Bundeswehr Medals for an RKT winner.

[bratwurstdimsum]

Hi there,

My first post here, I just received a large collection of medals and tinnies from
a former ritterkreuz trager, Friedrich-August Von Michael, he served in the Bundeswehr as a Colonel I think and did quite well for himself given the amazing array of foreign medals he got during his time post WWII.

I would like to share the post-war collection here and would like some explaination as to what they are if possible.

FYI, the whole discussion thread of Von Michael is in the wehrmacht section:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=139464

Cheers

Jeff

First up, a 3 medal parade grouping, what's the one on the end? It says " Sturmflut 16 Febuar 1962"

[bratwurstdimsum]

An armband and keyfob that denotes the same battalion, what was this outfit?

[bratwurstdimsum]

Armshield...again is this a battalion or regimental marking ? Or neither

[bratwurstdimsum]

Tinnie heaven, any info on these units would be helpful, I would not know where to start?!!

[Gordon Craig]

bratwurstdimsum,

I can help you with most of these things.

1-On the medal bar, you know what the first two are, the third one is the Gedenkmedaille "Sturmflut 1962" from the state of Niedersachsen.
2-The "watchfob" and the arm band are for the Gaurd Battallion in Berlin. There three army companies, one air force company and one naval company in the battalion. The "watchfob" is actually a unit symbol worn suspended from the button of the righ breast pocket under the pocket flap. An arm band was worn on each sleeve. The army and air force units wore a beret with a W badge the same as shown on the pocket badge. The naval company wore a Wachbatailon cap tally.
3-the sleeve badge with the crossed swords above the S indicates the wearer is assigned to Heersoffizireschule I - III.
4-the green shield with the unicorn is probably a unit insignia, smaller than a division, that has been removed from its leather suspension device. It probably has a small pin device on the rear. I have no reference for this device.
5-at a guess I would say the next item is a stick pin for the 40th aniversary of the BRD armed forces.
6-not sure what the next one is. It looks like it could be related to an Officers orientation trip to the Mittenwald.
7-this device refers to the Heersoffizierschule III in Munchen and probably relates to the arm shield I mentioned earlier. Probably a souvenier of some kind.
8-the next item is a for a French organization but that is all I can say about it.
9-the next item is for the first reunion of the 12th Infantry Division held on the 26/27 of September 1953. No doubt the unit your man served in with the Wehrmacht.
A very interesting assortment of one mans memorabelia.

Regards,

Gordon

[bratwurstdimsum]

Wow Thanks Gordon, thats amazing, I had no idea that people were so knowledgable about DDR stuff. Makes me want to look into it more!

Are there any websites out there like, for instance the lexikon der wehrmacht for the bundeswehr?

I found out more on the sturmflut medal, it looks like it was presented to members of the armed forces who assisted in the flood disaster of 1962

[bratwurstdimsum]

ok, lets take it as a given that Von Michael's unit was:

Heersoffizireschule I - III
Wachbatailon
Probably the 35e Company?

Can we find out the regiment or the Army division from these? I don't know anything about the organisation of the DDR or Bundeswehr.

I'd like to know because, somewhere along the line (most probably with his unit overseas) this guy also racked up the following awards:

• Order of Victoria 4th Class, awarded by HM Queen of England
• Chiliean Medal with the inscription "Al merito"
• Knight Order of St. John
• Ordre du Merite Agricole. French for outstanding contributions to agriculture

[Gordon Craig]

bratwurstdimsum,
I should perhaps mention a couple of things at this point. Posts on the BRD armed forces are usually made on the International Forum. Not on the DDR Forum. Since the BRD and the DDR were separate countries in their own right the DDR Forum stands on its own. There is considerable, and growing, interest in the BRD and we will probably move to a BDR Forum before too long. I'll comment on your latest questions statements however.
von Michael's last unit was probably the HeersoffizIrschule III because of the shield on the arm of the tunic you own.
The Wachbatalion was not related to the Officer schools in any way. Because he had one cuff band from the Wachbatalion does not necessarily mean that he ever served with it.
The 35 e badge is for a French military unit and not connected with the Bundeswehr in any way. Wachbatalion companies are numbered from 1 to 5. I beleive the Heer is from 1 to 3, the naval company #4 and the Bundesluftwaffe #5.
There is no associated army division with either the Wachbatalion or the officers school. The Wachbatalion's task, in peace time and in time of war, is the protection of government offices and members of the government in Berlin as well as providing Honour Guards for visiting dignitaries etc. They are a highly trained military unit and not just pretty guards.
The officers school would have been assigned to the military headquarters through the military district they were located in and not assigned to any specific division or war time tasks. I should have mentioned yesterday that there are a lot of training organizations that use the crossed swords and S. The shield on the uniform pictured can be identified as an officers school one by the white border with the black lines on it.
I can not comment on how this individual would have been awarded the foreign awards but the Knight Order of St. John (Order of Malta) has been historically awarded to serving German Military Officers. There was a brief period during the Third Reich when German Officers were forbidden, by Hitler, to wear awards of this nature.
A couple of comments on his Third Reich awards, in case you do not have this info;
DKiG-awarded 7.3.1942 as Oblt. in 1./ 172
Knights Cross-awarded 10.2.45 as Hptm., Kdr.II./G.R. 172.

Regards,

Gordon

[bratwurstdimsum]

Thank you for clearing up those points Gordon, now, if a moderator will move me to the correct location (should that be appropriate) , that'll be great.

[Gordon Craig]

bratwurstdimsum,

Glad that I could help. BRD stuff gets posted all over the place because no one is quite sure where to put it. I don't get much chance to share info on the Bundeswehr and it was fun doing so. The uniform and accessories you posted on are really interesting. I have number of similar tunics but none that have the thread loops for the breast awards. It was much more common for only the ribbon bar to be worn since it showed all of the WWII awards anyway.
Here is a picture of part of the Wachbatailon on parade.

Regards,

Gordon