep in mind that for certain awards, especially the principle military decorations, the "standard" abbreviations are not commonly used. You tend to see plM, MMJO, MSHO and MKFVO (or just MKFO) for the top military awards of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Baden, respectively. Many commonly refer to the Baden Order of the Z?hringen Lion as ZLO. The Ricks' list also notes the common use of SEHO for the Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order, rather than HSH or HSEH.

Given that there is no obvious connection between both Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, could there possibly be a maritime connection? An army observer attached to a shore unit might narrow the field a little. Of course, if we don't know who this guy was in WW1, we know what he was doing in WW2. Professional arsonist, working under the cover of the Allied air offensive. Or do you think it is mere coincidence that the archival award records are missing for Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Saxe-Weimar.

The list is here: http://home.att.net/~ordersandmedals/MKFVO.htm I will add the higher grades tomorrow.

Some typos and discrepancies: Allmann → should be UllmannAppenzelle → I believe should be AppenzellerBeck Erich → Erich von BeckBeck Leopold → Leopold von BeckBoth Ludwig Bergs are "von Berg"Blockner → GlocknerBogt → Vogt (also, probably not the Vogt in IR 28, who was a Major and was KIA in 1914; there were three other Vogts who were actually in Baden regiments)Brandehrens → BraunbehrensBr?hl-Schneider → Br?hl-SchreinerDierling → VierlingEichhorn → EschbornFelsche → FelschFenne → JenneFritsche → FritschFust → JustGrandenberger von Moisy L. → Gandenberger von Moisy, LudwigG?lery Ravensburg, Frhr → G?ler von Ravensburg, Eberhard FreiherrGr?we, Edler von → Graeve, Wilhelm Edler vonHerzberg → Hertzberg, Kurt Graf vonHoser → HoferHolz → Holtz (also, I think this may be Viktor)Jumricht → HumrichtKitzling → Ki?lingLauterschl?ger → Lauteschl?ger, Georg Bal.ErnstLeienk?gel → LeinenkugelLeiningen, Durch, F?rst zu → Emich Eduard Carl F?rst zu LeiningenLilienhoff-Zmomitzki, von → Xaver von Lilienhoff-ZwowitzkiLivonius Georg → von Livonius (also, I'm not sure Georg is the right von Livonius)Lorne, von St Ange O. → de Lorne de St. Ange, Oskar (later changed his name to von Lorne von St. Ange)Marschak von Bachtenbrock → Marschalck von BachtenbrockOstander → OsianderPreuschen, von → Ludwig Freiherr von Preuschen von und zu LiebensteinRaderhoff → Daniel's list has Naderhoff, but I can't find either name.Richard → Richarz,Schvenebeck → Hermann von SchoenebeckSchmeickert → SchweickertS?ler von Ravensburg, Frhr → G?ler von Ravensburg, Egon FreiherrSteiglehyer, Frhr Paul → Paul Karl Franz Gustav SteiglehnerI should have an annotated list up tomorrow, though of course it remains a work in progress.

It's not the "Silver Merit Cross of the Order" in the same way German orders had associated merit crosses and merit medals. The silver cross was the 6th class of the order. A 6th Class without Crown is an odd award for a German lieutenant. He may have gotten the Bulgarian award as a Fahnenjunker.

Not all German states. Among those that did: Baden Brunswick (Braunschweig) Hannover Hesse-Darmstadt Lippe-Detmold Schaumburg-Lippe Oldenburg Reuss, Younger Line Saxony Saxe-Weimar Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Saxe-Meiningen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen W?rttemberg None of these are particularly common, and some of these are extremely rare.

I must say I find it insulting to the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines on the receiving end that those piss-poor quality recently cast Silver Stars are what they are given. Below, by comparison, is a 1940s-produced Silver Star. What is particularly galling is that the government has/had tons of these in storage, from various WW2 contracts, which they sold off to the collector market, while awarding the newer crappy ones. It's not like they were in danger of running out. Since Vietnam, the services have awarded less than 600 Silver Stars (I'm not sure of the exact number as I can't find Air Force statistics).

