Dave Danner

Hi Chris, "10.4.-30.4.20 Unruhen in Sachsen"

Rowehl was a native of Oldenburg, so he probably had the Friedrich August Cross. The picture is too fuzzy to read the ribbon bar.

He died on 10 June 1953 in Weende, Göttingen. He is in the 1937 Stellenbesetzung as a Hauptmann (E) with an RDA of 1.11.1933 and in the 1939 Dienstaltersliste as a Major (E) with an RDA of 1.4.1938, in both cases assigned to the staff WBK Göttingen. He does not have a personnel file in the captured German military records in the National Archives, so he was not an active army officer in 1945. He is not in DeZeng & Stankey's collection of Luftwaffe officers, so he apparently did not transfer there, so I have no idea what he did during the war. As an E-officer, he would have received the Wehrmacht Dienstauszeichnung 4.Klasse for at least four years of service. I have no idea how long he was a police officer (his 1926 marriage certificate lists him as a Polizeihauptmann a.D.) nor how many years he served in the Heer before the war started, but with his eight years in the Prussian Army, he might have added enough to qualify for the Dienstauszeichnung 3.Klasse for 12 years' service. Plus, of course, the Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer. Wound badges were often omitted on these forms. The listing of the wounds would likely qualify him for the badge, though.

Tilgner, Louis Adolf Felix * 16.1.1881 in Breslau Oberbuchwald was in the reporting area for Sprottau, so he was possibly the Vizewachtmeister Tilgner in the Res.Inf.Mun.Kol. 14 of the V. Reservekorps who was promoted to Lt.d.L.-Felda. I (Sprottau) on 14.1.1916. However, an HOH3X for field artillery support officer seems uncommon, so he may have been the Vizefeldwebel Tilgner promoted to Lt.d.L.-Inf. I (I Breslau) on 13.5.1918. That Tilgner, however, received the Saxe-Meiningen Medal for Merit in War in 1915, which may simply have been omitted from the death notice.

Hertel, Karl Theodor *25.4.1890 in Endingen, Baden †14.10.1965 in Wiesbaden He was wounded in 1914 as a Vfw.d.R. in RIR 40, in 1915 as a Lt.d.R. in LIR 11, and for a third time in 1918. He was promoted to Lt.d.R. in RIR 40 on 16.11.1914. His Rufname does appear to be Karl, but he is in the Zähringen Lion roll as "Theod. Karl", a Lt.d.R. of GR 110, at the time in RIR 51.

Harry Nadrowski was an Oberst and Feldkommandant in World War II. His HOH3X was awarded on 15.10.1918, so there was about a month and half between the award and it being published in Die Presse. Due to the revolution, it was apparently not published in the Militär-Wochenblatt or Prussian Staatsanzeiger, but I found the date in his HPA personnel file. Born in 1888, he was living in Frankfurt am Main after World War II, but I haven't found a date of death.

Loeb, Friedrich "Fritz" Matthias * 26.3.1893 in Trier † 18.8.1975 in Frankfurt am Main He was a Lt.d.R. in Infanterie-Regiment "von Horn" Nr. 29, serving in the MG-Kompagnie, later 2. MG-Kompagnie, and was wounded three times. He was not a member of the IR 29 Offizier-Vereinigung in the 1931 membership list, and of course as a Jew would not have been permitted to be a member at the time of the 1939 list. These are the only membership lists I have, and I do not have the regimental history, so I do not know if he is mentioned there. After World War I, he was a Kaufmann, initially in Trier, and later in Frankfurt am Main. I don't know where he was during the Third Reich - when the Nazis annulled his German citizenship in 1939, Frankfurt was listed as his last domestic residence - but he escaped the Holocaust and returned sometime after WW2.

Müller's CO, the later Luftwaffe Generalmajor Viktor Carganico, was himself also a recipient of the HOH3X.

Müller, Maximilian Heinrich Wilhelm * 30.7.1887 in Neumarkt in Schlesien † 4.4.1918 near Ailly Though Silesian by birth, he studied at the University of Greifswald and remained in Greifswald during his Lehramt training. Thus, he did his Einjährig-Freiwilliger year from 1.10.1911 to 30.9.1912 with IR 42. However, he was in his Seminarjahr at the König-Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Breslau when the war began, and Vfw.d.R. Müller was called up in Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 10, whose regimental staff and III. Bataillon were from Breslau. Since Müller is too common a name, and the Prussians had an aversion to listing first names, I can't tell you when he was commissioned. The Ailly near where Maximilian Müller died was presumably Ailly-sur-Noye, south of Amiens, site of heavy fighting in April 1918, but since he was a Beobachter, I can't say for certain. He could have been flying over Ailly-sur-Somme, just northwest of Amiens. Gustav Müller was commissioned into FAR 41 and died with RFAR 9 during the Spring Offensive when the Germans recaptured Albert. He was born on 18.4.18__ in Frohse/Elbe, Kreis Calbe/Saale. Albert lies on the road about halfway between Bapaume and Amiens, just north of the Somme River, and is not far from the British Somme Memorial at Thiepval. I was there a few years ago.

