Ribbon Bar Destiny: A "pocket" Life Story, One Chapter At A Time

[Rick Research]

In the beginning, there was

[Rick Research]

And Ricky was happy, if puzzled. For that last ribbon maketh

And then, in February 2002, from the Old Continent, via Stogie-Rick there came another. And it was "better," though the Ricky it just the same, if not more so.

[Rick Research]

But thennnnn came Today, Wednesday, 6 August 2003. A special day. Very special indeed. And forsooth, the Stogie-Rick had once more stretched forth his hand to the four winds of our bright blue planet, and from it's far corners, defying all the laws of chance, probability, and reason there was, reunited once more

[Rick Research]

Now the Ricky had long delved in the Mines of Trivia, in search of the original owner, after Ribbon Bar 2 came along. And herewith my report:

The second ribbon indicates a Saxe-Ernestine House Order-Knight 2nd Class with Swords, as given to Leutnants and Oberleutnants. It could not be the Silver Merit Cross for NCOs because there was no Imperial NCO long service award. The fourth ribbon is the Saxe-Altenburg Duke Ernst Medal, a strange award given out with no particularly discernible pattern, from period sources—purely at the Duke’s personal discretion. I find NO cases where a non Altenburger received one. The WW1 award rolls for it HAVE been published, but not those for 1909-14. For those, only the annual Army Rank Lists show awards to officers. The last ribbon on each bar is the Georgian Menshevik Republic’s 1918 Order of Saint/Queen Tamara (see International Forum under search word “weirdest”).

I am the American academic expert on German military involvement in the Georgian campaign of 1918-1919. Even I cannot find any Altenburg TROOP unit there, nor have I found any mention of any Altenburg officer there on the VERY mixed brigade OoB. There were hundreds of former prisoners of war of Tsarist Russia released there by the 1917 Armistice, however.

I have been through Saxe-Altenburg’s published and complete rolls for all awards of WW1. Compared with pre-war Rank List data, and compared against Weimar and Third Reich sources (excluding future Wehrmacht officers and so on) I am reduced to a single, solitary, hypothetical “What If...” candidate for original owner of these now reunited ribbon bars. While unable to CONFIRM that he was the owner, the circumstantial evidence leaves him as the only possible “suspect,” in the Holmesian “when all else is excluded” ruling out process.

Georg-Wolf Freiherr (or Reichsfreiherr) von Rechenburg,

born about 1887, entered the army as a charakterisiert Fähnrich in March 1904. He was commissioned in Saxe-Altenburg Infantry Regiment 153 with seniority of 19 October 1905 Rr2. He received the Duke Ernst Medal some time between 1909 and May 1912. When World War One began, he was Adjutant of the IIIrd Battalion/Inf Rgt 153. Promotion to Oberleutnant followed on 5 September 1914, and he was awarded the Saxe-Ernestine House Order-Knight 2nd Class with Swords on 9 December 1914. Now it gets… strange.

As of the 1 January 1917 Prussian Army Seniority List, he was then—in 1917—STILL an Oberleutnant with the seniority above. His contemporaries had almost all passed him by and become Hauptleute—if they had survived. Baron Rechenberg, however, was listed among 4 Schutztruppen Southwest Africa Oberleutnants who were P.O.W.s. And yet… when the next issue of the Seniority List came out on 1 January 1918—there he was, a Hauptmann with seniority of 18 September 1915 Ww1. The Schutztruppen officers were still Oberleutnants.

So what had happened? From what the Seniority Lists have to tell, Baron Rechenburg was a prisoner of war sometime between September 1914 and September 1915—yet he was back on active duty between January and December 1917. Hmmm….

Reserve Infantry Regiment 264 in the 80th Reserve Division was formed in East Prussia in March 1915 from Altenburg. Regular officers were normally scattered among war-raised units to stiffen their majority of reserve officers. RIR 264 served on the Russian Front until December 1916. (it later had the distinction of having its regimental and brigade commanders sacked in the west in August 1917 when the troops mutinied, but we are only interested in up to September 1915, aren’t we?)