For World War I, Klietmann gives 53 Knights with Lions and Swords and 182 Knights with Swords, but these numbers apparently only cover W?rttembergers and non-W?rttembergers serving in W?rttemberg units. There were at least 8 Navy WK3Xs - if any of these weren't W?rttembergers that would push the number up somewhat. The list that I generated from a 2002 WAF thread, based on input from Rick L., Daniel and Werner Nickel, had 33 WK3XmL and 187 WK3X. There may be some inaccuracies and duplications there. Dr. Pfleiderer is not on the list, and almost every medical person listed there is an Oberstabsarzt. For combat arms officers, almost all WK3X recipients were majors, and WK3XmL recipients were lieutenant colonels. BTW, W?rttemberg is a -berg, not a -burg.

I have a candidate, by the way. Maybe Daniel can rule him on or out. Dr. Pfleiderer, a Stabsarzt in Landwehrbezirk E?lingen. In 1914, he was shown with the Silver Karl-Olga Medal, the LD2 and the Prussian Red Cross Medal 3rd Class. I only saw one other officer, Oblt. Kohlhammer of Landwehrbezirk I Stuttgart, with the Silver Karl-Olga Medal who didn't have higher awards. But he's field artillery, so all the medical-type awards wouldn't fit. Of course, the Silver Karl-Olga Medal continued to be awarded until 1916, and the LD2 could also have come later, so the 1914 rank list might give candidates, but not rule others out.

The real oddity, of course, which I'm sure Stogie-Rick noticed, is the Milit?r-Verdienstmedaille with the Geneva Cross. A W?rttemberger with a Schaumburg-Lippe decoration is one thing, but a W?rttemberger with a rather uncommon version of a rather rare Schaumburg-Lippe decoration, and without Schaumburg-Lippe's more typical wartime decoration, is a bit intriguing. There were over 10,000 awards of the Cross for Loyal Service (Kreuz f?r treue Dienste), Schaumburg-Lippe's Iron Cross equivalent. There were probably less than a 1,000 awards, if even that, of the Milit?r-Verdienstmedaille (no one knows exactly how many were awarded in World War One, but only 583 were awarded in the Franco-Prussian War, when the MVM was Schaumburg-Lippe's main military award). I can't imagine awards with the Geneva Cross were more than a minority.

I like the Order of the Z?hringen Lion a lot, but I'm not sure it would be tops for me among Baden decorations. I kinda like this one:

Which is rarer? The VKx or the EKxmKr?

The rank lists may be wrong. The Bronze Bravery Medal was an enlisted man's award. Unless he got it before August 1915, when he was still a Fahnenjunker. Alternatively, he and other Germans who received the Bravery Medal as officer candidates might have simply decided to "grade up" the award to befit their officer status. This picture shows him with two rows of ribbons, but is too fuzzy to make out a lot of detail:

Is there a reason why these must be the orders, and not the Civil Merit Medal and the Medal of the Friedrich Order? Nothing specifically says "officer" to me, but I may be misreading some of the awards.

"Isn't it morally wrong to give me a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?" "Don't you think it is about time you audited my return?"

Try this: http://search.ebay.de/_W0QQsassZhagekna41QQhtZ-1 It is the long bar toward the bottom, with the Saxon St. Henry Medal and the awards of a slew of other states.

http://cgi.ebay.de/Ordenspange_W0QQitemZ62...1QQcmdZViewItem It seems to be inserting an extra space after the "/" and before "Ordenspange". I can't delete it for some reason, The medal combination is impossible, but maybe the ribbon bar corresponds to something else and someone "fixed" it with the medals there?

Note the ciphers on the military awards are "B"s for Duke Bernhard, but on the women's award it is three interlocking "C"s. I have no idea why they interlock, but the C should be for Charlotte, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen, Kaiser Wilhelm II's sister.

To further flesh things out for my first bar, and add a little mystery, here are the accompanying miniatures and an early ribbon bar: Note that the recipient is a Bavarian but he received Prussian and Saxe-Meiningen wartime awards before the one from his home state.

Him? http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php...&highlight=kinz

Apparently, Korea (MASH), Vietnam (Tour of Duty, after the 1st season) and various planets around the galaxy (Star Trek), look amazingly like southern California.