New to the Forum - A lot of questions.

[LaVaAPochi]

First of all, I awant to say hello to all the memebrs, and say that I am astonished by your collections.

I have started collecting medals in 1997, and now I have some 8 medals plus a 3 medal group (EKII, Wurttemberg Silbernes Tapferkeits medaille and "Hindemburg Cross).

Even if I know what medals I have, I don't know how they were awarded. I assume that some were awarder for bravery (The Tapferkeits Medailles, for instance) while other wer a reward for services (Like the Prussian Kriegs Hilfdients cross).

I have 2 Hansa corsses, for Hamburg and Lubeck (I was short on money when the Bremer one come to my hands ). Which was the award criteria for those? Valour or Merit? They were given to all the citizens (and foreigners serving in Hansa units?)

The Bavarian Miiltar Verdienst Kreuz, III Klasse, with both Swords and Crown, was a reward for Senior NCOs? Or some feats or deed were required for the award?
Sticking to Bayern, I have a bronze, or Dark metal cross, withe a Sovreign profile on one side, and the usual Bavarian checker on the other side, with the date 7 1 1916. I assumed it was a sort of commemorative cross for the Bavarian troops, but I didn't found much info about that...

Last but not least, I have an Oldenburg Friederich Kreuz II Klasse... Award criteria?

I didn't asked abot Hessian or Wurttemberg silver "tapferkeits" because I assume that they rewarded actions of bravery on the field.... Or I am wrong?


Thanx for you patience, and I hope to be able to post scans of my medals in a near future.

Emiliano.

[Klaus O.]

Ciao Emiliano! Benvenuto sul forum "imperiale"...

The Hansa crosses were usually given to the citizen of hansa cities who participated the great war. The senate of Hamburg was known to be quite generous to give his Hansakreuz to many soldiers of different states that might have some connections with Hamburg or its units. The scarcest Hansa-Cross is the Lübeck, since this is the smallest city of the 3 Hansa-Städte (Awards made by Hamburg ca. 50'000, by Bremen ca. 20'000 and by Lübeck ca. 8'000). In the enclosure a picture of a Ordensspange of an Imperial Navy Officer (very likely a doctor) with a Hansa-Cross of Bremen. Many of this crosses were given to the Navy members.

The Bavarian Military Cross of Merit was given also for merits in the field (depending on the ribbon, there was a so-called "Beamtenband"; crosses with a different ribbon given before the war to functionaires... impiegati statali presso il ministero della guerra... ecc...). The 3rd class with crown and swords was given to Unteroffiziere and Sergeants (Sergenti).

The Friedrich-August Kreuz 2. Klasse was given to soldiers, NCO and officers of the Oldenburg Herzogtum (ducato) and other states' soldiers who fought with Oldenburg's units. The FA Kreuz is a typical decoration like many other German kingdoms, principalities, counties, states that has the same valour of the Prussian Iron Cross 2nd class. Therefore is a bravery award for merits on the field. During WWI around 63'000 FAK 2. Kl. were being award (on the combattant ribbon) and almost 1'700 on the non-combattant ribbon (civilians, medics)... the latter one is much rarer...

Tapferkeits Medaillen or Kreuze are just bravery crosses for merit in the fields. The German distributed these medals a bit more democratically and genorously as the English military system.

I hope that this helped you a bit. Don't hesitate to ask some more questions if you need to.

Ciao,


Claudio



<O></O>

First of all, I awant to say hello to all the memebrs, and say that I am astonished by your collections.

I have started collecting medals in 1997, and now I have some 8 medals plus a 3 medal group (EKII, Wurttemberg Silbernes Tapferkeits medaille and "Hindemburg Cross).

Even if I know what medals I have, I don't know how they were awarded. I assume that some were awarder for bravery (The Tapferkeits Medailles, for instance) while other wer a reward for services (Like the Prussian Kriegs Hilfdients cross).

I have 2 Hansa corsses, for Hamburg and Lubeck (I was short on money when the Bremer one come to my hands ). Which was the award criteria for those? Valour or Merit? They were given to all the citizens (and foreigners serving in Hansa units?)

The Bavarian Miiltar Verdienst Kreuz, III Klasse, with both Swords and Crown, was a reward for Senior NCOs? Or some feats or deed were required for the award?
Sticking to Bayern, I have a bronze, or Dark metal cross, withe a Sovreign profile on one side, and the usual Bavarian checker on the other side, with the date 7 1 1916. I assumed it was a sort of commemorative cross for the Bavarian troops, but I didn't found much info about that...

Last but not least, I have an Oldenburg Friederich Kreuz II Klasse... Award criteria?

I didn't asked abot Hessian or Wurttemberg silver "tapferkeits" because I assume that they rewarded actions of bravery on the field.... Or I am wrong?


Thanx for you patience, and I hope to be able to post scans of my medals in a near future.

Emiliano.

[Daniel Krause]

Hi!

Hearty welcome here!
Claudio already answered everything, so I have nothing to add.

Best regards

Daniel

[LaVaAPochi]

Thanx

First of all thanx for the quick reply.

I am still confused about the award criteria of the Hansa Kreuz, Bavarian MVK III Klasse mit Krone und Schwerten and the Bavarina "King Ludwig Cross".

The Hansa Kreuz was generally issued to ALL serviceman fromt the cities, thus making a "war service" award, and a "bravery"/"merit" award to foreigners?

The Bavarian MVK was awarded to soldiers and NCOs in 3 classes, both with swords and crown, or just with swords. Plus the beamtenband. This makes 8 classes... Who and how could be awarded?

Finally (for now) the "King Ludwig Cross"... What's its official name? I assume that it was a common award for service, is it correct?

Thanx.


E*

[Daniel Krause]

The Hanseatenkreuz came in just one class for all.

The Bavarian MVO/MVK came in different classes depending first on the rank of the recipient. The highest Orders Grand cross got Generals as Army commanders, the lowest ranking Merit cross 3rd class enlisted men.
The crown was available as initial award for the fitting ranks (a junior NCO got immediately the MVK3 with crown) or the crown was an additional award for somebody who had already the fitting class without crown.

The King- Ludwig Cross was a non-combat award for war aid actions and also given to all ranks.

Best regards

Daniel