An Honorary Württemberger's Last Ditch Defense Presentation Sword

[Guest Rick Research]

This is a standard Württemberg M1892 infantry officers sword (maker Clement & Jung) with deluxe quality guard inscribed ,,Ihrem Kommandeur, Major Dietrich zum 24. Aug. 1917 die Offiziere F.R.-D. der 54. (württ.) R.D.” The unit, oddly enough, was the ad hoc Feldrekruten-Depot of the 54^th Reserve Division. Neither the ephemeral unit nor the late war date are what we could normally expect for any German presentation sword. By that point in the war, bayonets were the usual officers’ side-arm blade, worn with sword portepées.

But you will seek in vain for Major Dietrich in the Württemberg army. You will seek in vain for a Major Dietrich (at least for the correct one!) in the Prussian army. And you will seek in vain for Major Dietrich in the Honor Rank List 1914-1918. Not only was THIS Major Dietrich NOT a Württemberger, he was a SAXON regular army retiree omitted 86 years ago by the Ehrenrangliste compilers! Without the late Erhard Roth’s privately circulated work on Saxon WW1 officers, done at the Saxon military archives under the DDR… this mysterious stray “invisible” Major Dietrich would never have been identifiable.

Karl Horst DIETRICH

Born 27 April 1862 in Borna, Saxony

Died (alive 1919…possibly deceased by 1926 and hence missed for the Ehren-Rangliste?)

Resident of Kleinwolmsdorf bei Radeberg in 1914

26.11.82 Portepéefähnrich K.S. Leib Grenadier Regiment 100

29.09.83 Ll Seconde-Lieutenant K.S. Infanterie Regiment 105

22.09.90 N Premier-Lieutenant

21.05.95 G Hauptmann K.S. Infanterie Regiment 103

26.10.02 zur Disposition (apparently actually really retired***)

16.04.15 Major

24.05.19 außer Dienst

1881/83 Saxon Life Grenadier Regiment 100

1883/92 Saxon Infantry Regiment 105 (Honorary Chief King of Württemberg)

1892/93 commanded to Prussian Eisenbahn Regiment 1, Railways Brigade (Prussian Rank Lists erroneously have him “of Saxon Life Grenadier Rgt 100”—see Saxon Rank Lists)

1894/98 Saxon Infantry Regiment 103 (commander 3^rd Company as Captain)

1898/1900 Saxon Infantry Regiment 178 (commander 8^th Company)

1900/1902 commanded to Saxon Bekleidungsamt XII. Armeekorps, Dresden (Clothing Office)

***Dietrich was apparently actually retired (a.D.) 1902/14 rather than z.D. as listed, since he received no Saxon Long Service Cross in all that time period.

Known wartime assignments:

April-October 1915 Battalion Commander, K.S. Infanterie Regiment 244 in K.S. 53. Reserve Division

By May 1917 Feldrekrutendepot K.W. 54. Reserve Division

23.05.19 at Clothing Office XIIth Army Corps, Dresden for demobilization

Known awards:

Saxon Albert Order-Knight 1^st Class (SA3a) 08.02.08 (currently unable to account for WHY), replaced by

“Swords” transforming that award to a Saxon Albert Order-Knight 1^st Class with Swords (SA3aX) 06.10.15 as Bn CO RIR 244 (1 of 261 Xs to a pre-war SA3a for WW1)

Saxon Merit Order-Knight 1^st Class with Swords (SV3aX) 03.05.17 as Major with Field Recruit Depot 54^th Reserve Division (1 of 400 awarded for WW1)

Württemberg Crown Order-Knight with Swords (WK3X) 27.09.17 as K.S. Major zD (1 of 25 to Saxons of

272 for WW1).Units were omitted from awards publicly gazetted at this period due to security concerns.

Dietrich would have held both classes of the Prussian Iron Cross with the wartime awards above, and very possibly was granted a Saxon XXV Years Service Cross after the war adding those active years to his previous 21 active duty years. That was normal practice after the war for pension purposes.

[Guest Rick Research]

From British Intelligence’s “History of 251 Divisions…” the date 24 August 1917 indicates when the 54^th

Reserve Division was rushed into the Verdun front (see map) around Hill 304.

