Additional data re. Saxon Military St.Henry Order

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello readers:

further scrutiny of the ref. book on the recipients of this Saxon order revealed several other instances of the order insignias having been handed to the recipients some time after the abdication of the king, Friedrich August III:

-Kommandeur 2.Klasse of the Military St.Henry Order:Hptm, Ferdinand Koch. Actions in the summer of 1917, (mine explosions in Wytschaete area). Insignia handed 27.Feb.1920. no mention whether the recipient became a POW .

Ritter of the Military St.Henry Order:

-Lt.d.Res. Georg Apel, actions in Oct.1918 during retreat covered by his M.G.unit. Severely wounded and disabled for life. Insignia handed 22.Mar.1922.

-Lt.d.Res. Walter Dietrich, flying troops. Action Mar.1918, severely wounded. Insignia handed Oct.1922.

-Hptm. Hans Ehrenberg, action Aug.1918 and severely wounded. Insignia handed Apr.1920.

-Lt.d.Res. Hermann Friedrich, action in 1915, severely wounded and "remained on the field" ( became a POW?).

- Lt.d.Ldw. Alfred Grummt, action late Sep.1918. Of note is that this Lt. was acting battalion commander during two months. severely wounded (POW?). Insignia handed Apr.1920.

-Lt.d.Res. Walter Guttmann, action in Oct.1918, insignia handed Apr.1920.

-Lt.Julius Hemig, action Jun.1918, severely wounded. Insignia handed Jun.1912.

-Lt. Erich Scheer. Action Sep.1915, severely wounded. (POW?) Insignia handed Jun.1920.

- Lt.Karl Toepfer,action Jun.1917 (POW?) . Insignia handed Jun.1920.

-Lt.Walter Westmann. Action Aug.1918, (POW?). Insignia handed Nov.1920.

-Hptm. Erich von Lossnitzer, Schutztruppe for German South West Africa, Apparently frequent patrol leader, stayed out for some time after capitulation of the German troops. Could not find him in the list of Iron Cross recipients of that personnel.

While there is no hard evidence in the reference book as to the prevailing circumstances why these late handing of the relevant insignias took place one is led to believe that:

A. recipients became POW and were not released from captivity until some considerable time after the armistice

B. were severely wounded and the insignias did not reach them.

Another obscure aspect is that no date of award is given for any of the above listed officers nor the exact day of the month in some cases.

The last listed award dates I saw are 9.Nov.1918.

As stated before there must have existed some authority handling award matters as late as 1922.

Bernhard H. Holst

[webr55]

A 1933 picture of Erich v. Lo?nitzer was recently sold - it shows his St. Henry, SEHO and probably a HH:

[webr55]

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