Don Tore, gute Besserung and I hope you come back soon.
I am showing today another Medal bar, that was in my collection. The combination is not easy to find, even when the medals are quite common to be seen, This is the great thing of collecting medal bars, that common decorations can make difficult combinations.
One by one, left to right:
– Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (Königreich Preußen).
– Bayern Militärverdienstkreuz 3. Klasse mit Schwertern (Königreich Bayern) – Maker: Jacob Leser de Straubing.
– Tapferkeitsmedaille 1915 (Herzogturm Sachsen-Altenburg).
– Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges.
– Dienstauszeichnung 3. Klasse (Königreich Bayern) – 9 Years Service.
The Altenburg medal makes this „Ordensspange“ a bit different. It was awarded to soldiers and NCO´s from the 153 Infantry Regiment (8th Thuringian). To receive this medal, a person should have received previously the Iron Cross. However, having a look at the last of his decorations, we see a person, who served in the Bavarian army. So, what is going on here?
It was normal in other states, to give also the medals from that particular one, to members of the army of other states, if, for example, the person was born there. So we could have here the case of a person, who was born in Altenburg, but at the start of the war, he was living in Bavaria and joined the Bavarian Army, or even was serving there before the conflict exploded.
Even knowing, surely, that he wasn’t in the 8. Thüringischen Infanterie-Regiments Nr. 153, let`s talk a bit about it, specially about the WW1 Period. There is a bit of history about the Regiment’s background in the book of our colleague, Chris Dale: “Traditions of the Imperial German Infantry Regiments”.
The Regiment’s Battalions were Stationed in Altenburg (I and II) and Merseburg (III), as well as their Flags. Let’s remember, that there were not Regiment but Battalion Flags.
This Unit was part of the 16th Brigade, 8th Division, 1st Army, so it saw action exclusively in the Western Front during the First World War. We can say, that this Division already fought the British Expeditionary Force at the beginning of the war, took part in the battle of the Aisne and was very active in Flandern during the whole conflict.
Also, we cannot forget, that the also fought during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 (after the 14th of July), suffering very heavy loses. They also saw action in Cambrai and in Artois.
In the book: “Histories of the Two Hundred and Fifty One Divisions of the German Army.”, this division is considered a first class one. Still, I believe the owner of this Medal Bar served in a Bavarian Division, and once again, many or most of Divisions from the Kingdom of Bavaria, were tough ones.