Swiss Soldiers earning Prussian and German Orders

[Claudio]

Dear forumites,

Since I am currently in vacation in my own country, I decided to visit some interesting historically places.

I was quite impressed of the array of rare Militaria pieces being exhibit at the Castle of Morges (website only in French sorry... http://www.chateau-morges.ch/intro.htm ).

My surprise was to find a couple of very rare German & foreign orders being awarded to Swiss officers and soldiers, who served under many different kings and countries. Especially the original uniforms of the 1er Empire (French Empire, Napeleon) were exceptional, if you think about the rarity and how old they are (over 200 years). There were also many other uniforms of Swiss serving under the British Empire, the Netherlands, the Italian States (Regno di Napoli, di Piemonte, Granducato di Toscana, Stato Papale), only to mention a few.

I guess that a couple of items would attire your attention on this very forum, since these were Prussian decorations.

The first are very rare and old type of Red Eagle Orders... of course being awarded to a local fellow countryman (Swiss from the Canton Vaud) who served under the Prussian king.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures, but I had to be very careful in taking them... the way there were exposed, although very traditional, was very nice and clean, with soft lights in a beautiful castle built by the Savoy's Dinasty in the late 13th century (!!!!!).

[Claudio]

Here a portrait of a Swiss Pour le M?rite Tr?ger. I wouldn't be surprised to find a couple more.

Please do not hesitate to comment these pictures and contribute with additional photos and documentation of German orders being awarded to Swiss soldiers.

Ciao,

Claudio

[Claudio]

Some of the uniforms above mentioned... this are from left to right, a tunic of the Swiss serving the French monarchy before the revolution (1789), a tunic of the 3rd Infantry regiment (red/black) and two tunics of the Infantry Batallion of the republic of Valais (red/white), from the grenadiers company... Useless to say how rare this are. The Swiss were the only Napo's troops to be allowed to wear red coats in the whole French army!

Ciao,

Claudio

[Claudio]

Some Dutsch orders...

[Claudio]

L?gion d'honneur...

[Claudio]

more L?gion d'honneur...

[Claudio]

Spanish orders...

[Claudio]

for service to the British Empire!!!

[Komtur]

Hi Claudio,

thanks for sharing that extraordinary interesting pics of foreign decoration to swiss officers.

The most interesting for me as "Prussian" is the first pic. But IMO there must be a mistake in the description. I read with my poor french: knight and commander of the REO awarded to Jean-Jacques de Beausobre. Isn?t the left order the 4th class of the Prussian REO type with lilac eagle awarded from 1830-1854 and the right one the Brandenburg knight of the REO awarded in the mid 18th century? How can one person got both of them?

Best regards, Komtur.

Edited April 10, 2008 by Komtur

[VtwinVince]

Wow, some very interesting things there. I particularly like the Seringapatam medal, which was given for Wellington's first major victory over, I believe, the somewhat crazy Tipoo Sultan.

[Ed_Haynes]

Wow, some very interesting things there. I particularly like the Seringapatam medal, which was given for Wellington's first major victory over, I believe, the somewhat crazy Tipoo Sultan.

Crazy? Hardly. He just didn't much like the Brits taking over his country. Can't blame him.

Not sure, however, one a Swiss soldier could have gptten the bronze medal.

There were, by the way, Swiss on both sides in thet war, very interesting.

[Claudio]

@ Komtur: I don't think that the curators of the museum really have a lot of knowledge about German orders, hence the mistakes... it could be possible that the medals came from the same family who donated to the museum. Sometimes generations of soldiers of Swiss families served abroad.

Ciao,

Claudio