Can I prove Baron Rechenburg was in THAT regiment? No. He was, however, obviously a POW somewhere. That Altenburg unit served in the East. Where the Kerensky regime collapsed into the German-Bolshevik Armistice of Brest-Litovsk in… 1917. Baron Rechenburg is the ONLY holder of a SEHO-K2X and Duke Ernst Medal who did NOT return to Wehrmacht service or other traceable Third Reich duty.

And what about those maddeningly “blank” blue long service awards? We know they are nothing Imperial, because Ribbon Bar 1 of 1934-35 has NO long service. So Ribbon Bar 2 added the SINGLE long service AFTER 1934/35. The only “deviceless” Third Reich long service awards of 1938 were: Polizei 8 Years, SS-VT/Totenkopf 8 and 4 (and he was NOT an SS officer), and… Reichs Arbeits Dienst 4 and 12. Aha!

Whoever the original owner of this bar was—and the circumstantial evidence points every finger and toe at Baron Rechenburg—he HAD to have been an officer in the R.A.D. There was NO other Third Reich service where TWO “blank” dark blue long service ribbons COULD (even contrary to regulations) be worn like this. What we have here are an R.A.D. 4 Years Medal of 1938, followed by a subsequent R.A.D. 12 Years Medal—worn, mid-war, in “Wehrmacht style” as a 12 AND 4.

Can I prove Baron Rechenburg was an R.A.D. officer? No. But I can exclude him as a Wehrmacht officer, and as an SS officer. He was alive in 1926, when the 1914-1918 Honor Rank List was published. More than that may never be knowable.

And yet… three of his ribbon bars have turned up, individually sold, in 18 months. Somewhere out there, still in the hands of the one bit at a time seller, or split among several collectors whose devotion to single areas of collecting allows them to overlook the Research Crime of Group Splitting… evidence MAY exist. Who knows what the NEXT 18 months will turn up?

[Daniel Krause]

geeez! Rick! As always amazing!
Are there no published RAD kists to confirm it?

Best regards

Daniel

[stogieman]

sniff, sniff....

It giveth me much pleasure to bring such joy into the hearts of my fellow man....

[Brian S]

AWESOME, that is SOOOOOOOO cool to have the progression like that. Amazing.

[AOK4]

Hello,

I personally don't have the Regimental History of RIR 264, but I've asked my friend who also collects regimental histories. I'll let you know if we find anything about this man.

Jan

[AOK4]

Hello,

Leutnant Freiherr von RechenbErg (!), adjutant of III/IR 153, was taken prisoner on 9 september 1914 (Battle on the Ourcq) being severely wounded (according to the regimental history). Apparently he was released later because of these wounds, which was not so uncommon.

My friend unfortunately doesn't have the regimental history of RIR 264, but he has RIR 265, which has a gap from July to November 1917. RIR 265 (same division) was in the East indeed.

Regards,
Jan

[Rick Research]

Rechenberg indeed!

Thanks, Jan!!!

While that confirms his P.O.W. status, it puts him on the wrong front from where I had expected...

Still, I wonder if a precondition of release, in those gentlemanly days, was parole that he would not take up arms against his former captors again?

[AOK4]

[Hello Rick,

I've got the papers from Walter Enders and he was captured in 1915 by the Russians, released one year later and went to the airforce in 1917, in which he served until the End of the War. So, released prisoners often got back in the army...

Jan

[webr55]

New information

First, let me wish a happy new year to all forum members!

I have new information concerning Baron Rechenberg:
By pure chance, I stumbled across a note which said that in 2004 the family archives of the Rechenberg family were given to the town archive of Sömmerda, in Thuringia. And this note said something more about individual family members:
First we have Oberst Georg Freiherr von Rechenberg, 1839-1907, in 1890/91 commander of the 7. Thüringisches IR Nr. 96 in Altenburg.
He had a son:
Georg Wolf Erasmus Emil Hugo Freiherr von Rechenberg, 1883-1944, who was also an officer. Rick, this must be your guy!
His (apparently only) son Götz (born 1920) was KIA in 1943. Thus Georg Wolf was the last of his branch of the family.
Now for the interesting part: Georg Wolf von Rechenberg was later "Arbeitsführer und Leiter des Meldeamtes für den Reichsarbeitsdienst" (!!!) in Nienburg/Weser!!

So Holmes, at least this part of your conclusion has been confirmed!

Regards
Chris

[Rick Research]

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