Content - Richard Lundström
Layout - Sebastian Bianchi
Major Wilhelm Biehl (1880-after 1927), staff of Reichsheer
Infantry Division 4, dated this photo 1927. Note the
strange miniature Iron Cross 2nd Class which seems to have been
a Saxon favorite, being worn here in army uniform. Note
that as a Saxon, he is wearing his home state's awards before
Prussia's, as well as the Saxon cockade on his cap. RN
A close-up of Major Biehl's ribbon bar reveals how difficult
it can be to identify ribbons from old black and white
photographs. These are: Saxon St. Henry Order-Knight,
Saxon Civil Merit Order with Swords (Knight 1st), Saxon Albert
Order with Swords (Knight 1st), Prussian Iron Cross 2nd Class
(note miniature), Reuss Honor Cross 3rd Class with Crown (and
Swords-which he is not wearing here), Saxon XXV Years Service
Cross, Reuss Honor Cross (3rd Class), and Saxe-Ernestine House
Order (Knight 2nd). It is only possible to identify all of
these, and by grade, from army Rank Lists showing Biehl's
awards. RN
Korvettenkapitän (Ing) Otto Thedsen (1886-1949)
and Korvettenkapitän (V) August Böning (1891-1964) look rather
cranky from salt and sun in this circa 1937-38 photo, when they
were Chief Engineer and Chief Administrative Officer,
respectively, of Commander of U-Boats. Thedsen is wearing
his full awards on his ribbon bar: WW1 Iron Cross 2nd Class,
Hamburg Hanseatic Cross, Honor Cross for Combatants, 1919 Silesian
Eagle 2nd Class, and the Wehrmacht 25 and 12 Years Service awards
that replaced his old Imperial XV Years Service Cross in October
1936. Böning, on the other hand, always a fashionable
dresser, has gone for the "understated" navy look,
wearing nothing but his WW1 Iron Cross 1st Class, even though his
ribbon bar would have revealed him to be the most highly decorated
Imperial navy paymaster of WW1. There was what seems
sometimes almost an aversion in the navy to wearing ribbon bars.
This commercial postcard of the ill-fated War Minister,
Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg (1878-1946) was the only
photo I could find for another form of understatement-the half width
12.5 mm size ribbon bars. Note that the 16 awards on von
Blomberg's bar here take up the space of an eight ribbon bar.
Wear of more than one row of ribbon bars was highly unusual before
WW2.
This well decorated Luftwaffe Major is actually wearing
his WW1 Turkish awards correctly, even though his Austrian one is wrong!
The Turkish War Medal star, worn correctly here on the lower right
breast, was peculiar in having a ribbon bar or buttonhole ribbon that
was only supposed to be worn when the star itself was not. In
practice, both were usually worn simultaneously. This
unfortunately nameless Major is NOT wearing the ribbon bar TWM ribbon,
so he is following regulations-at least partially. The ribbon bar
is: WW1 Iron Cross 2nd Class, Hindenburg Cross for Combatants,
Austro-Hungarian Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with War Decoration
(which belongs either in front of the HCX or after the Sudeten Medal on
this bar), two Luftwaffe Long Service awards (so 18 & 4 or 12 &
4), 1938 Sudeten Medal, Turkish WW1 Imtiaz Medal in Silver with Sabers
Bar, and Turkish WW1 Liakat Medal in Silver with sabers Bar. CH