ORDERS, DECORATIONS AND AWARDS: STATE AWARDS
In this exclusive feature David Danner explains the somewhat mysterious and largely unknown state awards and decorations system of Germany during the First World War and how and why the awards were made.
The system of making awards to recognise bravery or service by members of the German armed forces during the First World War was an utterly bewildering one encompassing different states and principalities and with myriad and conflicting criterion attached to the ‘qualification’ for a massive array of the available medals and decorations. Often, the awards were flamboyant and colourful, and how or why specific presentations were made is little understood. For the first time, David Danner unlocks the mysteries hidden behind what were complicated systems to honour the soldiers of different German states for their heroic deeds or valuable service.
When it came to decorations for valour or meritorious service in wartime, for the common German soldier as opposed to the glamorous fighter pilots or wellpositioned staff officers etc, then the most that could usually be expected was the Iron Cross 2nd Class, the basic German soldier’s award.1 Repeated acts of valour might subsequently lead to the award of the Iron Cross 1st Class, but less than one in twenty recipients of the 2nd class later received the 1st Class. However, the awards system was enriched by the federal nature of the German Empire.
In 1914, those member states comprised four kingdoms (Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony and Württemberg), six grand duchies (Baden, Hessedarmstadt, Mecklenburg-schwerin, Mecklenburg-strelitz, Oldenburg and Saxe-weimar-eisenach), five duchies (Anhalt, Brunswick, Saxealtenburg, Saxe-coburg-gotha and Saxe-meiningen), seven principalities (Lippe-detmold, Schaumburglippe, Schwarzburg-rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-sondershausen, Reuss Elder Line, Reuss Younger Line and Waldeck-pyrmont) and three Free and Hanseatic Cities (Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck). The sovereigns of each state (or Senates in the case of Hanseatic Cities), along with the Prince of Hohenzollern lands in southwest Germany, had authority to make awards of their orders and decorations to soldiers and sailors of the German armed forces.
The circumstances varied under which soldiers or sailors might receive awards from one of these states, each state having its own criteria for awards, these often changing as the war progressed. Thus, there are no hard-and-fast rules. But certain basic
patterns exist.
Essentially, there were three ways one could earn a state award: by citizenship, by serving in that state’s contingent, or by serving in a unit otherwise affiliated with that state or its sovereign. Each state established regulations, published in the Armee-verordnungsblatt and other sources, setting forth eligibility for awards and procedures for recommendations, including examples of recommendation forms.
CITIZENSHIP
Citizenship is the most straightforward criterion, but even here there were differences in state practice. Citizenship was either by birthright (durch Abstammung) or admittance (durch Aufnahme) to citizenship rolls. The typical procedure involved sending a recommendation to the state’s awarding authority, such as an orders chancery or state ministry, giving the nominee’s place of birth and/or residence, after which the state authority sent a request for confirmation of citizenship to the local magistrate. If citizenship were confirmed, and the award recommendation satisfactory, it could then be processed for approval.
In some states, especially smaller ones such as the Reuß principalities, citizenship itself was not sufficient. In many cases, one might still hold birthright citizenship, but no longer live in the state and the award might be rejected. Alternatively, one might reside in the state but not have established citizenship.
How close the nominee’s connection remained was a factor - if he had lived in, for example, Hamburg, for 30 years, and moved to Bremen the year before, while maintaining Hamburg citizenship, he would likely still be considered a Hamburger by the Bremen authorities. Many award recommendations to authorities in Greiz, capital of Reuß Elder Line, were rejected with the specific formulation: ‘…has not spent the central part of his economic/commercial life in the principality.’ Thus, the focus was on where the nominee had spent his adult life even if he maintained citizenship in the principality. Other states used similar formulations. An exception might be made if a nominee’s thencurrent residence was out of his control, eg active military personnel and Imperial civil servants.
STATE CONTINGENTS
The second main criterion for a state award was service in that state’s contingent within the German Army.2 Although we generally use the term ‘German Army’, there were three armies within the Empire. The main part was the Prussian Army, but Bavaria and Saxony maintained their own separate armies which only came under the Kaiser on mobilisation.
On the eve of war in 1914, the Bavarian Army comprised three corps, with support formations and infrastructure, while the Saxon Army comprised two corps and support formations and infrastructure. Each had their own war ministries, general staff, military schools, ordnance departments etc.
