W?rttemberg - Military Merit Order

[Dave Danner]

This is another piece that just recently made its way into my home. It is in almost perfect condition, with no enamel damage. It is also really heavy - I don't have a scale, so I don't know exactly how much it weighs, but it is heavier than similarly sized badges like the Red Eagle 4th Class and the Hanseatic Crosses.

[Dave Danner]

This is the description of the order which I recently added on my website. If anyone has any good additions or corrections that should be made, it would be greatly appreciated.

W?rttemberg's Military Merit Order is one of the older of the purely military orders of the German states. It was founded on February 11, 1759 by Duke Carl Eugen zu W?rttemberg as the Milit?r-Carls-Orden, and renamed the Milit?r-Verdienstorden on November 11, 1806. Saxony's Milit?r-St. Heinrich-Orden was founded in 1736, while Prussia's Order Pour le M?rite in its form as a military order dates from 1740. Austria's Milit?r-Maria Theresien-Orden predates the W?rttemberg order by a year and a half, dating from June 1757. Bavaria's Milit?r-Max Joseph-Orden was founded in 1797 and Baden's Milit?r-Karl-Friedrich-Verdienstorden in 1807. The order came in three classes - Grand Cross (Gro?kreuz), Commander's Cross (Kommandeurkreuz) and Knight's Cross (Ritterkreuz). A revision to the order statutes on September 25, 1914 made two major changes to the appearance of the order: first, a crown which had been worn above the badge of the Grand Cross and Commander's Cross, and from 1870 the Knight's Cross, was discontinued. Second,the blue ribbon in use for the order since 1818 was changed to the version used during the Napoleonic Wars, a yellow ribbon with a black stripe near each edge. Since this ribbon was also used for the Military Merit Medals, in November 1917 two devices were authorized for ribbon bars: a gilt and green enameled wreath for the order and a gilt wreath for the golden Military Merit Medal. No wreath would indicate the silver Military Merit Medal.

As noted above with the Order of the W?rttemberg Crown, there are problems with ascertaining exact award numbers for the Military Merit Order. There are several sources, most of which differ, and many lists are only of native W?rttembergers and those non-natives decorated while serving in W?rttemberg units. Possibly the best estimate is provided by the late aviation historian Neal O'Connor with a year-by-year and grade-by-grade breakdown in an appendix to his Volume IV, based on research by the late Eric Ludvigsen. Total awards from 1799 to 1919 were: Gro?kreuz (95), Kommandeurkreuz (214) and Ritterkreuz (3,128), with World War I awards as follows: Gro?kreuz (19), Kommandeurkreuz (19) and Ritterkreuz (2,183).

Among some of the more famous recipients of the Knight's Cross of the W?rttemberg Military Merit Order were the famed World War I aviators Oswald Boelcke and Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, and another World War I aviator whose fame would come later as a Luftwaffe field marshal in World War II, Hugo Sperrle. One of W?rttemberg's most famoust junior officers of the war, a recipient of the Military Merit Order and Prussia's Pour le M?rite, would also achieve even greater, indeed perhaps immortal fame as a Field Marshal in World War II ? Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox. Wilhelm Heye, a general staff officer who served as Chief of Staff of Army Group Duke Albrecht of W?rttemberg and later rose to the highest position in the Army in the Weimar Republic, received both the Pour le M?rite with Oakleaves and the W?rttemberg Military Merit Order. Perhaps more notorious than famous among recipients was SS-Obergruppenf?hrer Gottlob Berger, who would head the SS Central Office (SS-Hauptamt) during World War II. Two World War I naval officers who received the order, Nikolaus Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien and Karl August Nerger, also share another distinction. They are apparently the only two officers (other than some high-ranking generals and princes) to receive all five of the highest strictly military orders of the German states, from Baden, Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony and W?rttemberg.

[dond]

An elegant award. Thanks for the info Dave.

[Riley1965]

That MMO is absolutely AWESOME!!! Congrats on this new addition to your collection. How common or uncommon are these?

Doc

[Ulsterman]

Dave-that is beautiful!

[Gerd Becker]

Another nice piece, Dave. I really like the design of the W?rttemberg MMO

[Stogieman]

Hi David. It's really nice to see you adding so many special pieces to your collection. Now, you'll have to search out one in real gold.... If it feels "heavy", most likely silver-gilt with gold centers.... beautiful example with a ribbon that very much looks like it was folded for a tunic buttonhole.

Here's a view of a gold one.

[Stogieman]

And the ruckseite

[Stogieman]

Here's an image of a war-time case of issue. Very, very hard to find.

[Dave Danner]

Hi David. It's really nice to see you adding so many special pieces to your collection. Now, you'll have to search out one in real gold.... If it feels "heavy", most likely silver-gilt with gold centers.... beautiful example with a ribbon that very much looks like it was folded for a tunic buttonhole.

Here's a view of a gold one.

Thanks! That is a beautiful piece. I think for me real gold will have to wait. Priorities now are the Military St. Henry Order and the other Iron Cross "equivalents" I don't have. These, unfortunately, include some of the harder-to-get ones. For junior officers, the EK "equivalents" I still need are the Waldeck Merit Cross with Swords, the Princely Schwarzburg Honor Cross with Swords and the L?beck Hanseatic Cross. For enlisted soldiers, I still need the L?beck Hanseatic Cross, the Silver Merit Medal with Swords of the Princely Hohenzollern House Order, and from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha the Silver Merit Medal of the Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order with Swords Clasp. Only the L?beck one is "relatively" easy to find, and I use relative in a relative sense. The pinback ones remain even further away.

How common or uncommon are these?

They aren't that common. They are more common than some of the other top bravery awards - the Pour le Merite, MMJO and MKFVO - and about as common as the Saxon MSHO.