MvR's Medals and Badges

[NOSFERATU]

Can anyone give a list of all the medals and badges and dates when given to MvR?

Here is a list (in no particular order) I have and believe is correct, if there are any below that are not correct please let me know.

1. Orden Pour le Merit (Blue Max)
2. Order of the Red Eagle
3. Royal house Order of Hohenzollern
4. Military Order of St. Henry
5. Iron Cross 1st Class
6. Iron Cross 2nd Class

7. Pilots Badge

Are there any others??

[rammjaeger]

Look here, Nosferatu (I like that name):


http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred..._Rote_Baron%29

but note I did not check concerning correctness

[NOSFERATU]

rammjaeger,

Thanks, I checked that link but I do not read or speak German. When I switch to English, there is very little elaboration on MvR's awards.

[Kilian]

-Order of the Red Eagle 3rd class with crown and swords - 2. April 1918 (Prussia)
-Military Order of St.Henry, Knights Cross - 16. April 1917 (Saxony)
-Saxe-Ernestine House Order , 1st class with swords (Saxe-Ernestine)
-Order of Military Merit with Crown and swords 3rd class (Bavaria)
-Order of Military Merit, Knights Cross (Württemberg)
-Badge for Bravery (Hesse)
-Duke Karl-Eduard Medal with sword brooch (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha)
-War Honor Cross for Heroic Deeds (Lippe-Detmold)
-War Merit Cross, 2nd class (Schaumburg-Lippe)
-War Merit Cross, 2nd class (Brunswick)
-Wound Badge (Prussia)
-Hanseatic Cross (Bremen)
-Hanseatic Cross (Lübeck)
-Hanseatic Cross (Hamburg)

==Austria=
-Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class (Knight)
-Military Merit Cross 3rd class with decoration
-Pilot Badge

==Bulgaria==
-Military Order for Bravery 4th Class

==Turkey==
-Iron crescent/Star of Gallipoli
-Imtiaz medal in silver
-Liakat medal in silver

Ok that took me now 20 minutes to translate..i definately need a book about this medal stuff ;o

[Patrick]

I was poking around the Web the other day and came across this very complete list for both Manfred and Lothar, supposed to have been derived from Neal W. O'Connor's books. Hopefully, posting it here is not in violation of copyright.

________________________________

Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richtfofen

Decorations & Awards:
• Prussian Pour le Mérite Order: 12 January 1917 (in recognition of his 16th aerial victory).
• Prussian Red Eagle Order, 3rd Class with Crown and Swords: 6 April 1918 (in recognition of his 70th aerial victory).
• Prussian Royal Hohenzollern House Order, Knight’s Cross with Swords: 11 November 1916.
• Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914)
• Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914): September 1914.
• Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords: 29 April 1917.*
• Saxon Military St. Henry Order, Knight’s Cross: 16 April 1917.
• Württemberg Military Merit Order, Knight’s Cross: 13 April 1917.
• Saxe-Ernestine Ducal House Order, Knight 1st Class with Swords (issued by the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha): 9 May 1917.
• Hesse General Honor Decoration, “for Bravery”
• Lippe War Honor Cross for Heroic Deeds: 13 October 1917.
• Schaumburg-Lippe Cross for Faithful Service: 10 October 1917.
• Brunswick War Merit Cross, 2nd Class: 24 September 1917.
• Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Duke Carl Eduard Medal, 2nd Class with Swords and Date: 30 December 1916 (for action on 9 November 1916). (NOTE: In 1925, von Richthofen’s decorations were placed on display at the family home in Schweidnitz. This decoration had the incorrect date of 11.11.1916 inscribed on the date bar. As noted aviation historian Neal W. O’Connor observed, “Somewhere along the line, apparently, someone bungled the job.”)
• Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
• Bremen Hanseatic Cross: 25 September 1917.
• Lübeck Hanseatic Cross: 22 September 1917.
• Austrian Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd Class with War Decoration: 8 August 1917.
• Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration
• Bulgarian Bravery Order, 4th Class (1st Grade): June 1917. (While on his way back to the front in June 1917, von Richthofen lunched with Kaiser Wilhelm II at Bad Kreuznach. In a letter home, he wrote: “I have just shot down number fifty-three. In [Bad] Kreuznach, on the way back, I was invited by His Majesty to meet the King of Bulgaria [Ferdinand I], who presented me with his Bravery Order, First Class [sic]. It is worn like the Iron Cross, First Class, and looks very nice.”)
• Turkish Imtiaz Medal in Silver with Sabers
• Turkish Liakat Medal in Silver with Sabers
• Turkish War Medal (“Iron Crescent”): 4 November 1917.
• German Army Pilot’s Badge
• German Army Observer’s Badge (NOTE: No record or photographic evidence has been seen to indicate von Richthofen qualified for this badge. However, he successfully completed the training and served for nearly five months as an observer before retraining as a pilot.)
• Austrian Field Pilot’s Badge (Franz Joseph pattern)

* On 9 May 1917, General der Infanterie Karl Ritter von Fasbender, the Commanding General of the Bavarian I Reserve Corps, submitted a proposal for Freiherr von Richthofen to receive the Knight’s Cross of the Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. On 20 May 1917, the proposal was rejected by the Orders Chancery of the Royal Bavarian War Ministry in that it did not view Freiherr von Richthofen’s performance as measuring up to the “exceptional deeds” required for a non-Bavarian to receive the order. For many years, World War I aviation historians believed Freiherr von Richthofen had received the 3rd Class with Crown and Swords of the Bavarian Military Merit Order prior to his submission for the Military Max Joseph Order. However, recent research has proved that he received the usual class of that order common for an officer of his rank: the 4th Class with Swords of the Bavarian Military Merit Order. See errata and addenda, pages 371-374, of Neal W. O’Connor’s Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany in World War I and the Men Who Earned Them – Volume VI: The Aviation Awards of the Grand Duchies of Baden and Oldenburg (Foundation of Aviation World War I, Princeton, New Jersey & Flying Machines Press, Stratford, Connecticut, 1999).

Leutnant Lothar Freiherr von Richthofen

Decorations & Awards:
• Prussian Pour le Mérite Order: 14 May 1917 (in recognition of his 24th aerial victory).
• Prussian Royal Hohenzollern House Order, Knight’s Cross with Swords: 10 May 1917.
• Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914)
• Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914)
• Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords
• Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
• Turkish Liakat Medal in Silver with Sabers
• Turkish War Medal (“Iron Crescent”)
• German Army Observer’s Badge
• German Army Pilot’s Badge
• Wound Badge in Silver

[NOSFERATU]

Kilian,

Thank you, that is quite a list and I have been unable to find that information anywhere on the internet. How is it that you know all this?

I have started building a collection of replica medals for a von Richthofen display, currently I have 4 badges, Blue Max, Red Eagle, Order of Hohenzollern, and Military Order of St. Henry. They are very nice reproductions. I will be adding the easily acquired Iron Cross 1st and 2nd and a pilots badge.

Still...very surprising that this information isn't easy to find. I have added this information to my files.

Thank you again.

[NOSFERATU]

Patrick

WOW

Unbelievable. Thanks for everyone, I am sure. This is a great site and I am again surprised that this info isn't part of the MvR link here.