Orden im deutschen Kaiserreich

[Olham 164]

WIKIPEDIA shows this page only with that detail in German - the English site is much shorter.

That's why I ive you the German link here. The picture seems to be showing all orders; those

from Prussia as well as Anhalt, Württemberg, Sachsen, Bayern, Mecklenburg, Braunschweig,

Baden, Hessen and Lippe.

 

http://de.wikipedia....hes_Kaiserreich

 

Something to wallow in for all the enthusiasts of medals.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2011 by Olham

[Olham 164]

PS: ...and here is another table with Orders from various nations of that time.

 

 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Very neat, Olham.

 

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[Olham 164]

Any army does award medals to boost morale, I suppose?

I only know about the SANKE cards. The aces got photographed by professionals,

and cards were printed after those pics, showing the person with name and rank.

Maybe possible that such men as Boelcke or von Richthofen had "publicity events" -

I guess JFM would know.

[NS13Jarhead 6]

I could imagine that Immelmann, Boelcke, Richthofen, Voss, and the rest would have grown weary of being trotted out for publicity events. Again, going back to my Marine Corps history, one of the first enlisted recipients of the Medal of Honor during WW II, John Basilone, was pulled out of the lines and sent around the homefront to sell war bonds. He eventually convinced HQ to let him go back to the fight and was killed on Iwo Jima.

 

Awards seem to boost morale for most servicemen, as long is the recipient feels that it was earned. Usually, it's an honor to receive them. However, many of the higher level valor awards carry a heavy burden. I had a Marine who worked for me who was the recipient of the Navy Cross, which is the Marine Corps' second highest award for bravery (only behind the Medal of Honor). During the second battle for Fallujah, his patrol was ambushed and he kept going into the ambush building pulling out Marine casualties and killing insurgents. He didn't like the way he thought that people treated him differently - he said he was just doing what needed to be done at the time. Also, he told me once that "people look at that blue and white ribbon and see a hero, I look at it and I see three dead Marines that wasn't able to save."

 

There are some other awards, however, that are worse than useless. For example, the US military awards a medal called the "outstanding volunteer service medal" for performing sustained community service in your off duty hours. It has nothing to do with your military performance, and normally you have to recommend yourself for it. The whole concept of that one just rubs me the wrong way.

 

 

[von Baur 54]

Most people who receive awards for 'heroism' feel as if they weren't doing anything anyone else wouldn't have in the same situation. Those honored for deeds of valor will, to a man, point to their comrades who didn't make it back and say, "They were the heroes because their sacrifice was greater."

 

The propaganda machinery is an important tool in war and public decoration ceremonies are key in it. But that's more for the people on the homefront, to give hope to those with loved ones still serving. Newspapers have published casualty lists since at least the American Civil War (and probably before), and readig them day after day, praying not to see a name you know, saps patriotic fervor. To see stories of how one man in the right place turned the tide restores hope. With pilots it's usually sustained success at great risk (remember, even without being shot at airplanes were considered deathtraps in WWI) that garners awards, although medals are still conferred for specific individual actions, if significantly 'above and beyond'.

[Olham 164]

Also, he told me once that "people look at that blue and white ribbon and see a hero, I look at it and I see three dead Marines that wasn't able to save."

Yep - it must be a giant difference between what the people back home see, and think, and believe to know, to what the soldier knows he saw and felt.