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An unknown Kriegsmarine officer wearing the Eiserner Halbmond
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An unknown Kriegsmarine officer wearing the Eiserner Halbmond
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An unknown decorated Kaiserliche Marine sailor wearing the Eiserner Halbmond
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An unknown Austrian Oberleutnant wearing the Eiserner Halbmond for his service in the Holy Land
Karl Petzel
A German, believed to have the name Karl Petzel, serving as an Ottoman infantry officer wears the Eiserner Halbmond. Possibly with the 4th Army in the Holy Land, or the 3rd Army in the Caucasus.
Muhammad Lutfi Bey al-Rifa’i
A 1911/12 photo of Muhammad, on the left, and a comrade around the time of the Italo-Turkish War
A portrait during his time fighting in the Syrian Army
A 1930’s photo of Muhammad in Antayka, Turkey
Born 1881 in Latakia
Died 1956 in Alexandria
Muhammad Lutfi Bey al-Rifa’i (later Mehmet Lutfi Yücel) began his military career in 1889 when he attended the military secondary academy Askeri Rüsdiye Mektebi in Beirut. In 1897 he attended Damascus Military High School (Sam Askeri Idadisi) graduating in 1900. In 1901 he was sent to continue his education at the Royal Military Academy (Harbiye Mektebi) in Istanbul. After graduating in 1906, he received his first orders to a division in trhe Ottoman Third Army in northern Greece. In the following years he was stationed across many cities in Macedonia. In 1912, Muhammad was stationed in Albania and tasked with defending Vlorë from Italian forces during the Italo-Turkish War. Later in the year they were sent to protect the Prishtina railway from Albanian rebels during the Albanian revolt of 1912. During the Balkan Wars, he was appointed chief of staff over the troops defending Novi-Bazar on the Serbian Front. As the Serbians advanced, he led a retreat southeast into Greece. At Ioannina he was taken prisoner by the Greeks and 70% of the defending troops became casualties. He was released by the Greeks at the end of 1913. He became chief of staff of the Ottoman Sixth Army in Aleppo upon release.
At the outbreak of the Great War, his role changed to chief of staff of the Ottoman 19th Division. In May 1915 he was leading a force of Anatolian troops at Gallipoli. They were responsible in part for the successful defense of Anafartar and solely for the offensive at Conk Bayırı. After Gallipoli, him and his soldiers were sent Galicia, Hungary to support German and Hungarian troops against the Russians. From here they were sent to Syria - to Tal al-Shari’a to fight the British. Like other Ottoman-Arab officers, Muhammad did not accompany the rest of the Ottoman forces during the retreat to Anatolia but instead remained in Syria until his discharge in October 1921. In July 1920, it was claimed that he had fought in the Arab Kingdom of Syria forces against the French Army of Levant during the Battle of Maysalun. He remained in the Syrian forces until resigning in 1923.
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An unknown German officer with the Eiserner Halbmond ans Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse sits at a table during Christmas celebrations on Muhu islalnd in Estonia, 1917.
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An unknown Luftwaffe Major who also flew with the Ottomans during the Great War. He wears the Eiserner Halbmond and the Ottoman pilot badge.
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An unknown Kaiserliche Marine seaplane pilot wearing the Eiserner Halbmond
Ismail Doganer
Ismail Doganer was a veteran of the Great War; An Ottoman artillery sergeant major awarded the Eiserner Halbmond.
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An unknown and decorated Kaiserliche Marine Oberleutnant zur See wearing the Eiserner Halbmond
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