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    Please tell me the originality of the medal bar, to me it seems like a good, but why Hindenburg Cross without swords? Waiting for your opinions, thanks.http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_04_2014/post-15714-0-12697300-1396362657.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_04_2014/post-15714-0-06473700-1396362682.jpg

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    He has a non-commissioned officer's long service cross and the Prussian General Honor Decoration, which was awarded to NCOs and lower level civil servants.

    Perhaps a retired senior NCO recalled for service on the home front with the Stellvetretender Generalkommando IXI.Armeekorps in Altona, since the corps area covered Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Hamburg. These two had the largest contingents in the Prussian Army in that corps after Prussia itself.

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    I don't like the way the Hindenburg cross is mounted, looks like it was tipped in at a later date.

    That's not all that unusual. Originally, he might have had an earlier style veteran's award in that spot. These were officially outlawed when the Hindenburg was awarded. He might have simply pulled the old one out and had the Hindenburg inserted without getting a new bar assembled.

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    Thanks, but it seems to me that service cross not officer award?

    Deckoffiziere were not commissioned officers. They were senior chief petty officers, similar to Offizier-Stellvertreter in the army, ranking between officers and NCOs.

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    Tirpitz resisted making Deck Officers the social equivalent of Sea Officers ferociously. As Dave noted they were an 'in-between' status between officers and men. think Warrant Officers basically. they often had their own mess and did not have the social rights of other officers. They were promised officer status in 1914 by Tirpitz, but he and the Kaiser just couldn't bring themselves to 'promote' these 'sons of fishermen' and peasants'.

    Think Kirk versus Scotty where Scotty was always subordinate to Wesley Crusher...Always! this led to a lot of tension and a Deck officer shortage, even during the war. Deck officers are in the rank lists and were men of considerable capability, skill, education and technical ability. After the war most did far better economically than their Sea officer counterparts.

    One of the things that had great political import in 1919, was the 'social promotion' of Deck Officers by the Weimar Republican government. they were granted the right to officers' long service crosses upon demobilization, basically a way of saying, "screw you and your social snobbery Tirpitz and you effete Von's who lost us the war".

    Deck officers were also given command responsibilities and included in officers' Messes/social events during Weimar.

    Edited by Ulsterman
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    Is it a co-incidence that the bottom edge of four medals on the left are in line, then there is the Prussian General Honor Decoration, followed by the three on the right also linear but raised higher than the four on the left. Just an observation more than anything.

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