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    Posted

    Great :beer: a new name for a 1st Class 1918 Libert Cross , thats not often and I never heard of Louis Leisler Kiep before :)

    An great ribbon bars there Christophe , it looks like the swords are gold on the last one probably meaning a third class 1918.

    I will soon be back with more names of Germans !

    Christer

    Posted

    Hi, here is another pic of Louis Leisler Kiep.

    Colored and with all (?) his awards...look at the great miniatyre bar + the Order of Liberty. Wow

    Posted

    Liberty Cross 1st Class 1918 35 awarded of those to Germans ?

    Werner Crantz

    Ernst von Hülsen Hauptmann

    Walter Isendahl Admiral

    Louis Leisler Kiep

    von Luck Oberst Leutn RIR 225

    Anyone knows any others ?

    Christer

    Guest Rick Research
    Posted

    I am very glad to learn that Korvettenkapitän/Hessischer DRK Präsident Kiep's unique bar has found a HOME to STAY in. :beer: You will never get anoher bar like that--no one will. Treasure it.

    I don't have his death date-- alive in 1960, dead by 1963 when his widow Eugenie vom Rath was listed alone in the MOH eV directory.

    He had a singularly non-descript career before the war, racking up almost all those awards from the taking of the Baltic islands into the war of Finnish liberation.

    His ejection from the boards of the Hamburg-Amerkia Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd over his disagreement about removing Albert Ballin's portrait from the HaPag boardroom--even though Kiep was then a Nazi--and his subsequent life in Turkey and wartime Germany and afterwards are all worthy of a biography.

    That's what get Research Gnomes interested in such bars. A REAL LIFE is displayed there... "anonymously."

    Posted

    Liberty Cross 1st Class without Swords 1918 awarded to Germans ? ? a handful at most :whistle:

    Lothar August von Brück Diplomat

    Von Kühlman ?

    Arthur Zimmermann Diplomat

    and Fürst Hohenlohe Austrian Diplomat ?

    Posted

    Liberty Cross 2nd Class w oakleaves 1941 - None awarded to Germans as far as I know

    Liberrty Cross 2nd Class w swords 1918 - How many to Germans ?? I have names of 22 to Germans

    names coming ...

    Guest Rick Research
    Posted (edited)

    "FFK2X 1918" = 102 to Germans of the 271 awarded. Unfortunately I am not authorized to release their names--actually hoping to get the 3rd and 4th Classes and THEN be able to do so, through the Finnish researcher doing these "at home."

    59 navy officers, 1 Marine infantry, 2 Saxon officers, 1 Bavarian officer, and 39 "Prussian" officers. I can confirm SPECIFIC names, but with research in progress by another party, that's all I can share.

    I was contacted because the Finnish archives managed to bungle many of the German NAMES by... altering them into Finnish phonetics :banger: and apparently in Finnish--at least as recorded--rank titles do not distinguish between naval and army (Kapitänleutnant versus Hauptmann/Rittmeister etc) so I was contacted for my usual detective work.

    There are still a couple (oh how I love "Schmidt"-types!) who remain unidentifiable for the distorted record-keeping reasons. Just names (altered) and ranks (weirdly recorde) and date of award.

    (Why they were simply not recorded EXACTLY AS SPELLED.... :banger: )

    PS No ROLLS--all are on individual index cards. Makes it far harder to accumulate data.

    Edited by Rick Research
    Guest Rick Research
    Posted

    Alas yes. Simply beautiful bar. Probably a senior reserve NCO at the time since no long service and officers--even mere Leutnants in 1918--tended to get 3rd Classes.

    There were 8,243 "FFK4X" (I'm using an imaginary German Rank List-speak abbreviation, since no German rank list ever showed these) BUT in ALL classes only 1,239 Crosses of Liberty 1918 to Germans. Deduct 102 from 2nd Classes, and the miniscule number of 1st Classes, and that leaves in the neighborhood of just over a thousand 3rd AND 4th classes. I'd suspect slightly fewer 4ths than 3rds.

    Soooo, say "550" each, guesstimating FFK3Xs and FFK4Xs to Germans for 1918.

    Sweet AND rare. :beer:

    Has the 1918 War Medal got the original issue Swedish Sporrong & Co. markings?

    Posted

    I was hoping you would get the 4th class rolls. I wanted to try to ID this bar, but it is probably to common.

    Dean

    Hi Dean,

    Very nice four-placer. Here is one that I have but, again, it is too common of a grouping to make an ID. I was really happy to get this bar, though, especially since it came with the deluxe fitted case by Godet.

    Best regards,

    Tom

    Posted

    More pictures:

    The Hindenburg Cross is neat, too, as it was made by Paul Küst of Berlin. It's actually the first one of these I've seen.

    Best regards,

    Tom

    Posted

    We should not only focus on WW1 - let us mix a little bit.

    Here is sth from WW2 - Christer already mentioned Rudolf Gercke, General der Infanterie. Here is his Finnish set. So if someone is publishing a book about Finnish awards etc - ask me for better pics.

    Posted (edited)

    Thats a fantastic piece Mikko !

    One of the nicest I´ve seen :jumping:

    Even if reserach going on I give a couple of more names just to check if I´m right :unsure:

    Liberty Cross 1st Class without Swords with Breast Star 1918 2 awarded

    Lauri J Ingman

    Pehr E Svinhufvud

    Both Finnish Politicians.

    One thing I learned the last days is that my numbers for awarded Liberty Crosses is far to low :cheeky:

    I thought there where only 509 3rd class 1918 awarded but the real numbers must be more than 1000 !

    Also 2nd Class 1918 I thought 152 awarded but the real numbers is closer to 300 , they are not so rare as I thought.

    The same goes probably for 4th class , I already seen that I have more names for 4th classes wo X and with Red Cross then I thought was awarded in total. It will be interesting to see the final numbers someday.

    Christer

    Edited by christerd
    Posted

    Himself with ribbon bar and

    Mecklenburger Militärverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse

    Baltenkreuz and

    Schwarzes Armeekreuz der russischen freiwilligen Westarmee Fürst Awaloff Bermondt

    Regards

    Andreas

    Posted

    :off topic: Maybe a little off topic but I thought I must show you this pic of one of the " soldiers " who fought and died in the war in Finland 1918

    The Swedish boy Styrbjorn von Stedingk was just 16 years and 10 months when he was killed during the assault on Tammerfors

    in April 1918, a sad reminder of the price we pay for freedom. Here he is in his scout uniform.

    340 Swedish soldiers joined the the attack on Tammerfors and 37 of them stayed on the battlefield.

    Posted

    Great Pic Andreas !

    Thanks :love:

    A new name to my list of FFrK III x 1918

    Christer

    Hello Christer,

    here his award document for the Commemorative Medal of the War of Liberation, 1918

    may be You can add it to Your list too ?!

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