Dierig, Wolfgang, Dr.phil. * 21.7.1879 in Oberlangenbielau in Schlesien, son of Kommerzienrat Friedrich Dierig (1845-1931) and Minne, geb. Bienert (1855-1920). † xx.5.1945 in Großgrünau, Sudetenland • 1.10.1898-1.10.1899 - Einjährig-Freiwilliger in HR 9 • 18.10.1902 - Lt.d.R. of UR 11 • 18.11.1911 - OLt.d.R. • 2.12.1914 - Rittm.d.R., currently in the staff of XXI.Armeekorps • 31.3.1920 - der Abschied bewilligt • After retirement, he was given the Charakter of Maj.d.R.a.D. Dr.phil. Wolfgang Dierig was a Fabrikbesitzer in Oberlangenbielau. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the Univ. of Breslau on 25.10.1902. He was chairman of the Christian Dierig A.G., a large textile factory founded in Oberlangbielau by his great-grandfather. The concern was expanded in 1918 by acquiring another factory in Augsburg, and Dierig Holding AG is currently headquartered in that city. In the interwar period, Wolfgang and his brother Gottfried (1889-1945) grew the company into the largest cotton textile concern in Europe. Wolfgang was also a director of Deutsche Bank. Gottfried was from 1936-1938 chairman of the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie. Gottfried was a Lt.d.R. in HR 9, promoted to OLt.d.R. on 29.9.1917 (Pat. 15.9.1917) while commanding the MG-Kompanie of Saxon IR 105. Gottfried was also highly decorated, having received the EK1, SA3bX, EH3bX and ÖM3K in WW1. Both Wolfgang and Gottfried had sons who were officers in the Wehrmacht and who continued to run what was left of the family business after World War II. Both Wolfgang and Gottfried committed suicide rather than fall into Allied hands. Wolfgang's home in Langenbielau is now the Hotel Dębowy Bielawa hotel and spa (https://www.hoteldebowy.pl/en/history-page-125571).

Hermstein, Hubertus Ferdinand Alfred * 2.8.1885 in Komprachtschütz, Kreis Oppeln † 12.11.1930 in Leobschütz He was commissioned a Lt.d.R. (Cosel, later Ratibor) in FAR 21 on 19 December 1911, and promoted to OLt.d.R. on 9 March 1917. His death certificate lists him as a Rittergutsbesitzer in Leobschütz-Blümsdorf. He was the brother of Theodor Maximilian Hubertus Hermstein (*29.5.1884 in Komprachtschütz), who was an active officer in FAR 21, retiring as a Major, and later an E-Officer in the Wehrmacht, promoted to Oberst in 1942. Their father, Ökonomierat and Rittergutspächter Theodor Hermstein (1858-1920), was an OLt.d.L.a.D.

It is Theodor Duesterberg (1875-1950). The order after the WK3X and before the HT is the HP3bX. He was a native of Hessen-Darmstadt. Most of his WW1 awards were received as Adjutant of the 13. Infanterie-Division or while serving in the Kriegsministerium as head of the Abteilung Verbündete Heere.

I believe they changed to darker-colored uniforms shortly after this picture was taken when they realized how ineffective this uniform would be on the battlefield. Also, a fine example of the different ways to get different state awards. Prussian Army, so the Iron Cross. Native of Baden, so the Zähringen Lion. Served in a regiment whose Chef or Inhaber was a sovereign, so the awards of that sovereign, in this case Mecklenburg-Schwerin. According to his marriage certificate, he was a Reichsbankoberinspektor in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1928. His father was a Sergeant in Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 14 at the time of Karl's birth.

I don't have anything further on the cause of death, but for clarity's sake I would note that his surname was "Capler von Oedheim genannt Bautz", with the title of Freiherr, so any index will have him under "C".

