Jump to content
News Ticker
  • I am now accepting the following payment methods: Card Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal
  • Latest News

    List of Decorations to Prussian Officers and Men in 1914


    Recommended Posts

    Attached in PDF form is a list of awards for those interested in these sorts of things.

    These are awards by the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz of the Order of the Griffin (Greifenorden) and of the grand duchy's Gold Merit Medal (Verdienstmedaille in Gold). The awards were all made to officers and men of the Prussian Army on July 21, 1914.

    Because they were awarded after its publication, they do not show up in the 1914 Prussian Army rank list. Also, because they were not gazetted in the Militär-Wochenblatt (MWB), they do not appear in Willi Geile's publication of awards from 1914 to 1918 published in the MWB and the Marineverordnungsblatt. I don't know why they were not in the MWB. I suppose they were missed because they came out right before the mobilization.

    The original list, with only last name and rank and unit, was gazetted in the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg-Strelitz Official Gazette for Legislation and State Administration (Großherzoglich Mecklenburg-Strelitzscher Offizieller Anzeiger für Gesetzgebung und Staatsverwaltung). I took that list and added in given names and the birth/death years where known. My thanks to Glenn J for his help on a few names giving me trouble.

    For those wondering why it takes so long and there is little reward for publishing these German award rolls: This list has only about 30 names. Yet it still took hours not merely to transcribe the names, but add in the relevant information (digging through various sources to identify who was who among, for example, some 47 von Arnims, 49 Freiherrs von Maltzahn, 15 Freiherrs von Esebecks, 16 Grafs von der Groeben, 18 Grafs von Hardenberg, 34 Grafs Strachwitz, etc. who served in the war). Multiply that times the hundreds or thousands for some of the bigger awards rolls and you see why this is a labor of love for those who do it, and pretty much unrequited love at that.

    Mecklenburg-Strelitz Verleihungen 1914.pdf

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...

    Important Information

    We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.