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** *Antonio Wednesday’s Wonders ***
Josef Rottenaicher, a Bavarian hero.
This is an old and broken Memorial Card o Sterbebild, but it is full of information and acts of VALOUR (in capital letters). In that picture, we can see a soldier, Josef (Georg) Rottenaicher, who is wearing 2 bands in his Waffenrock; One for the Iron Cross and the other one for the highest decoration in the Bavarian Army for NCO and Soldiers: The Military Merit Medal or Bravery Medal (BayerischeTapferkeitsmedaille).
His name can be found in the Bayerns goldenes Ehrenbuch, which is the book, where the names and acts of Valour of the soldiers, who earned the main Bavarian Decorations, are listed. His name is in the page 435 along with what he did, in order to receive that medal. But, we will come back to that later.
Josef was born in 1886 in a small place called Vorbuch, east of Bavaria just besides the frontier with Austria. He started his military service in 1908, until 1910 in the Royal Bavarian 7th Field Artillery Regiment in Munich. After that date, he came back to Vorbuch.
The war started and Josef was mobilized on the 4th of August, joining the Reserve of the Royal Bavarian 2ndInfantry Regiment (Kronprinz) as soldier in the Medical Section (Sanitätstruppen). He stayed there until October 1914, when he was transferred to the Royal Bavarian 16th Reserve Infantry Regiment, which in that moment participated in the first Ypres Battle. The Regiment was part of the 6thGerman Army under the command of Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern.
Joseph remained in the French Flanders for the whole 1915, taking part in some fights in Neuve Chapelle (March) and Arras (May – July). At the end of 1915, there was an Austrian joining THAT same Regiment, but the 3rd Company. Joseph was in the 5th.
Until June 1916, this regiment was still located and fighting in the Flanders and Artois. In July, with the 6thArmy, Joseph participated in the Battle of the Somme. Sometimes it is a good exercise for one self to think quietly about, what happened in that 1st of July 1916 between 07:30 and 14:00. Just close your eyes and think in the dead of so many people in so little time. No words are coming afterwards.
The Bavarian suffered high casualties, like almost everyone else, so his regiment was moved back in July to Flanders, to be back at the Somme in October. On the 16th of October, the Regiment was moved again back to Flanders, until April 1917, when he will be found, participating in the Battle of Arras and there, came his act… that should be remembered.
We are coming back to the book at the beginning of this article, in the page 435, we can read what he did. I will summarise it here:
“On the 15th of May, during the Battle of Arras, the SanitätsunteroffizierRottenaicher was under strong fire, but worked extremely hard to take care of the wounded, until he saw how 3 Soldiers were buried alive. Without hesitation and with the grenades falling nearby, he managed, alone, to organize the rescue of those 3 soldiers, managing to free them from their sure Death. The next day, Rottenaicher was seriously wounded.“
Indeed Josef was sent to a war hospital on the 17th of May, due to serious wounds in his right shoulder, leaving it on the 12th of June to be sent back home. He will remain in a hospital in Ingolstadt between the 14th of June 1917 and 18thof July 1917. I haven’t been able to find more actions in his military records after 1917, so it could have been, well, the end of World War I for him.
In September 1917 he was awarded with the Silver Military Merit Medal (Silberne Militär-Verdienstmedaille or Tapferkeitsmedaille), the highest decoration for NCO and Soldiers in Bavaria. Just for your information, there was also a version in gold. It was a very prestigious medal with a monthly economic retribution for the holder. At the end of the day, it is no less than a Hero deserved.
The Medal shown in this article was not his, but it is just for identification.