As a novice to this era of history i.hesitate to post but here goes....
21 May 1919 Engraved Iron Cross First Class and more. No i.d. with the group and unsure from.my research of how the date corresponds to the date of action or if the award. Knowledgeable comments appreciated.
My write up,subject to your comments and editing!
The Freikorps went into action along the Polish border in December 1918, fighting as Border Defense East. They shifted to Berlin in January 1919 when the Spartacus League (the Communist Party of Germany, KPD) staged an uprising. Armed workers seized control of much of the city and Liebknecht declared the Ebert government deposed.
But the government's Freikorps was strong enough to put an end to the uprising. Leading the effort was the Minister of Defense in the Ebert cabinet, confirmed Socialist Gustav Noske. A week of street fighting followed and the Freikorps' Reinhard, the Potsdam, and “Iron Brigade” prevailed. As a result, “Spartacus Week” saw the Freikorps clearing Berlin of armed rebels. The Freikorps went to battle with fervor. KPD leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg werd captured by soldiers of the Garde Kavallerie Schützen Division Their captors clubbed them senseless, then shot them for “attempting to escape, "
Leftist uprisings continued in 1919, The Freikorps crushed them all. A second wave of KPD violence in Berlin in March was again crushed by the Freikorps. In April, a left-wing coup toppled the government of Bavaria and installed a “Bavarian Soviet” in Munich. Freikorps brought that campaign to an end in May.
The Freikorps conducted two major “international” campaigns. The first in the Baltic region alongside the new Latvian army in the spring of 1919, the second campaign in Upper Silesia.Their mission in the Baltic, approved by the Allies, was with Latvians against the Red Army, The Freikorps overthrew the duly constituted Latvian government of Karlis Ulmanis and openly discussed plans to colonize the region. The German Iron Brigade and Freikorps, prince Lieven’s White counter-revolutionary units, the Baltic Landwehr and a Latvian brigade, and Estonian and Latvian troops of the Northern Latvia brigade fought in Vidzeme. The Landwehr’s shock troop battalion, led by Hans Manteuffel and the Edelweiß Freikorps lead by von Medem bore the brunt of the task of freeing Riga. They took Torņakalns by storm, and in a took the bridges over the Daugava River, which they held until the main forces arrived.
I read that twelve German and Baltic Germans could be allotted to the task of breaking through the Old Town, taking the Riga Castle and freeing the hostages the Bolsheviks had taken and were in grave danger. Could this group belong to one of them?
Storming the capital, Riga, on May 22, 1919. They end result was the shooting over 725 Latvians suspected of Bolshevism. The death toll in Riga would be nearly 3,000
21 May 1919 Engraved Iron Cross First Class and more. No i.d. with the group and unsure from.my research of how the date corresponds to the date of action or if the award. Knowledgeable comments appreciated.
My write up,subject to your comments and editing!
The Freikorps went into action along the Polish border in December 1918, fighting as Border Defense East. They shifted to Berlin in January 1919 when the Spartacus League (the Communist Party of Germany, KPD) staged an uprising. Armed workers seized control of much of the city and Liebknecht declared the Ebert government deposed.
But the government's Freikorps was strong enough to put an end to the uprising. Leading the effort was the Minister of Defense in the Ebert cabinet, confirmed Socialist Gustav Noske. A week of street fighting followed and the Freikorps' Reinhard, the Potsdam, and “Iron Brigade” prevailed. As a result, “Spartacus Week” saw the Freikorps clearing Berlin of armed rebels. The Freikorps went to battle with fervor. KPD leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg werd captured by soldiers of the Garde Kavallerie Schützen Division Their captors clubbed them senseless, then shot them for “attempting to escape, "
Leftist uprisings continued in 1919, The Freikorps crushed them all. A second wave of KPD violence in Berlin in March was again crushed by the Freikorps. In April, a left-wing coup toppled the government of Bavaria and installed a “Bavarian Soviet” in Munich. Freikorps brought that campaign to an end in May.
The Freikorps conducted two major “international” campaigns. The first in the Baltic region alongside the new Latvian army in the spring of 1919, the second campaign in Upper Silesia.Their mission in the Baltic, approved by the Allies, was with Latvians against the Red Army, The Freikorps overthrew the duly constituted Latvian government of Karlis Ulmanis and openly discussed plans to colonize the region. The German Iron Brigade and Freikorps, prince Lieven’s White counter-revolutionary units, the Baltic Landwehr and a Latvian brigade, and Estonian and Latvian troops of the Northern Latvia brigade fought in Vidzeme. The Landwehr’s shock troop battalion, led by Hans Manteuffel and the Edelweiß Freikorps lead by von Medem bore the brunt of the task of freeing Riga. They took Torņakalns by storm, and in a took the bridges over the Daugava River, which they held until the main forces arrived.
I read that twelve German and Baltic Germans could be allotted to the task of breaking through the Old Town, taking the Riga Castle and freeing the hostages the Bolsheviks had taken and were in grave danger. Could this group belong to one of them?
Storming the capital, Riga, on May 22, 1919. They end result was the shooting over 725 Latvians suspected of Bolshevism. The death toll in Riga would be nearly 3,000
Comment