Hans-Nikolaus von Beguelin

[Dave Danner]

I recently provided some updated information on an aviator, Hans-Nikolaus von Beguelin, to the person who runs the www.Flieger-Album.de website, and he kindly sent me a larger scan of the picture of Beguelin he has from Werner Dittmann's wartime album. Here is a headshot from the biography page:

Here is the larger scan of the chest:

Here is my blow-up of the Feldspange:

Hans-Nikolaus Gaston Konstantin von Beguelin was one of three brothers, all sons of Oberst z.D. Gaston Nikolaus Franz Adalbert von Beguelin, who commanded Landw.-Inf.-Regt. Nr. 52 during the war. All three brothers served in 3. Hannov. Inf.-Regt. Nr. 79, but Hans-Nikolaus was sent to the Fliegertruppe. The middle brother, Joachim Ernst Eugen, was killed in action on 22 August 1914. The younger brother, Konstantin Friedrich Wilhelm, left the army as a Lt.a.D., but returned in the 1930s. He served in the Wehrmacht-Versorgungs-Abteilung of the OKW and was promoted to Oberst in 1942. Hans-Nikolaus also returned to duty in World War II; a thread on the Axis History Forum has him as a Luftwaffe Oberstleutnant commanding an airbase in Lemberg (Lvov/L'viv) in 1943.

But back to the pictures. The Feldspange shows three decorations. The Iron Cross is first, of course. Last is the Prussian Crown Order 4th Class which Beguelin received in March 1913 (an unusual award, since he was only a 23-year old Leutnant at the time).

But what about the middle ribbon? Based on the pattern and what we know about color shifts on these old black&white photos, my best guess is the Princely Reuss Honor Cross with Swords. However, we don't have any rolls for Reuss, so there's no way to confirm. The Beguelins were Briefadel originally from Switzerland, and IR 79 was a Hannoverian regiment, so there's no direct connection to Reuss or any other German state.

Does anyone else have any thoughts?