von Richtofen's medals?

[Tazturtle]

Hi,

Does anyone know exactly which medals were awarded to the Red Baron? I've searched the web unsuccessfully to establish which he received.

Best regards

Kurt

[W McSwiggan]

Per O’Connor, vol II, Prussia:

Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen’s known awards:

Orden Pour le Merite – Prussia

Red Eagle Order, 3<SUP>rd</SUP> Class with Crown & Swords – Prussia

Royal Hollenzollern House Order, Knight’s Cross with Swords – Prussia

Iron Cross, 1<SUP>st</SUP> & 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Class – Prussia

Military Merit Order, 3<SUP>rd</SUP> Class with Crown & Swords – Bavaria (Later research indicates this was actually 4<SUP>th</SUP> class with swords)

Military St, Henry Order, Knight’s Cross – Saxony

Military merit Order, Knight – Württemberg

Saxe-Ernestine House Order, Knight 1<SUP>st</SUP> Class with Swords – Saxon Duchies

General Honor Decoration "for Bravery" = Hesse

War Honor Cross for Heroic Act – Lippe

Cross for Faithful Service, 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Class – Schaumburg-Lippe

War Merit Cross, 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Class – Brunswick

Oval Silver Duke Carl Eduard Medal with Date Clasp and Swords – Saxe-Coburg & Gotha

Hanseatic Cross – Bremen

Hanseatic Cross – Hamburg

Hanseatic Cross – Lübeck

Order of the Iron Crown, 3<SUP>rd</SUP> Class – Austro-Hungarian Empire

Military Merit Cross, 3<SUP>rd</SUP> Class with War Decoration - Austro-Hungarian Empire

Bravery Order, 4<SUP>th</SUP> Class, 1<SUP>st</SUP> Degree – Bulgaria

Imtiaz Medal in Silver – Ottoman Empire

Liakat Medal in Silver – Ottoman Empire

War Medal – Ottoman Empire

Pilot’s Badge, Army – Germany

Field Pilot’s Badge, Army (Franz-Joseph pattern) Class – Austro-Hungarian Empire

[Tazturtle]

Thanks mate - that's a great help.

Best regards

Kurt

[Dez H]

Greetings from another fellow Tasmanian!


Do a search on the forum, someone here had a medal bar made up of "The Baron's" awards, was quite impressive from memory.

[FrankS]

This is on display at the German Luftwaffe Museum in Berlin-Gatow, but I doubt that these are the Barons original awards.

[Daniel Cole]

These are not the originals. A couple of corrections:
1.The clasp on the SCG Carl Eduard Silver Oval is incorrect. The correct one has the date wings.
2. The Bavarian Military Merit Order is shown as a 3rd class (gold). It was determined later that it should be the BMMO 4th class with crown and swords. 3. The Ernestine House order pictured is without swords. His should have swords.
But that said its a nice display. I collected all of those awards myself once.

Here's a picture of the medal bar I had made. MIne was incorrect in that the SCG Carl Eduard clasp is also wrong and on this bar and when made I used a copy of the military St. Henry's. I later replaced it with an original once I found one. I later destroyed the bar and returned all the medals to their own original ribbons and cases. It was however a fun project.

[webr55]

Daniel,
again: Absolutely magnificent reconstruction! One question: What I don't understand is where has his Lippe Cross gone? Or was he awarded only Schaumburg-Lippe?

Regards
Chris

[Daniel Cole]

THe records only show the LIppe Detmold War honor Cross for A Heroic Act, and the Schaumberg LIppe Faithful Service Cross. No LIppe EK 2 equivelant is ever mentioned. I had thought the War honor cross was like the first class EK 1, apparently its a higher decoration.

[webr55]

Ahhh, now I understand. David Danner says on his site that the War Honor Cross did not require the War Merit Cross. The two seem to have been independent.
So that must be the cross below his EKs in the first pic from Gatow.

[Øyvind]

What about his grouping at San Diego space senter?
Also a setup made after his death?

best
Øyvind

[W McSwiggan]

Dan,

May I ask the reference for the statement that MvR held the Bavarian Military Merit Order 4<SUP>th</SUP> Class with Crown and Swords. O’Connor cites a Dr. Fuchs whose research refutes this statement. O’Connor’s comments can be read in full in the errata section of Volume 6 (page 374). Here he retracts his earlier statements and attributes a mere MVO4X to the Baron.

Regards,
wem

[W McSwiggan]

PS for Bar Experts

I do have another question - that is - the order in which the various medals are arranged. I've seen a number of photos of the original orden cushion display to say that Dan did a splendid job of recreating the bar displayed. What I find perplexing is the relative positions of the SEHO, BMVO & the Wurttemberg MVO. Considering the rank of the state of Wurttemberg & the stature of its MVO, I do not understand the arrangement. Did the Prussians simply allow personal preference for non-Prussian awards or was chronology the issue? I certainly do not see any relationship other than the obvious placement of Prussian & foreign book ends.

[Bob Rodgers]

Great looking Medal bars guys


Thanks

[Brian S]

Whether awarded all these awards or not, he would NOT have had a single bar with all of them affixed IMHO. It's too garrish. Although nice to have, I'm sure he would have worn only the top medals. Remember, with the PlM the others are highly irrelevant. But I could be wrong. He was only 25 so maybe he had them all mounted.

Consider this one. Just a discrete assortment of his own awards on his dress uniform.

Looks like the PlM to me in the photo. Dates this after 12.01.1917. Killed April 20, 1918 only four months after this photo's earliest possible date.

IMHO, he never wore all these decorations. They were treasured no doubt by him, but not worn.

[W McSwiggan]

Per O’Connor (again) – page 373 of volume 6 shows the Baron, on convalescent leave, at home with his brother. He is shown wearing a massive rack – not a clear picture but at least nine to my eye… Frankly, the ol’ boy looked a bit strange with the rack running from collar bone to collar bone! The most extensive picture I’ve seen is shown on page 59 of the same book – Freattenkapitan Nerger is shown wearing a rack of 16 orders, decorations and medals. Heaven help him if he ever fell off the bar stool wearing that! Could be fatal!