Guest Hill 60 Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Can anyone suggest a good book/s (or even website) that covers all the decorations, medals and awards that the German Army awarded in the Great War, please? I picked up an Iron Cross 2nd Class and a Black Wound Badge last Sunday and I would like to learn more and get more!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Maclean Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Try www.wehrmacht-awards.com there's an excellent imperial awards forum. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Jim - Cheers for the link, I'm just joining up I should also add that any book recommendations must be ones in English, my German is non-existent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Lowrey Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Lee, One important thing to keep in mind is that Germany was sort of a confederacy. Prussian awards like the Iron Cross were de facto national awards for all German soldiers and not just Prussians. What makes things a bit confusing is if a soldier were from one of the other German states (Bavaria, Saxony etc) they could/would be getting medals from their home state as well as Prussian ("German") awards. These "Landesorden" would on rare occassion also be awarded to soldiers (officers) from beyond their home state too. Best wishes, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Michael - Thank you. Although I have a rough idea of the British and Canadian weapons, awards etc the 'German' side is totally alien to me. I have no idea about the set up of their armies etc, so this is one BIG learning curve for me!! I did see a book at a militaria fair last Sunday that purportes to cover the 'German' Army in WWI (uniform, structure, weapons etc) but one look at the price (£75) scared me away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Maclean Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Lee, I forgot this site http://home.att.net/~david.danner/militaria.html Dave Danner's a moderator on W-A so you'd probably get there anyway. Great site, loads of info. Something for everyone as they say. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Lowrey Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Lee, The aerodrome site also has some good information on German medals and decorations, including awards to German pilots: http://www.theaerodrome.com/medals/germany/index.html Best wishes, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Burns Posted 23 November , 2004 Share Posted 23 November , 2004 Hi Lee, A good reference with sadly too few illustrations is Purves' Medals of the Great War it's a great reference for all Great War Medals, not perfect but very useful. I have a N&M Press reprint of a German book whose title escapes me, it is well illustrated and is useful even to the non-German fluent (that's me!) Take care, Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Greg Nehring Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 hi all, the books I use the most are te following: Deutschland-Katalog 1993/94 Orden & Ehrenzeichen 1800-1945 by Jorge Nimmergut. This is the standard pocket book with prices supposedly from the last years auctions in Germany. The book has tons of b/w photos so at least you should be able to find out what you have. It costs about 25 EUs. There is a companion book called the BanderKatalog - which illustrates the ribbons to the many, many German States medals. I would give a kidney for a copy of this little book as the biggest challenge in collecting Imperial German is finding ribbons to go with your medals and medal bar interpretation. IBoth are in German but it is no problem trying to figure the book out. In English the easiest book to find is: Ribbons and Medals by H. Taprell Dorling (1983). One would assume anyone who collects world medals and orders would have this book. It is vey basic when it comes to Imperial medals but does have a colour chart for ribbons. The best book out right now on the Iron Cross is Steven Previtera's book "The Iron Time - A history of the Iron Cross." This book is SUPERB. Everything is in colour, weighed and measured. It costs about $80.00 US. I got a bit of a deal on ABE books and they paid for shipping. The best on-line resource is Wehrmacht-Awards.com. They are the BEST! I hope this helps, Cheers, Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Greg, Neil & Michael - Thank you for your assistance. I wish I could understand German!! I did try to learn it at school, but as I wasn't in the French O Level class I wasn't allowed to take German Jim - Thanks for the extra info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBettsMCDCM Posted 24 November , 2004 Share Posted 24 November , 2004 Going Back A Bit {As I Do!} "Medal Ribbons & Orders Of Imperial Germany & Austria" By D.G.Neville,Who Used to have one of the Largest Collections of Grand Cross Orders,Orders & Decorations Of The world, In The UK @ his Ancestral Home "De Tillens" in Surrey ,A Stately Home that Was/is open to the Public,The Book was published in 1974,by Balfour Publications:ISBN:0 85944 009 5.Perhaps you can get a Copy from your Library until you find one S/H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glosters Posted 25 November , 2004 Share Posted 25 November , 2004 http://www.qcmilitaria.com/czech.htm some WWI German stuff here Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 25 November , 2004 Share Posted 25 November , 2004 Roger & Steve - Thanks for the extras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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