No dynastic or regimental connection. However, as mentioned in other threads, there are numerous ways for seemingly random pairings to happen. I know of several hundred awards of the MMV2 to men of all ranks in Grand Ducal Hessian regiments just from those that were published from 1914 to 1917 in the Regierungsblatt, which are only a fraction of total MMV awards. These were typically Mecklenburg natives in those regiments. You also have Hessians in Mecklenburg units, and Hessians in the navy who may have received Mecklenburg awards. One curious case is this: on 10 January 1915, 20 officers were commissioned as Leutnants der Reserve in Füsilier-Regiment Nr. 90, but were not sent to that regiment. Instead, they were sent as officer replacements to Alexander von Linsingen's newly-formed Südarmee. Several of these officers ended up in the heavily Hessian 48. Reserve-Division, so as officers in command of Hessian troops, they could have received the HT as well as the MMV2.

Alfred Wilhelm Koyemann was born on 15 October 1895 in Hamburg and died in 1950 in Travemünde. He was promoted to Dr.jur et rer.pol. by the University of Würzburg in 1920, and was a banker in Hamburg from the 1920s to his death. He entered service in Jäger-Bataillon Nr. 9 and was promoted to Leutnant der Reserve (II Hamburg) on 5.4.1916. According to the battalion history, he received the EK2 on 8.12.1915 and the Hamburg Hanseatenkreuz in 1916. He was wounded in 1915 as a Vizefeldwebel der Reserve. His brother was KIA in 1916 as a Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier in IR 162.

Willi Brumm's Todesanzeige in the Nachrichtenblatt of the Bund IR 24. Brumm, Alfred Otto Willi, * 6.3.1887 in Steinfurth, Oberbarnim, † 26.11.1935 in Neuruppin Brumm was promoted on 3.10.14 to Lt.d.R. (Ruppin) in IR 24, and served in the field with IR 189. IR 189 was a Brandenburg regiment formed in May 1915 with companies from several regular Brandenburg regiments, including IR 24; 10./IR 189 was formerly 6./IR 24 and 11./IR 189 was formerly 11./IR 24. Brumm was a Volksschullehrer in Herzberg, Ruppin. He also had the Austro-Hungarian Militärverdienstkreuz 3.Klasse mit der Kriegsdekoration 3. Klasse.

You have the DA and the Centenary backward. The DA was a decoration and ranked ahead of the campaign and commemorative medals. The Centenary ranked after the campaign medals. As Rick used to remind us, the yellow ribbon of the Centenary often appears dark in black & white photos. Regarding the SWA Denkmünze, since he does not have a combatant decoration for that conflict, I would guess he was at home and his medal is in Stahl, but I can't say for certain. Michelsen received the Leopold-Orden, Ritterkreuz 3. Klasse mit der Kriegsdekoration, in 1916. I am pretty sure that is the last ribbon (red with white edge stripes). I can't tell, but the device above the Kriegsdekoration might be a crown.

Ernst Theodor Arnold was born on *4.9.1888 in Lorsch, Bensheim and died on 31.5.1978 in Darmstadt. He was a Dipl.-Ing. and Fabrikant in Bensheim, later Direktor of the Papierfabrik Euler AG. He already had the EK1 as of the 5 June 1915 issue of the Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung. I am not sure what was the Kontrollbezirk for Bensheim, but the only Lts.d.R. Arnold I found for Darmstadt, Worms and Erbach were: • 8.8.14 Lt.d.R. (II Darmstadt) d. LGIR 115 • 8.5.15 Lt.d.R. (I Darmstadt) in d. Fest.Masch.Gew.Abt. 9 d. Gouv. Straßburg • 22.8.16 Lt.d.R. (I Darmstadt) d. PB 25 The only HOH3X listed for an Arnold in the LGIR 115 history is that of the later Wehrmacht Oberstleutnant Karl Arnold, so that one can be ruled out. As a Dipl.-Ing., the pioneer connection seems possible. I've no idea how to trace a Festungs-MG officer further.

Adolf v. Berckefeldt was born on 4.1.1872 in Bothmer, Fallingbostel, and died on 4.8.1920 in Hörden bei Herzberg/Harz. He was serving in FAR 50 in 1902 when he received the Baden Regierungsjubiläumsmedaille. He was transferred to FAR 66 in 1903 and later to the Hauptkadettenanstalt. On 22.3.1914 he was transferred to FAR 7 and was promoted to Major on 19.8.1914. He received the Schaumburg-Lippe Kreuz für Treue Dienste on 21.6.1916 as commander of I./RFAR 13 and later commanded FAR 183. He had two sons and one daughter. His younger son Gerhard was killed in action in Russia 1941 as a Major. His older son Ulrich died in 1977. Ulrich's wives' surnames were Rauch and Trella. Adolf's daughter Gisela was married to a man named Friedrich Biester, who died of wounds in 1942 as an Oberleutnant der Reserve. I haven't found any connection to a Kiessler family.

