Baden MKFVO and AK Ribbon Bart for Dave

[Guest Rick Research]

This Godet bar continues to drive me nuts, but now that you've been to Anhalt....

EK2, Bd MKFVO (green enamel wreath long gone, only splints remain in ribbon), HT, AK, SLK, ÖM3K

Weird combination, I'm guessing for a baden native in some sort of weirdly wandering staff career.

The title should, of course, be "...Ribbon Bar..."

This one has only been keeping e awake nights since December 6, 2001--all Mike Dunn's fault!!!

Edited August 23, 2013 by Rick Research

[Dave Danner]

I have four more names to check if they can be ruled out, but I have a potential candidate.

Native Badener, served at least at one point in a Hessen regiment, wandering staff career.

For it to be him, though, at least two things must be true: one, the ribbon bar is a "wartime awards" only bar, and two, the ribbon bar is from before mid-1918, when he would have added another award not present here. Also, the Anhalt/Baden/Hessen/Schaumburg-Lippe combination is less weird if you know that he also had awards from a few other German states, but they were worn on the chest or around the neck. I guess a third thing must be true too: he can't also have had any awards at the time the bar was made from other states for which we don't have rolls, such as Bremen, Hamburg or Oldenburg.

[Guest Rick Research]

Sounds like a candidate for a Photo Search! I've got another such--neither Baden nor Anhalt--that will come down to ever finding out when he got things we don't have rolls for.

[Dave Danner]

OK,

To recap the process, first, I eliminated all the recipients of the Militärischer Karl-Friedrich-Verdienstorden who had other known ribbon awards, especially the Order of the Zähringen Lion with Swords. This eliminated the vast majority, since more than 90% of MKFVO recipients had the Zähringen Lion.

There's no way to check the HT and SLK, but with only about 20 names, I figured the Anhalt rolls would narrow down the field. And it did. Only one name showed up, although oddly twice. First, in 1915, as an Obersleutnant and Chief of the General Staff of the IV.Armeekorps, and then around 1917 (no exact dates in the rolls) as Oberst and Abteilungschef in the Kriegsministerium. Apparently, someone in Dessau didn't realize that Oberstleutnant Johann was the same person as Oberst Hans.

That might be a common error if your name was something common like Hans or Johann Schmidt, but odd if your name was....

Johann (Hans) Emil Friedrich Ritter und Edler von Braun

* 24.6.1867 in Sinsheim, Baden

† xx.xx.1938

Prior to mobilization, he was an Abteilungschef in the Kriegsministerium. He received the MKFVO on 30 October 1914 as commander of Res.-Inf.-Regt. Nr. 13, which he had taken over on mobilization. He then became Chief of the General Staff of the IV.Armeekorps, which included Anhalt's IR 93. He was promoted to Oberst in July 1915 and returned to the Kriegsministerium in October 1915, remaining there for the rest of the war. Generalmajor in 1918, he was retained in the Reichswehr, serving as Chief of the Personalamt from 1919 to 1922. He was apparently, along with Hans von Seeckt, responsible for making sure the officer corps of the 100,000-man Reichswehr was stacked with former General Staff officers, on the belief that their skills would make easier any future expansion of the army. He retired in 1922 as a Generalleutnant.

He had a longgggg list of peacetime awards, mainly from 1908 to 1912, when he was Flügeladjutant to the Großherzog von Baden. This would have added at least a dozen more ribbons, so a "wartime-only" ribbon bar makes some sense. Entry from the 1914 Rangliste:

From 1912 to 1913, he was a battalion commander in IR 117, which might explain the Hessen bravery medal. RIR 13 was a Westphalian regiment, which might account for the Schaumburg-Lippe cross.

Besides the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, other known wartime awards are the Prussian Crown Order 2nd Class with Swords, gazetted on 19.7.17, and the Württemberg Friedrich-Orden, Commander 2nd Class with Swords. I mistakenly had him with a Bavarian MVO Officer's Cross with Swords on my old MKFVO list, but that should have been Julius Ritter von Braun. As I said above, the ribbon bar would have to be from before mid-1918, since he received the Lübeck Hanseatenkreuz on 26 June 1918.

If I had to guess, I would say the ribbon bar probably dates from his return to Berlin in late 1915 and includes the war awards he received in the opening campaigns of the war.

Here are the rest of the career details I have for him:

1.10.85 als Einj.Frw. i.d. IR 113 eingetreten

13.5.86 Port.-Fähnr.

15.1.87 Sekonde-Lieutenant

19.12.93 Premier-Lieutenant

1.4.98 k.z. Dienstl. beim Gr.Gen.St.

29.3.00 unter Beförderung zum Hauptmann i.d. Gr.Gen.St. versetzt

10.5.01 i.d. Gen.St. d. X.Armeekorps versetzt

17.2.03 als Kp.Chef i.d IR 21 versetzt

18.10.04 i.d. Gen.St.d.Armee versetzt

1.3.06 k.z. Dienstl. b. Kr. Min.

12.4.06 i.d. Kr.Min. versetzt

27.1.07 Major

21.7.08 zum Flügeladj. S.K.H. d. Großherzogs von Baden ernannt

22.3.12 i.d. IR 117 versetzt u. zum Btl.Kdr. ernannt

16.6.13 Oberstleutnant

1.10.13 k.z. Dienstl. b. Kr. Min., Abt.Chef, Ersatzwesen-Abteilung, Allg. Kriegs-Dept.

30.5.14 i.d. Kr.Min. versetzt

2.8.14 Kdr. RIR 13

xx.xx.14/15 Ch.d.Gen.St. d. IV.Armeekorps

24.7.15 Oberst

15.10.15 Oberst v.d. Armee und k.z. Dienstl. b. Kr. Min., z.b.V. in d. Kr.Min. versetzt.

19.1.16 Chef d. Kriegsersatz- u. Arbeits-Department

1.11.16 Chef d. Kriegsersatzamt, Kriegsamt

20.9.18 Generalmajor

1.10.19 Chef d. Personalamts

xx.xx.21 Generalleutnant

31.3.22 Abschied

Unfortunately, he went with the modest "no decorations" look in his post-war photo which appears in the book "Die Führer des Reichsheeres 1921 - 1931":

Edited August 23, 2013 by Dave Danner

[Guest Rick Research]

This is completely unexpected! I figured it would turn out to be an obscure junior Captain staff type!

Well, another "fashion statement" is the sole explanation for a really senior "minimalist!" This scratches another one off the 3. A.M.-pacing list! THANKS DAVE!

[Daniel Krause]

WOW!!!!! :-)

[Guest Rick Research]

So how's OUR "little problem" going, Daniel?