All other German states had contingents within the Prussian Army whose relationship was governed by military conventions between those states and Prussia, in most cases dating back to the founding of the Empire. These contingents ranged in size and degrees of autonomy. For Württemberg, its contingent was in many respects a separate army, with its own war ministry in Stuttgart, but integrated into the Prussian Army as the XIII. (Königlich Württembergisches) Armeekorps. Württemberg’s military convention gave it control over matters such as officer promotions and assignments.
The Prussian XIV. Armeekorps was effectively the army of the Grand Duchy of Baden, all but two of its regiments being Baden formations.3 By contrast with Württemberg, the grand duke’s wishes regarding officer assignments were only to be given consideration if possible.
The next largest contingent after Baden was the Grand Duchy of Hesse, known as Hesse-darmstadt to distinguish it from other former German states such as Hesse-kassel. Its peacetime contingent was divisionstrength, officially designated the Großherzoglich Hessiche (25.) Division. The only other higher formations in the peacetime army with official state designations were the 34. Infanterie-brigade (Großherzogliche Mecklenburgische) and the 17. Kavallerie-brigade (Großherzogliche Mecklenburgische), from the combined forces of the Mecklenburg grand duchies, who also maintained a field artillerie regiment and a Jäger battalion.
At the other end in size were the contingents of the tiny Principalities of Schaumburg-lippe and Waldeck, the smallest states of the German Empire. Schaumburg-lippe’s peacetime contribution was a single light infantry battalion, Westfälisches Jäger-bataillon Nr. 7, while Waldeck’s was a single battalion of Infanterie-regiment von Wittich (3. Kurhessisches) Nr.
83, although the ruling prince of Waldeck was regimental Chef. Lippedetmold, while having three times the
population of Schaumburg-lippe, was also only responsible nominally for a single battalion, the 3rd battalion of Infanterie-regiment Graf Bülow von Dennewitz (6. Westfälisches) Nr. 55, as well as the regimental staff in Detmold. The other state contingents ranged in size from a battalion to several regiments.
As with citizenship, eligibility for a state award was straightforward. If a nominee served in his state’s contigent and met the other criteria for an award (such as having received the Iron Cross 2nd Class, been combat wounded or been otherwise recommended by his chain of command) the award was essentially a given. In most cases, it was expected the soldier would have already been nominated for or received the Iron Cross 2nd Class, but in many cases, especially among the larger contingents like Bavaria and Saxony, this was not necessary. In other cases, there were exceptions allowing the award of the state decoration prior to the Iron Cross 2nd Class. This was especially common early in the war when there were still relatively tight unit quotas on awards of the Iron Cross. In several states, such as the Duchy of Braunschweig, one was required to have received the Iron Cross before being considered for the state award.
DAUGHTER FORMATIONS AND OTHER ANOMALIES
The same criterion applied to wartime formations which were considered the daughter formations (Tochterformationen) of the units in the peacetime contingent. Thus, for example, Reserve-infanterie-regiment Nr. 90 was considered just as much a part of the Mecklenburg contingent as the active Großherzoglich Mecklenburisches Füsilier-regiment Kaiser Wilhelm Nr. 90.
However, many wartime formations were mixed and ties to particular states were stretched. Reserve-infanterieregiment Nr. 214, for example, was primarily raised by replacement battalions of several Mecklenburg regiments, but also from replacement battalions of Infanterie-regiment
Lübeck (3. Hanseatisches) Nr. 162 and Schleswig-holsteinisches Infanterieregiment Nr. 163, which were Lübeck and Schleswig-holstein regiments. The regiment was, however, considered a Mecklenburg formation - soldiers in the regiment received close to 1,000 Mecklenburg-schwerin and Mecklenburg-strelitz war decorations and at least 80 Hanseatic Crosses from Lübeck.
Reserve-infanterie-regiment
Nr. 251, by contrast, was formed from Prussian, Grand Ducal Saxon, Ducal Saxe-meiningen, Waldeck and Schwarzburg-sondershausen units, and not sufficiently connected to any one or more units to be considered a daughter formation. Members of the regiment could receive state awards, but mainly due to citizenship or, in the case of officers, leading large numbers of citizens of that state.
Several Prussian regiments and formations, while not officially state contingents, were effectively connected to particular states, at least as far as awarding authorities were concerned. For example, the Prussian regiments Infanterie-regiment Prinz Friedrich der Niederlande (2. Westfälisches) Nr. 15 and Mindensches Feldartillerieregiment Nr. 58 were garrisoned in Minden, Westphalia, their recruiting area including Schaumburg-lippe as well as Prussian Westphalia. Wartime awards from Schaumburg-lippe to men in these units and their daughter formations were as common as those to Jäger-bataillon Nr. 7 and its daughter formations.
