Bavaria My Bavarian medal bar (and how I display it)

[paul kennedy]

I assume it would be for a wartime NCO?

[Chris Boonzaier]

Nice Junior NCO I think...

[P.F.]

I agree. Very nice medal bar. Maybe just put the medal rings under the ribbons.

Kind regards

Pierce

[paul kennedy]

Chris - Thank you.

Pierce - Thank you...and will do!

[Mattyboy]

What is the last award please?

[P.F.]

Bavarian Long Service Medal, for 9 years I assume.

[paul kennedy]

Yes. It's a long service medal. The ribbon is faded on the front.

[Mattyboy]

Thank you both.

[Dave Danner]

Not necessarily an NCO. That grade of the Militär-Verdienstkreuz was awarded to Mannschaften - Gefreiten and Gemeinen (Infanterist, Jäger, Kanonier, Pionier, etc.). I suppose he could have made Unteroffizier by the end of the war, but not necessarily so. Hitler had this same combination, plus the EK1, a Regiments-Diplom for bravery, and the Wound Badge, and he stayed a Gefreiter from November 1914 on.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

does that mean anyone who served 14-18 would have recieved the DA?

[paul kennedy]

Dave - I wasn't aware of that. Thank you for the information.

[turtle]

Hi,

does that mean anyone who served 14-18 would have recieved the DA?

Soldiers who served since 1914 were awarded the DA for 9 years in 1918, because of the double counting of war years.

[Dave Danner]

It's an example of the odd method of double-counting.

You would think that they would have reckoned from mobilization on, so that, for example, war service from 1 August 1914 to 1 December 1918 would be 4 years and 4 months, doubled to 8 years and eight months, so you would need another 4 months to get a 9-year Dienstauszeichnung.

Instead, according to the Allerhöchster Ordre of 7.9.1915, "Denjenigen Kriegsteilnehmern, die sowohl im Kalenderjahr 1914 wie im Kalenderjahr 1915 die vorstehenden Bedingungen erfüllt haben, sind zwei Kriegsjahre anzurechnen". To qualify, you had to have served in combat at the front - "an einer Schlacht, einem Gefecht, einem Stellungskampf oder an einer Belagerung teilgenommen haben" - or to have spent at least two months in a Kriegsgebiet. So the 1914-15 war years counted for two years, even though it was only actually 1 year and 5 months of war.

Thus, service from 1914 through 1918 counted as 5 war years, doubled to 10, making most enlisted men who served throughout the entire war eligible for at least a 9-year DA. But there are exceptions, because of the definition of Kriegsgebiet. Some soldiers who spent an entire calendar year in Heimatdienst did not get credit for that calendar year.

[Chris Boonzaier]

That is pretty cool to know... I always assumed it meant prewar service....

[Chris Boonzaier]

So if you served from 1914 but were invalided out for loosing 2 legs in 1917 you dont get it... bummer...

[Schießplatzmeister]

I agree. Very nice medal bar. Maybe just put the medal rings under the ribbons.

Kind regards

Pierce

Hello:

Well, maybe the medal rings should be placed under the ribbons, and maybe not:...........Sometimes the Bavarian bars were actually constructed this way (were made to be worn this way), and were actually sometimes worn in this fashion. I would not have believed it myself, except that the evidence exists in period photographs of soldiers.

[paul kennedy]

Thank you for the information Schiessplatzmeister. I ended up leaving them as they were. I thought the ribbons were too tight to easily slide the rings behind them, and I didn't want to damage anything.

[azyeoman]

My great uncle was awarded the exact same bar along with a black wound badge after having served as a balloonist in WWI.