Time to talk about another of my Colonial „Ordensspange“. This one has the following decorations:
– Eisernes Kreuz II Klasse (Preußen).
– Militär-Verdienst Kreuz 2. Klasse mit Schwertern (Bayern) – Maker: Weiss & Co.
– Südwest-Afrika Denkmünze (Kaiserreich).
– Landwehr-Dienstauszeichnung 2.Klasse 1913.
Even when there are just 4 medals in this Bar, we can say a few things about the soldier. Even the medals, that he didn’t receive, tell us about him too.
Following a chronological order, counting from the left side, the third medal of this “Ordenschnalle” reveals, that this person was in the Südwest-Afrika colony during the Herero und Nama uprising. To receive this medal, he should have served there (with weapons) between January 1904 and the 31st of March 1907. Without any doubt, this person was there after 1905. This person was Bavarian, and in 1905, all of the members of the army received the Bavarian Jubilee Medal. As this medal is not present here, we have to deduct that the person joined the army at the end of 1905 or in 1906, moved to the “Schutztruppen” after.
The fourth medal tell us, that this person was in the reserved, but came back active to the army, at least for 3 months. The other possibility is that he took part in a military campaign, which is his case in 1914.
The first two crosses are clearly WW1 decorations. The Bavarian Militär-Verdienst Kreuz 2. Klasse was given, normally to „Vizefeldwebel, Feldwebel, Fähnriche“, NCO’s. But we will not concentrate this time in the First War World in Europe, but on the third medal.
From 1884 on, this area in Africa (today, Namibia) was under control and protection of the German Empire. In 1889 there was already a small group of volunteers serving in the German South West Africa, which in 1895 became the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika.
Südwest-Afrika attracted German Companies, like the “Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Süd-West Afrika”, with the idea to exploit its natural resources. But not only that was the idea, it was also intended to bring many Germans to live as farmers in the vast areas of the country, where cattle could be available. In the very beginning, it was expected, that those companies could operate without a cost for the empire. The reality was very different, because the resources were not easy to obtain and the distances were too big (so also it was a big investment in infrastructures was needed), so at the end, the German Government had to give loans and subsides, to those companies and the colony, in order to keep them working.
As the number of Germans (and other nationalities) grew in numbers, also did the number of conflicts with the tribes, who saw the settlers taking the best lands, their cattle and their rights. Those conflict escalated to Berlin, where politicians made huge pressure to use the force against the tribes.
And all exploded in 1904, when the Herero revolted and started killing tens of German Farmers. As a result, an expeditionary force was sent to Südwest-Afrika under the command of Lothar von Trotha, wo managed the situation in ruthless and brutal way. The German Army defeated the tribe in Waterberg, pushed them to the desert, where they died in tens of thousands. The Germans had clear orders; any Herero had to be shot, regardless of man, children or women.
But not only the Herero fought, also in the South, the Nama fought the Germans hard, in a terrain, that they knew like the palm of their hands. Fighting the Nama was a really famous officer: Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, who learnt so much about the Nama way of fighting’s, as it could be seen a few years later in the German East Africa.
In 1905, after many complains about the atrocities of von Trotha, it was decided to get him out of the colony. A powerful reason, back then, was that the Herero were still needed for working purposes.
At the end, from 80.000 Herero in 1904 only 20.000 were left “alive” in 1907, when the “peace” came to the colony.
The colony was lost to the South African and British troops in July 1915.
Last week it was officially recognized by the German Authorities the Genocide made in the German South West Africa.
Sources:
German Colonial Empire (Woodruff Smith)
African Kaiser – General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and the Great War in Africa, 1914-1918 (Robert Gaudi).