Iron Cross First Class with provenance?

[Kaleun]

Hello fellow collectors! My first posting in this section!

A couple of years ago I became interested in the First World War and began collecting German awards. About two years ago I purchased a vaulted and cased EKI 1914. It is my only EKI and the pride and joy of my small (but growing!) collection. The German dealer I bought it from advertised it as having “the name of the bearer lightly engraved on the reverse” without specifying anything further. It turned out to have the following inscription scratched in by hand: “D.v. Brixen” and the award date: “17.X.17”. At the time I couldn’t follow this up, but the name stuck in my mind.
Recently I read again Ernst Juenger’s “Storms of Steel”, no doubt familiar to anyone with in interest in WWI. And then it struck me: in Juenger war diary he repeatedly mentions a certain Hauptmann von Brixen! Could it be his cross that is now in my possession???

So here my question: has anyone of you any further information on Hauptmann von Brixen?

Sorry, I as a relatively new member I can't post pics...

Cheers
Thorsten

[bhholst]

Hello Thorsten.
The 1913 Rangliste Prussia and Wuerttemberg list a Lt. v. Brixen in Fueselier Rgt. 73. This officer is the only one by that name listed.
The Ehrenrangliste of 1926 based on the 1914 Rangliste lists several by that name including reactivated officers with Fieldgrade rank and one Lt. v. Brixen in Gren.Rgt. 11 killed in action with the same rank in 1915.
That leaves one Hptm. v. Brixen listed as Lt. in 1914 who attained the rank of Hptm. and lost his life in action on 21. Mar. 1918 in Fues.Rgt. 73. I am quite sure that he was the recipient of the Iron Cross you have in your posession.
The above mentioned Ranglisten do not usually give the first names which makes pinpointing an individual officer difficult but not in this case .
BTW: given the DoD it seems that Hptm. v. Brixen lost his life in the beginning of the
" Grosse Schlacht in Frankreich " also known as the"Kaiser Schlacht". and as you already pointed out he served in the same regiment as Ernst Juenger who as you are certainly aware of, was the last surviving Ritter des Ordens P.L.M. when he died.
Bernhard H. Holst

[bhholst]

Hello Thorsten.
In addition to my earlier reply:
having had a quick look at the regimental history of the F.R. 73 I found the full name of the likely officer who was the recipient of the E.K.I in your collection. It was Hptm. Harry v. Brixen. At the time of his death he was the commander of the II. Btl./F.R. 73 and therefore the btl.commander of Lt. E. Juenger who was in command of 7./F.R.73.
Hptm. Harry v. Brixen died through british artillery fire while in readiness area for the attack I mentioned in my previous post.
The afore mentioned history does not have an index but I will scrutinize it for more information and even a picture ? of Hptm. v. Brixen as time permits.
Bernhard H. Holst

[Kaleun]

Hello Bernhard!

Thank you for this very interesting info! Looks like the EK could have been the one from this Harry v. Brixen - although the initial scratched on the EK is definetely a "D" (perhaps an "O"). Brixen could well have had a couple of names. If we could find out the award date of Brixen's EK, we could say for sure.

Again many thanks for your excellent information - and of course, a photo would be super!

Thorsten

[bhholst]

Hello Thorsten.
It is of course possible that the officer I mentioned is not the one. The "Ranglisten" I consulted do not contain any Reserve Officers (d.Res.) or Landwehr (d.L.) but only "aktive" (regular) officers. So far I have located two pictures of him in the regimental history and his name in the officers roster for different time spans throughout the 1914-1918.
I will keep on looking and post any additional findings.
Bernhard H. Holst

[Chris Boonzaier]

2 thoughts.... for every one regular officer listed there are 5 non regs... not listed..... and a few hundred other ranks....

secondly, I bet you Jungers captain got his cross a tad earlier than that !!!!

[Kaleun]

Bernhard - again thanks for looking into this! It's amazing what one can fight out.

Chris - the more I think about your comments, the more I believe that my EK is not from that "famous" Brixen. It occurred to me that 1917 is rather late for an Hauptmann to "get his EK" - but still possible! Since it was not priced up for the fact that it has a name scratched on the reverse, I have no reason to doubt its originality, though. Brixen is not a very common name, so maybe one day I'll come across a name that will match the initial and thus reunites the cross with its history.

Thanks for your input - I'll keep looking (and collecting)!

Regards
Thorsten