Füsilier-regiment Generalfeldmarschall Graf Blumenthal (Magdeburgisches) Nr. 36 was a Prussian regiment, but one of its battalions was garrisoned in Bernburg in the Duchy of Anhalt, so Anhalt war decorations were common, as well as Reserve-infanterie-regiment Nr. 36 (a daughter formation of Füsilierregiment Nr. 36 and Anhalt’s own Anhaltisches Infanterie-regiment Nr. 93), and Landwehr-infanterie-regiment
Nr. 36.
Similarly, Jäger-regiment zu Pferde Nr. 5 was a Prussian regiment garrisoned in Mülhausen in Elsaß but was part of Baden’s XIV. Armeekorps, so Baden awards were common to that regiment.
Support formations (i.e. formations other than infantry, cavalry and artillery) were in general not tied to specific states, except in the case of the largest states. As noted earlier, the Bavarian and Saxon armies were separate armies with their own support formations in most cases (in the peacetime army, Saxony’s railway, airship, aviation and motor vehicle troops were detachments and part of Prussian formations). Württemberg maintained its own pioneer and train battalions, but like Saxony other support units were detachments of larger Prussian formations.
Baden also had its pioneer and train battalions, and Hesse-darmstadt its own train battalion. Therefore, for the most part, citizenship was the main criterion by which soldiers in support formations were considered for state decorations. Support formations within the IV. Armeekorps area, for example, were generally comprised of citizens of Prussian Saxony and the Duchies of Anhalt and Saxe-altenburg, along with those of a few small exclaves of the Duchy of Braunschweig within the IV. Armeekorps area (the main part of that duchy lay in the X. Armeekorps area). The Anhaltiners, Altenburgers and Braunschweigers within these support formations would generally be considered, on the basis of citizenship. Many Anhalt boatsmen from villages along the Elbe, for example, ended up in Magdeburgisches Pionier-bataillon Nr. 4 and received Anhalt’s Friedrichkreuz.
Personnel, especially officers, on the staff of higher formations from brigade upwards were often considered for awards of states whose contingents served under these staff. On mobilisation, for example, the
17. Infanterie-division included two Mecklenburg infantry regiments, a Mecklenburg artillery regiment, a Bremen infantry regiment, and a Hamburg infantry regiment (the Hamburg regiment later went to the newly formed 111. Infanterie-division in 1915). Many officers and officials of the division are known to have received awards from two or more of these states.
The 38. Infanterie-division included contingents from Saxe-weimareisenach, Saxe-coburg-gotha, both Reuß principalities, and both Schwarzburg principalities. Again, many officers and officials on the division staff and its subordinate brigade staff received awards from two or more of these states. One example is the later Generaloberst Gotthard He inrici,a no ff icerinS axe-co bur g goth a’ s6.Thüringi sc h es Infant erie regimentNr .95, and on the staff of the division’s 83. Infanterie-brigade. He received awards from all these states.
The contingents of Oldenburg and Brunswick were in the same corps (X. Armeekorps) but different divisions, so a combination of these two often indicates a corps staff officer or official. The IV. Armeekorps and its 8. Infanterie-division included Anhalt and Saxe-altenburg contingents, with many known recipients of both states’ awards among corps, division and brigade staff officers and officials.
OTHER CONNECTIONS BETWEEN FORMATION AND STATE
Many German regiments had what is known as a Chef or Inhaber (the equivalent of a regiment colonel or colonel-in-chief in Commonwealth practice) but the Chef’s or Inhaber’s rank was his own. In a number of cases, the Chef or Inhaber was the sovereign of another state, or otherwise had awarding authority for decorations of his or her state. In these cases, that state’s decorations were commonly awarded to men of the regiments who otherwise had no connection to
the state. This applied in peacetime as well as wartime. Besides the Chef or Inhaber, many sovereigns were attached to regiments in the category know as officers à la suite, and, although less common than with a Chef or Inhaber, awards of state decorations from that sovereign also took place. The number of awards might range from a handful of ‘courtesy’ awards to hundreds of peacetime and wartime decorations as if the regiment were part of the state contingent.
Evidence of how this happened in practice has been found in published award rolls for state decorations, in the award announcements in publications such as the Bavarian Mi litärvero rd nung sb latt and Me ck len burgschwerin Regierungsblatt, and in other records. A few regimental histories list state awards or have tables with aggregate numbers of awards, or otherwise mention visits by sovereigns over the course of the war where awards were presented. Some examples may suffice to illustrate the practice.
Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick, had previously been an officer in Husaren-regiment von Zieten ( Brandenburg i sc hes)Nr .3, and remained an officer à la suite to the regiment when war broke out. Based on a file in Lower Saxony’s state archives in Wolfenbüttel, at least 115 officers in the regiment received Brunswick’s main wartime decoration, theKriegs verdi en stkreuz
2. Klasse, and at least 32 received theKriegs verdi en stkreuz 1. Klasse. However, unlike native Brunswickers or men of the Brunswick contingent ( Braun schweigisch es Infant erie regimentNr .92, Braun schweigisch es Husaren-regiment Nr. 17, the
2. (Braunschw.) Batterie of Ni ed ersäch si sc he sF eldar till erie regimentNr .46, and their daughter formations), the men of Husarenregiment Nr. 3 were not eligible for the Bewäh rungs abzeich en, the special decoration added to the ribbon of the Kriegs verdi en stkreuz for those who had proven themselves in combat.
Ernst August was also à la suite to Bavaria’s 1. Schweres Reiter-regiment
Prinz Karl von Bayern. In the 1916 Bavarian Militär-handbuch, every active staff officer and Rittmeister, every Oberleutnant, and all but one newly commissioned Leutnant, are in possession of Brunswick’s Kriegs verdi en stkreuz.A review of the Kriegs rang list ea ndKriegss tam mrol len of the regiment show numerous additional awards to reserve officers, NCOS and men of the regiment, as well as those who came to the regiment after 1916. Ernst August’s wife, Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, was also the 2. Chef of the 2. Leibhusaren-regiment Königin Viktoria von Preußen Nr. 2. Although there are no surviving Kriegsranglisten for that regiment, nor surviving rolls for B runs wick’ sKriegs verdi en stkreuz, several officers of 2. Leib-husarenregiment are known to have received theKriegs verdi en stkreuz.
Wilhelm Ernst, the Grand Duke of Saxe-weimar-eisenach, was Chef of Thüringisches Husaren-regiment Nr. 12 and the Saxon Karabinier-regiment. There were several hundred awards of the Order of the White Falcon with Swords and the General Honour Decoration with Swords Clasp to officers and men of those regiments. By contrast, while Wilhelm Ernst was à la suite to 1. Garde-regiment zu Fuß and 1. Seebataillon, few awards of Saxeweimar war decorations to men of
those formations are apparent.
The practice was sometimes informal. In the Anhalt state archives, Dessau, correspondence from Prinz Aribert of Anhalt to his sovereign noted that the Grand Duke Oldenburg had recently made awards of his Friedrichaugust-kreuz to men of the 1. Gardedragoner-regiment, to which both he and the Duke of Anhalt were à la suite. Prince Aribert requested that Anhalt follow suit with its Friedrichkreuz, and approximately 40 such crosses were eventually awarded to men of the regiment.
In the case of Schaumburglippe, the formations with the largest numbers of awards of the Kreuz für Treue Dienste 1914 were Jäger-bataillon Nr. 7 and Infanterieregiment Nr. 15, as well as respective daughter formations, as these were state contingents of the principality or included the principality in their recruiting area. The ruling prince, Adolf II Fürst zu Schaumburg-lippe, was à la suite to Husaren-regiment König Wilhelm I. (1. Rheinisches) Nr. 7, and a correspondingly large number of awards of the Kreuz für Treue Dienste 1914 were made to men of this regiment.
Even more awards were made to men of Husaren-regiment Landgraf Friedrich II. von Hessen-homburg (2. Kurhess.) Nr. 14, however, as Fürst Adolf, an active Prussian army officer, was not merely à la suite, but commanded that regiment in the field. Minden-based Feldartillerie-regiment Nr. 58 and its daughter formations were next in the total number of Schaumburg-lippe awards, followed by the 5. Westfälisches Infanterieregiment Nr. 53, whose Chef was Prinzessin Adolf zu Schaumburglippe, the Kaiser’s sister and the ruling prince’s aunt by marriage. Another sovereign connection was to the 2. Garde-ulanen-regiment, to which Fürst Adolf’s uncle, Prinz Otto, was à la suite and in which Fürst Adolf’s
younger brother, Prinz Wolrad, was an active officer. That regiment is also high on the list of numbers of Schaumburg-lippe war decorations.
