Medal bar of a bavarian hero?

[JensF.]

Hi!

What would you think about this medal bar? I saw this at Weitze in Hamburg (sorry, I haven't bought it). It looks like this soldier tried to win the war alone. I've never seen something like this!

The medals are (from left to right):
-EKII, 1914
-Bayr. Tapferkeitsmedaille (very rare)
-Bayr. Militaerverdienstkreuz 1. Kl. mit Schwertern (very rare)
-Bayr. Militaerverdienstkreuz 2. Kl. mit Schwertern
-Bayr. Militaerverdienstkreuz 3. Kl. mit Schwertern und Krone
-Sachsen Militaer St. Heinrich Medaille in Silber
-Sachsen Friedrich-August-Medaille in silver or bronze with bar (very rare)
-Oldenburg Friedrich-August-Kreuz 2. Kl
-Schaumburg-Lippe Kreuz für Treue Dienste
-Oesterreich Silberne Tapferkeitsmedaille 1. Klasse
-Frontkaempferkreuz
-Bayr. St.Michaels-Medaille ???
-Preussen Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen Medaille
-Oesterreich Silbernes Verdienstkreuz mit Krone
-Ungarn Kriegserinnerungsmedaille

Who was this heroic soldier? He has got no long-service awards. Maybe he was Unteroffizier or Feldwebel and promoted so fast he couldn't get one?




[ 26 December 2001: Message edited by: majorpayne ]

[Klaus O.]

I remember this medal bar... I just emailed Weitze a couple of days after it was put on the catalogue, in order to ask so more detailed pictures. Unfortunately it was already sold! Too bad, because I was interested in purchasing it, too!

Quite a medal bar; strange that it doesn't have any service medals. But it could be possible (Has he volonteered?). Strange that also the disposition of the Austrian medals, but I have seen everything... However I would be extremely cautious with this kind of bars and I would test it with blacklight. I am becoming quite paranoid and must say that everything that costs more than USD 100.- I wouldn't buy it without a "return" guarantee.

My two cents...


Ciao,

Claudio Ortelli

[Rick Research]

This is a really, really weird bar.

It is INCONCEIVABLE to me that any sort of enlisted man who was NOT a FIGHTER PILOT could have gotten anything like this.

I've got the list, with citations, of the WWI Bavarian Silver Military Merit/Bravery Medal recipients. That could, with great tedious effort, be cross checked against the recipients of the Saxon Silver St Henry Medal winners (which I don't have, but exists--the Autengruber series). Skimming non-aviation recipients might allow some speed.

I cannot figure out how this man avoided an NCO's long Service awards--and the 1911/12 type Luitpold Jubilee Medal--either. Bavaria, unlike Prussia, continued to award long srrvice awards throughout the war, at "double" credit (one war year = 2 years, for signed up regulars) rate too. Even if a Feldwebelleutnant and eventually discharged as a Leutnant, with the pre-war Prussian and Austro-Hungraian and Bavarian awards, just can't imagine how this is a legitimate group.

It just may be--but it would require a WHOLE lot of research, which is virtually impossible for enlisted men.

While those of us "overly" concerned with verifiable research may often miss out on a great "peculiar" group--we also avoid the very expensive pitfalls of magpies who like bright sparkly Hollywood-looking stuff without considering how likely it is to be REAL!