I will show you in this article another Medal Bar, which involves another country. Before going into that, let’s see, which decorations are included in the “Ordensschnalle”:
– Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (Königreich Preußen)
– Silberne Verdienstmedaille mit Schwertern (Fürstentum Reuss)
– Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges.
– Vapaussodan Muistomitalit – Liberation War Medal (Finland)
The beginning of the year 1918 is almost eclipsed by the Kaiser Offensive in Western Europe, but there are other very important events happening in Europe involving German Troops. We will see in this article the rise of a country, Finland, which also had to suffer the struggles and pain between brothers (and sisters).
At this point, I would like to leave the best, for the end. So what we see in this medal bar, is a soldier or NCO or “Offizier”, who fought in the First World War. At some stage, he made an act of valour and was awarded with the Iron Cross (Second Class). Somehow, he had some contact (or blood) with the principality of Reuss. This means, he was born there but fought for a different German State (and was awarded with a similar award from that State), or he was part of the 96th Infantry Regiment (7. Thüringischen Inf.-Rgt. Nr.96), where there was mainly soldiers from that principality or even his Officer was from that State.
What makes this Medal Bar a bit more interesting is the Finnish medal in it. To explain why this German Soldier got this decoration, it makes sense to talk briefly about the situation in Finland.
It was an autonomous State, which belonged to the Russian Empire during the First World War. They were not obliged to send troops to the front, but many Finns volunteered in the Russian Army, for example, their more famous general, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.
There were also Finnish volunteers also fighting for Germany. Many Students and Soldiers, who came directly from Finland, joined the Prussian Army and enrolled in the “Königlich-Preußischen Jäger-Bataillons Nr. 27”. They would be known in Finland as the ”Jägers” because this reason.
When the Russian Revolution took place, The Finnish Government saw the opportunity to seize the Independence of Finland, something that happened officially on the 6th of December 1917. Even with this declaration, there were still Russian troops in Finnish soil (limits with the Swedish and Norwegian Frontiers).
In January 1918, the Government urged to the Russian Army to leave the country, but the revolutionary events in Russia during this time were also spread in Finland. The workers movement started to mobilize in the main cities, especially in the South. The North was more agrarian and with bigger number of landowners than the south, so in this part of the country, the “red revolution” had no place.
On the 27th of January, the Communists or the Finnish Red Guards, started to take control of the capital city, Helsinki. They soon received the help of the Soviet Russia in form of weapons and soldiers. But their ability to train and organize the troops and tactics were very deficient.
On the other side, the White Finnish, the anti-communist front, had troops from the Territorial Army, as well the help of Swedish volunteers. They main person in this front was General Mannerheim. Germany also answered the call for help from Finland, and send in February 1918 the Jägers of the Jäger-Bataillons Nr. 27, which were in Latvia since 1916. They wanted to go back home and fight against the communist.
Germany sent also the Baltic See Division with around 10.000 men, and the person, who was awarded with that Finnish medal, was with them.
The White Finnish victories and advances came already in March, with the Battle of Tampere. The German intervention was going to be very important in the Battles of Helsinki and Lahti, both in April 1918. The last important fight was fought at the end of April, what was known as the Battle of Vyborg.
On the 15th of May, the war ended with Victory of the White Finnish.
It was a civil war, and many horrible things happened during and after it. It is not the purpose of this article to speak about politics or retaliations, only to briefly explain why there is a Finnish medal in my German Medal Bar. At the end of the day, it comes to my head the very last sentence said in the Guns n’Roses song “Civil War”: “Whaz so civil ’bout war anyway”.
I would like to dedicate this article to the brave Finnish People.
Sources:
Histories of the Two Hundred and Fifty One Divisions of the German Army.
Traditions of the Imperial German Infantry Regiments (Chris Dale).