• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

15. Carl-Siegfried Ritter yon Georg was born in 1886 in Obern- dorf and in World War I commanded U-boats U-57 and U-101. For this service he not only wen the Pour le Merite on 24 April 1918 as a Kapit~nleutnant, but also received the Bavarian Military Max Josef Order as a Korvettenkapit~n on 23 June 1918, which latter award entitled him to add the "R±tter yon" to his name. In World War II he was a Fregattenkapit~n z. V. and served as Leader of the Armament Questions Group of the Ship Building Section of the Naval High Command until April 1943, then as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Special Naval Staff in Paris, and finally, from October 1943 to the end of the war, as Chief of the Special Naval Staff with the Italian Staff ef the Reichsminister of Armament and War Pro- duction. He was a prisoner of war until released in December 1947. GENERALADMIRAL WILHELM MARSCHALL 13 16. Wilhelm Marschall was the last of the World War I naval Pour le Merite winners and also the one who would rise the highest in the Kriegsmarine of World War II. He was born in Augsburg in 1886, joined the Navy in 1906, and was awarded the Pour le Merite on 4 July 1918 as a Kapit~nleutnant commanding UB-105. Between the wars he commanded Torpedo Squadro~iI and by 1936 was a Konter- admiral commanding units of the Germa~ Fleet during the Spanish Civil War. By the start of World War II, Marschall was a Vize- admiral and Commander of the Pocket Battleships. In late 1939 he was appointed full Admiral and became Commander-in-Chief of the High Seas Fleet, which he successfully led through the inva- sion of Norway and the occupation of the Western Countries. He resigned this position in July 1940 in a disagreement with the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Grossadmiral Raeder, but was shortly after appointed Inspector of Naval Training. In August 1942 he became Commanding Admiral-France and the following month Commander-in-Chief Naval Group Command-West, during which assign- ment he was promoted Generaladmiral. In mid-1943, after D6nitz became CIC Navy, Marschall, along with most of the other senior Admirals, was replaced and he remained essentially unemployed until June 1944, when he was appointed Special Representative of the F~hrer for maintaining water transport on the Danube free of aerial-laid mines. In April 1945, he once again became CIC Naval Group Command-West, and in that position ended the war and his naval service. He was retained as a prisoner of war until final- ly released in June 1947 and died at the age of 89 in 1976. So ends the story of these 16 naval heroes of World War I, who, even though they had already ~arned the highest honor Imperial Germany could bestow in one W~r, continued faithfully to serve their country and their Navy again in the Second World War. I Two others of this 54, naval flyers Friedrich Christiansen and Theo Osterkamp, would become Generals in ~he Luftwaffe of World War II. REFERENCES: D6nitz, Memoirs : i0 Years and 20 Days, Cleveland, 1959. Edkins, The Prussian Order Pour le Merite, Falls Church, 1981. Herzog, Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine im Kampf 1939-1945, Dorheim, 1969. Klietmann, Pour le Merite und Tapferskeitmedaille, Berlin, 1966. Lohmann & Hildebrand, Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine 1939-1945, 3 volumes, Bad Nauheim, 19S6ff. Raeder, My Life, Annapolis, 1960 14 FOLLOW-UP TO AN UNOFFICIAL AMERICAN NAVAL MEDAL OF WORLD WAR I HOWARD AVERBACH The December 1982 issue of The Medal Collector contained an inter- esting and informative artic~ by-~ck Jakubal entitled "An Unofficial American Naval Medal of World War I." The following information is submitted as a follow-up to that article in the hope that it may shed some additional light on the subject. I have had a similar medal in my collection for some time, and like Mr. Jakubal I have been unable to find spe- cific information on the manufacture and award of the medal. The medal in my collection (illustrated below) differs from that of Mr. Jakubal in the following particulars. It has a two ring suspension, instead of three. The medal is of silver instead of bronze/copper. It has a dark blue ribbon, 4 cm. wide. The silver brooch is similar to the early "split brooch" of U.S. Navy medals. Probably the most significant difference is the manufacture in silver instead of in bronze/copper. I would assume (without certainty) that the silver medals may have been issued to officers. Any additional information on the Mine Squadron One - Northern Barrage Medal would be appreciated. 18 .

Load more

  3

Copy Link