FOREIGN NATIONS
The practice of sovereign awards was not limited to the states of the German empire. Many a Chef or Inhaber was sovereign of a foreign nation, including in several cases countries which ended up on the Allied side in the war or were neutral. Among Allied nations, members of Belgian, British, Greek, Italian, Romanian and Russian sovereign houses had been affiliated with German regiments before the war.
Among neutrals, Danish, Dutch, Spanish and Swedish sovereigns were so affiliated. As an example, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was Chef of Kaiser Alexander Garde-grenadier-regiment Nr. 1, also known as Regiment Alexander. In the last peacetime Prussian Army rank list of 6 May 1914, five of six majors, 12 of 16 captains, three of five Oberleutnants, and 20 of 27 Leutnants of Regiment Alexander had one or more Russian decorations. Similarly, King Constantine of Greece was Inhaber of the 2.Garde-regiment zu Fuß, and the 1914 rank list shows 27 officers with the Greek Order of the Redeemer. Needless-to-say, prewar award practices did not continue during wartime.
The case was different with those formations affiliated with the Austrohungarian and Bulgarian sovereigns. There, in most cases, wartime awards were as common or more common than peacetime awards. At of the outbreak of war, most officers who had served in Kaiser Franz Gardegrenadier-regiment Nr. 2, also known as Regiment Franz, whose Chef was Kaiser Franz Joseph, had at least one Austro-hungarian order or jubilee medal. Indeed, several had more Austro-hungarian decorations than German decorations.
During the war, Austro-hungarian war decorations were common to officers and men of Regiment Franz. Also, as Bernhard III, the Duke of Sachsen-meiningen was à la suite to Regiment Franz, many officers and men also received Saxe-meiningen war decorations. One example is the later Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel, an Oberleutnant in Regiment Franz in 1914. Already in possession of the Austro-hungarian Order of the Iron Crown, Franz-joseph Order and 1908 Jubilee Medal, he added the Austro-hungarian Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with War Decoration and the War Decoration to his peacetime Order of the Iron Crown during the war. He also received the Saxe-meiningen Cross for Merit in War. As a staff officer, he received several other state and foreign war decorations, but these were connected to service in Regiment Franz. Ironically, although he was born in Mainz, Hessedarmstadt, his many state awards did not include the Hessian General Honour Decoration, as he was not a citizen of the grand duchy.
As a rule, connection with a regiment was only with the sovereign, and in a few cases the sovereign’s consort. Many lesser royals were affiliated with various regiments as Chef or Inhaber or à la suite, or even as active officers, but they do not appear to have been empowered to make awards to officers or men of these regiments. The main exception is among Bavarian princes. Besides the King himself, Crown Prince Rupprecht and several other Bavarian princes were affiliated with a number of Prussian, Saxon and Württemberg regiments. The 1914 rank lists show numerous officers of these regiments with Bavarian decorations, and many wartime awards can be found in the Bavarian Militär-verordnungsblatt.
OTHER FACTORS
The Imperial Navy and the Schutztruppen were imperial formations and did not have state contingents. Nor was there a system similar to the Chef/inhaber system in
army regiments. However, in the navy, some ships of the line were ‘adopted’ by particular states, mainly those named for the state or a major city. Examples include the SMS Prinzregent Luitpold (Bavaria), SMS München (Bavaria), SMS Baden, SMS Zähringen (Baden), SMS Hessen, SMS Oldenburg, SMS Thüringen (Saxon duchies), and SMS Württemberg. In general, awards made to officers and crew of these vessels were more along the line of ‘courtesy’ awards, and did not approach the numbers of awards by various states to their army formations. Naval officers often received Hamburg, Mecklenburg-schwerin or Oldenburg awards, but mainly due to maritime connections of these states and large numbers of ‘Landeskinder’ (native sons of a particular state) serving under those officers. Awards to members of the Schutztruppen were mainly based on the nationality of individual soldiers, or the contingent he came from before transfer to the Schutztruppen.
As mentioned above, for officers, especially staff officers, criteria for eligibility for state awards were often broader and took into account not only his circumstances but the number of Landeskinder subordinate to him. This applied not just to staff officers of higher formations, but commanders and their staff in field formations which included sufficient Landeskinder. Often, the commander or staff officer was not even initially nominated for the award. A regimental, battalion or company commander who sent in an award recommendation for Landeskinder in his unit might find himself also nominated and approved for the award through no action on his own part. What constituted a ‘sufficient’ number of Landeskinder was undefined and often arbitrary. A battalion commander or adjutant whose battalion included several hundred native sons might easily be approved, but if there were 100 or fewer, the award might be rejected.