Ideally, the line to indicate a double letter should be straight, while the line to indicate a "u" rather than a "ü" should be curved. Writers weren't always that careful, though. See, for example, the recommendation below. In the first few cases, such as "wurde", the "u" is similar to the double "n" of Wiedemann, although the writer got better toward the bottom.

Hermann Eckle. The line over the last "n" is sometimes seen in German handwriting to indicate a double letter.

This is from a Württemberg rank list, so the list begins with his decorations from that kingdom. The three icons at the beginning of the list are the Order of the Württemberg Crown (2c means the pinback Honor Cross), the Friedrich-Order (2b is the Commander's Cross), and the Württemberg Dienstehrenzeichen 1. Klasse, the officer's long service decoration. Also he added these decorations during the war: the Knight's Cross of the Württemberg Military Merit Order, the Commander's Cross with Swords of the Order of the Württemberg Crown, the Star and Swords to his Friedrich Order Commander's Cross, the Prussion Red Eagle Order 2nd Class with Swords and Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the Braunschweig War Merit Cross 2nd Class, the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross, the Hessen-Darmstadt General Honor Decoration "For Bravery", the Saxon Albrecht-Orden Commander 1st Class with Swords, and the Waldeck Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords.

This was true of a number of naval vessels "adopted" by various states, such as the SMS Hessen, SMS Oldenburg and SMS Prinzregent Luitpold.

