Name of Munich War Academy Commandant?

[DonC]

Hello, all - my major MAX show purchase was an Infantry Oberst's Waffenrock with Munich Kriegschule shoulderboard devices. Are there any publications that list the commandants? The intriguing thing about this tunic is that it has the sewn-in loops under the collar for a neck order, hence my curiosity. It could very well be a WWI neck order, but I thought this one would bear out some research. As always, any help is appreciated!

Don

[Andy Baus]

From my sources, I can provide the names of the first two commanders of the Kriegsschule in Munich:

01.10.34-15.09.38 Conrad von Cochenhausen
15.09.38-26.08.39 Erich Straube

Both of these gentlemen went on to become Generals, v. Conhenhausen a Gen.Lt. and Straube a Gen.d.Inf. (and recipient of the Ritterkreuz m. Eichenlaub)

The 1932 Recihswehr Rangliste lists both of these officers' awards:
v. Cochenhausen had the EKI, the Sachsen Albrechts Orden (Ritterkreuz 1. Kl.) with swords, the Baden Orden vom Zährunger Löwen (Ritterkreuz 2. Kl. with swords and Oak LEaves and also the Hamburh Hansa Kreuz.
Straube had the EKI and the Sachsen-Meiningen Ehrekreuz für Verdienst im Kriege.

Now, the odd thing is that none of these orders were neck orders (as far as I know). However, on page 446 of volume 2 of Biblio Verlag's series "Die Generale des Heeres 1921-1945", there is a picture of v. Cochenhausen (pre-1933) and he is wearing a neck decoration! While I am certainly no expert when it comes to orders, it looks very much like the Johanniter Orden, which was not listed in the Reichswehr Ranglisten. The 1914 Prussian Rangliste does not show Leutnant v. Cochenhausen having any decorations, so we must assume he received it during the war or in the inter-war years.

Based on this limited information, it is quite possible that your tunic belonged to von Cochenhausen. While this is not conclusive proof by any means, I think a case can be made for von Cochenhausen as the owner.

I would be interested in seeing a photo of Straube just to confirm whether he too wore a neck decoration (before the RK, of course!!)

Regards,

Andy

[DonC]

Thanks, Andy -

This is really helpful. I'll see if I can pull these guys up on the web. The tunic looks to have loops for an EKI and Spange, two badges, and five loops for probably a four or five place medal bar, plus the loops under the collar. My only concern would be that the tunic still represents an Oberst - I had assumed with a tunic this nice they would have upgraded it to General when they were promoted, unless it stayed at home in the closet when they went off to war...

Don

[DonC]

Sorry -

Just realized the idiocy of my previous post - kinda hard to upgrade a Waffenrock with white piping to a waffenrock for a General I checked out Straube, but he had not won the RK until 1941, after he was promoted to Generalmajor in 1939.

I suspect my 'rock belonged (maybe) to someone posted there as an Oberst during the war.

Don