There were a few regiments where all three of the criteria might apply,
and a soldier might be eligible for three state awards besides the Iron Cross simply due to circumstances. These were Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg regiments affiliated to another sovereign.
An example of an officer meeting all three of the criteria was Julius Görlitz, born in Birkenfeld, an exclave of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. He was an active officer in the Bavarian 22. Infanterie-regiment Fürst Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, later serving in the Reichswehr and as an Sa-brigadeführer in the Third Reich. As a German officer, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, and as an officer in the Bavarian Army, the Military Merit Order 4th Class with Crown and Swords. As a native Oldenburger, he was awarded the Friedrich-august-cross 1st and 2nd Classes, and as an officer in a regiment whose Inhaber was Fürst Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, he also received the Honour Cross 3rd Class with Swords of the Princely Hohenzollern House Order.
The only comparable Prussian Army formation, in terms of being part of a state contingent with a Chef or Inhaber from another state, would have been Leib-dragoner-regiment (2. Großherzoglich Hessisches) Nr. 24, whose Inhaber was the Russian Tsar. However, since Russia was on the enemy side, there were no wartime Russian awards to the regiment. In all other state contingents within the Prussian Army, the affiliated sovereign was either from that state itself or was the Kaiser.4
Although not strictly an application of each of the criteria, one example of multiple state awards to a single soldier makes an interesting case, especially as it involved a NCO early in the war and was for a single action.
Hermann Zimmermann, born on 6 January 1891 in Neudorf, Ballenstedt am Harz, was an Unteroffizier in Garde-dragoner-regiment (1 Großherzoglich Hessisches) Nr. 23. On 17 October 1914, he was one of the soldiers accompanying Prinz Wolrad zu
Waldeck und Pyrmont on an ill-fated patrol at Moorslede, Belgium. Prinz Wolrad was killed, and the surviving dragoons fought at great risk to bring his body back to German lines. Zimmermann was among the dragoons who received the Iron Cross 2nd Class for these actions. Since the dragoons were also members of a Hessedarmstadt regiment, they received that state’s General Honour Decoration for bravery. Members of the patrol also received the decoration from the Principality of Waldeck appropriate to their rank - in Zimmermann’s case the Silver Merit Medal with Swords.
Finally, since Zimmermann was an Anhaltiner by birth, he was nominated for and received the Anhalt Friedrichkreuz. Unteroffizier Zimmermann met two of the criteria: his own citizenship and service in another state’s contingent. However, Prinz Wolrad was only a serving officer in the Dragoner-regiment Nr. 23, not a sovereign affiliated with the regiment, so the Waldeck awards were more personal.
Most German soldiers decorated for valour or merit in wartime received only the Iron Cross 2nd Class. A few, mainly Bavarians and Saxons, received only their state award and did not receive the Iron Cross. Although this was uncommon.
The many soldiers who received both the Iron Cross and a state award generally fell into one of the categories discussed above. In certain exceptional circumstances, the soldier might have met more than one criterion, and been fortunate enough to receive multiple state awards, although this was less common for enlisted men and not all that common for officers.
As is evident here, when historians try to ‘read’ the varied German First World War medal and ribbon groups sometimes encountered, then the story is very often not that simple!
1. Technically, the Iron Cross was a state award of the Kingdom of Prussia, rather than a ‘German’ award, but since the King of Prussia was also German Emperor, and the armies of the German states were part of or closely connected to the Prussian Army, the Iron Cross functioned as a German award rather than just a Prussian state award.
2. This criterion only applied to the army. The Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) and the Imperial protection forces in the colonies (Kaiserliche Schutztruppen) were not divided into state contingents.
3. Military convention between the North German Confederation and Baden of 25 November 1870, Art. 7: “With regard to the Baden troop divisions, the wishes of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke should be given the greatest possible consideration when employing and transferring officers.”
4. With regard to peacetime decorations, being in a regiment whose Chef or Inhaber was the Kaiser might lead to other Prussian awards, such as the Red Eagle Order or Crown Order, but this discussion is primarily about wartime decorations. An interesting case is the 1897 Kaiser- wilhelm erin ne rungs m ed ail le, also known as the Centenary Medal. This was generally not awarded to Bavarians, Saxon sandWürtt ember gers, other than those in Prussian units, on Prussian staffs or at Prussian military schools at the time of the award, with two main exceptions: members of Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg units garrisoned in the Imperial Land of Alsace-lorraine (Reichsland Elsaß-lothringen) and Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg units whose Chef or Inhaber was the Kaiser.