Presumably the Field Recruit Depot was actually thrown into the line for desperate fighting, as occasionally occurred. Dietrich’s comrades thus presented him with a sharpened “wall hanger” (to him as their honorary Württemberger, maybe…?) gift in token of the survivors’ esteem—the first such non-wearable “cross-Kingdoms” (and very late war!) sword the owner has seen in over 30 years collecting! Dietrich’s WK3X was undoubtedly a rapidly processed award for the same time period.

The 54^th Reserve Division was heavily engaged from the spring of 1917 to October of that year with massive casualties. The Field Recruit Depot would thus have been of crucial importance feeding convalescents and raw recruits into the line—and probably serving as a trench unit itself in desperate weeks of fighting and months of being smashed by French artillery. Major Dietrich was obviously in the thick of frontline action: his SV3aX and WK3X for 1917 do not indicate behind the lines general merit. At 55, he and his skeleton staff of recuperating wounded officers and NCOs would have been used to plug the frontline with their transient other rankers—all either convalescents or adolescent draftees fresh out of boot camp. They were all that was left—and they held the French for two months more.

Newspaper accounts of the French offensive of 24 August 1917 (New York Times etc etc) leave little doubt what was gambled—and squandered—on that horrific day. Infamous Hill 304 had seen mass slaughter since thye original Verdun battles of 1916 and would lose scores of meters in height from endless artillery barrages. Whether Dietrich managed to survive the carnage of that day and all those months unscathed will only be known when his personnel file is located again in the former Saxon War Archives. All we know at this point is that he was NOT so badly wounded that he was still serving in the late spring of 1919.

Sources:

Saxon Army Ranglisten 1882 to 1914 (promotions and assignments)

Prussian Ranglisten 1892, 1893, October 1893 Supplement, 1894 (Railway Regiment duty)

Saxon Militär-Verordnungsblätter 17 April and 6 October 1915 (promotion and X to SA3a. No listing for Dietrich any other year)

Stammliste K.S. Infanterie Regiment 103 (1909—for birth data which even Roth missed)

Saxon Hof- und Staats- Handbuch 1914 (SA3a as “Hauptmann z.D.”)

Württemberg Militär-Verordnungsblätter/Personal Nachrichten 3 October 1917 (WK3X)

Erhard Roth’s privately circulated “Königlich Sächsisches Offizierkorps” WW1 series, n.d. (confirming assignments and award dates SA3a, X to SA3a, SV3aX, and WK3X)

Erhard Roth’s published “Verleihungen des Königlich sächsischen Verdienstordens mit Schwertern, des Albrechtsordens mit Schwertern (außer Ritterkreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern) und des Verdienstkreuzes mit Schwertern im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918,” 1998 (confirming SV3aX & unit from unpublished Rolls)

General Otto von Moser’s “Die Württemberger im Weltkriege,” 1927 (maps of the front, action overview)

British Intelligence “History of 251 Divisions,” 1919 (combat OoB and ratings of enemy divisions)

British Intelligence “German Army Handbook April 1918” (Field Recruit Depot organization and duties)

Dietrich was not listed in the vanity press 1908/09 German Orders Almanac.

Thanks to the owner for allowing this exceptional presentation sword to be shared, and as ever to arb, GlennJ and Daniel Krause without whom, as ever, international Research Gnomery would have been impossible.

[ccj]

Very nice sword and interesting history.

[Guest Rick Research]

After 30+ years researching imperial German swords, it's the first non-cadet school mutual graduation present one I've ever seen crossing over armies like this. Quite a "wall hanger" for 1917! The very (VERY!) few other officers of his walking-wounded/underage draftees replacement unit obviously thought very well of him to make such an unusual presentation--little knowing how highly decorated he would be. Medal bars give a life story but swords provide a vivid snapshot in time of a real person's life.

I'm told there is a massive website on line somewhere with photos of Hill 304 etc etc. Perhaps next walkabout by Team Boonzaier they could take some photos of the ground. There must be more dead soldiers there than dirt, the way hundreds of thousands were ground up in 1916-1917 slaughter.

[Chip]

As always, extremely interesting story and top research. So, you're really back?

Chip

[Guest Rick Research]

Back amongst my peeps! Still trying to figure out new changes etc, and alas my typing has not improved in the interim, so trying (albeit semi-successfully) to copy/paste epics. This is not... the only one backlogged..

[Chris Boonzaier]

That is one fantasic sword...

Here are two pages about Verdun in 1917 covering that period ...

http://www.kaiserscross.com/136501/234801.html

[Guest Rick Research]

Thank you!