The replies above have identified the typical ways a Landesorden was awarded. Practice varied from state to state, especially with regard to which award one might get, and the criteria changed during the war. Braunschweig, for instance, initially only awarded the Kriegsverdienstkreuz on the blue-yellow ribbon if you served at the front or in the Kriegsschauplatz, with awards on the yellow-blue ribbon for merit on the homefront. Eventually, Braunschweig changed this to follow Prussia's practice, where military personnel in the Heimat could receive the Iron Cross on the black-white ribbon. So, early in the war, someone stationed at the stellv. Generalkommando in Hannover or at the Kriegsministerium in Berlin might receive a "combatant" Iron Cross but a "non-combatant" Kriegsverdienstkreuz. With the change in policy, they could return their ribbon and Urkunde to Braunschweig and receive a new blue-yellow ribbon and Urkunde. However, you had to apply yourself; the authorities did not automatically issue new ribbons and documents. Therefore you can still see "combatant" EK2/"non-combatant" BrK2 medal bars if the recipient never bothered to apply. Braunschweig was much stricter with the Bewährungsabzeichen. It routinely denied the device to recipients of the Kriegsverdienstkreuz who were not Braunschweigers or serving in Braunschweig units. By contrast, when it was created, the Kriegsverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse was awarded if the recipient could show he was already in possession of the Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse and had received the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse. To summarize, the most common ways to receive a Landesorden were: 1. Be a native of the state. However, this was often not enough. Many states such as Reuß denied awards to people born in the state but who had left the state. So, if you were born in Greiz, but your family moved to Saxony when you were a child, you might be denied. If you were born and raised in Greiz, but left as an adult and spent the majority of your economic life outside Reuß, you were denied. But if you left Reuß for reasons outside of your control, such as active military or civil service, you could still get the award. The Kingdoms who had some military autonomy from Prussia were fairly strict in this regard. A native Bavarian or Saxon who served in the Prussian Army would not likely receive a Bavarian or Saxon award, unlike a native Badener in the Prussian Army, even when the Badener served in non-Baden units. 2. Serve in that state's contingent, or its wartime daughter formations (Tochterformationen). These ranged in peacetime from the multi-corps Bavarian Army down to the battalion-sized contingents of Schaumburg-Lippe and Waldeck. Many wartime units were not officially established as state formations, but as daughters of their parent formations were considered essentially as so. Thus RJB 7 and RJB 20 were Schaumburg units, RIR 90 and RIR 214 were Mecklenburg regiments, etc. Also, a number of Prussian regiments and formations, while not officially state contingents, were considered as effectively connected to particular states. For example, the Minden-based Prussian regiments IR 15 and FAR 58 recruited from Schaumburg-Lippe as well as Prussian Westphalia, and Schaumburg-Lippe routinely awarded decorations to men in these units and their daughter formations. FR 36 was a Prussian regiment, but one of its battalions was based in Bernburg, so Anhalt awards were common to this unit as well as RIR 36 (Tochterformation of FR 36 and IR 93) and LIR 36. JRzP 5 was a Prussian regiment based in Alsace, but it was part of Baden's XIV.Armeekorps, so Baden awards were common to that regiment. I would say this was more common for officers than NCOs and men. A Prussian-born Musketier in IR 93 could expect to be put in for a Friedrichkreuz simply by being in the regiment, but a Füsilier in FR 36 would usually need to be an Anhaltiner. However, a Hauptmann in FR 36 might get the Friedrichkreuz by virtue of being the commander of a sufficient number of Anhalt Landeskinder. Though this could happen with any unit with a bunch of Landeskinder. As BlackcowboyBS notes with Braunschweig, an officer might nominate some of his Braunschweigers for an award, and find himself nominated as well. 3. Serve in a regiment whose Chef or Inhaber was the sovereign of another state. In Duke Ernst August's old regiment, HR 3, to which he was à la suite, at least 115 officers received the Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse and at least 32 the 1. Klasse. Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst was Chef of HR 12 and the Saxon Karabinier-Regiment, and the White Falcon and other Sachsen-Weimar awards were common in those regiments. Officers and men of the 2.GUR often received Saxon awards, those of the 3.GUR Waldeck awards, and those of the 1.GDR Oldenburg and Saxon awards (there is correspondence in the archives in Dessau where Prinz Aribert tells the Duke that Oldenburg has awarded a bunch of its crosses to 1.GDR, and Anhalt needs to follow suite). In GGR 2, the Emperor of Austria-Hungary was the Chef and the Duke of Sachsen-Meiningen was à la suite. Wartime awards of the Ehrenzeichen für Verdienst im Kriege were common, and many GGR 2 officers had more peacetime and wartime Austrian awards than anything else, in some cases more than many Austrians had. Sachsen-Meiningen's Ehrenzeichen für Verdienst im Kriege, both cross and medal, was also routinely awarded to officers and men of GR 10, whose Chef was the Duke, and GR 11, whose Chef was the Duchess (and sister to the Kaiser), as well as Saxon IR 133. Other examples include Mecklenburg-Schwerin awards to LGR 8, IR 24 and 21.bay.IR, Bavarian awards to IR 47, IR 102 and LKR 1, Württemberg awards to KR 5, IR 105 and 4.bay.IR, Austro-Hungarian awards to 13.bay.IR, FR 122, HR 16 and UR 17, Bulgarian awards to IR 72, Baden awards to IR 103, IR 126 and 8.bay.IR, Hessen-Darmstadt awards to IR 17 and 5.bay.IR, Braunschweig awards to 1.bay.SchwRR and LHR 2 (whose Chef was Ernst August's wife and the Kaiser's daughter), Reuß awards to the LGHR, JB 4 and JB 13, and Schaumburg-Lippe awards to HR 7. HR 14 received more Schaumburg-Lippe awards than HR 7, but that is because Fürst Adolf was merely à la suite to HR 7, while he actually commanded HR 14. Those are the three main ways to receive a Landesorden. As Chris noted, there were also a lot of random awards when units from one state came under command or were co-located with units from another state. This seems to account for a rather large number of Schaumburg-Lippe awards to RIR 24 and Saxon LdstIR 19, two units otherwise unconnected to the Principality. You can see why Prussia might be annoyed. If you were born in Königsberg and went into one of your local regiments, GR 3, you were a Prussian in a Prussian regiment whose Chef was the Kaiser and King of Prussia. So by the three criteria above, you got one decoration, the Iron Cross. If you were a Hamburg-born sergeant in in Bavaria's 8.IR, though, you could get a Hanseatic Cross based on nationality, a Bavarian Military Merit Cross based on contingent, and a Baden Merit Medal based on your Chef, all to go with your Iron Cross as a German soldier. I imagine, though, that a Frontsoldat, be he Bavarian, Prussian or Hamburger, was even more annoyed at the staff officers and support personnel at higher commands who racked up awards because of the various state formations they "supported". Among the worst offenders was the Kriegsamt, especially Wumba, which sent out lists of award recommendations to every state late in the war hoping to get various ones approved. This resulted in odd random combinations of "combatant" awards like the EK2, homefront-ribboned versions of other state awards, and awards specifically for homefront merit like the Saxon Kriegsverdienstkreuz and the Bavarian König-Ludwig-Kreuz.