That's quite interesting. Of course the East African campaign of Lettow-Vorbeck was a real exercise in how to run a campaign with limited resources. I think there was a captured Askari with the EK2 who also won the MM after being conscripted into Allied forces.
To finish the topic of former German South West Africa. A little miscellany...
A postcard from the time and two more drawings by Becker, which could illustrate the Waterberg fighting
The cover of a large-format volume with images of "war and peace" from the former German colony
A postcard from the time of remembrance of those who fell in distant lands
I was very surprised to discover that there were some very important rivers in the colony, although their flow was very irregular, depending on the season. I knew it from the following two postcards from the time that I accompany with current images.
Omaruru River / Fluss
Fisch River / Fluss
Fisch Canyon. The second river canyon in the world, only behind the Grand Canyon (US)
Some images of the protagonists of the story.....
A postcard of Windhoek and Governor von Leutwein
Hauptmann von Erckert in his column of camel troops
Morenga and his lieutenants
Lothar von Trotha with his medals
Portrait of a von Arnim (with the rank of lieutenant) fallen in Waterberg
Portrait of another officer
Portrait of a (Bavarian?) veteran with the campaign medal currently for sale on ebay
When I had finished uploading all this to the thread, I received this interesting little book in the mail.
It arrived from the Namibia Scientific Society in Windhoek (Namibia).
It is 101 pages long and written in English. Its price is about 9 euros or about 9 US dollars. Its author Gordon McGregor. Its title exactly summarizes its content.
It is absolutely recommended for those interested in this decoration and its claps, as well as in the Kalahari campaigns of 1907 and 1908
It was very interesting to discover the negotiation between the imperial governments of Germany and the United Kingdom, to obtain authorization to use a foreign decoration for the men of the "S" Squadron: 78 of the Cape Mounted Police and 27 of the Cape Mounted Riflemen (they received the clasp Kalahari 1907, respectively 67 and 25 of them)
The permission was officially granted by King Edward VII of Great Britain After much insistence by his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II
The British troops of the Cape Colony only suffered one fatal casualty in the fight against Morenga. Corporal Henwood
The Government of German South West Africa raised 20,000 marks (about £1,000 at the time) and through the government of the Cape Colony the money was sent to the family of Corporal Henwood who lived in not very good conditions in Melbourne, Australia. Along with the money, traveled to Australia one of the medals with its 1907 Kalahari clap.
SCHWARZBURG (RUDOLSTADT – SONDERHAUSEN)
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen were two tiny principalities that were unified in 1909 under Prince Gunter Victor of Rudolstadt, who inherited the principality of Sonderhausen, renaming himself Prince of Schwarzburg (it was the last personal union of the German Empire).
Fürstentum Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt had a population of 97,000 inhabitants that extended over a discontinuous territory of 940 km2 (divided between three larger portions and six minuscule exclaves). Its capital was Rudolstadt, with a population of 26,000 today.
Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen had a population of 85,000 inhabitants that extended over a discontinuous territory of 862 km2 (divided between three larger portions and two minuscule exclaves). Its capital was Sonderhausen, which currently has a population of 22,000.
Sonderhausen
Thus, Schwarzburg was a German principality (Fürstentum Schwarzburg) located in central Germany.
Its form of government was that of a constitutional monarchy. The executive power is held by the Prince. During World War I, the Prince was Günther Victor (1890/1909 – 14 November 1918), who would turn out to be the last Prince of Schwarzburg. He abdicated with the German Revolution of 1919.
Günther Victor Prinz von Schwarzburg
After the defeat of 1918 and the Revolution of 1919, the Principality was abolished and became the Free State of Schwarzburg (Freistaat Schwarzburg) during the period of the Weimar Republic. After the Second World War, the territory came under Soviet occupation and in 1947, when the GDR was formed, it became part of the Land of Thuringia. After the reunification of 1990, the Land of Thuringia is one of the sixteen German federal states, with its capital in Erfurt.
To determine what this state contributed to the Empire, we must know
ITS POLITICAL WEIGHT.
The German imperial parliament was structured in the Constitution of 1871, in the form of a bicameral system, composed of the Reichstag of 397 deputies, divided among the states of the Empire in proportion to their population; and the Bundesrat, with 61 territorial representatives
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen each contributed 1 deputy to the Reichstag and 1 territorial representative to the Bundesrat.
ITS MILITARY CONTRIBUTION.
At the beginning of World War I, the Imperial German Army, which was structured on the basis of a regimental unit based on territory, consisted of 218 infantry, 110 cavalry, 101 field artillery and 25 heavy artillery regiments.
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, like the rest of the German principalities, were of such small importance that they did not form an independent regiment, so they contributed battalions that were integrated into existing Prussian regiments.
DECORATION.
The Medaille für Verdienst im Kriege, 1914
The medal "Für Verdienst im Kriege, 1914" was instituted by Prince Günther on 21 August 1914, based on the medals created by Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt on 21 October 1870 and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen on 14 April 1871 for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
Initially, it was awarded to servicemen of the rank of Feldwebel (sergeant) or lower for merit against the enemy ('für Verdienste vor dem Feinde für Militärpersonen vom Feldwebel abwärts'). Subsequently, it was granted to such ranks that in the territory adjacent to the war zone, they accredited sufficient merit.
It is a circular silver medal of 39.4 mm in diameter, with a welded ring for the suspension of the ribbon; on its obverse, the inscription "VERDIENST IM KRIEGE" inside a tied laurel wreath; on its reverse the intertwined and reflected figure of Prince Günther "G" crowned and the date 1914.
Its ribbon is that of the Cross of Honour of the Principality of Schwarzburg, i.e. gold with three equal blue stripes (two on the edge and one in the middle) It was very often worn with the distinctive reverse facing outwards. The total population of both principalities was less than 200,000, so the medal is not frequent.
EK2 1914 - Medaille Für Verdienst Im Kriege 1914
EK2 1914 - Medaille Für Verdienst im Kriege 1914 - Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer 1914-1918
Fathers & Sons
There are many family surnames that appear again and again in the military history of Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries.
I have chosen a few characters who participated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 whose sons or other descendants played a very prominent role during the Second World War. So, we have a few dozen posts ahead of us with the stories of fathers and sons.
Some served the Emperor against France in the Second Reich and the others during the Third Reich....
This part of the work was very interesting for me, identifying a good number of German generals who were captured after one of the most iconic battles of the Second World War... but let's not advance events, friends and let's continue enjoying our passion for History and its protagonists....
Eduard (Julius Ludwig august) von Lewinski (22 February 1829 – 17 September 1906) was a Prussian general.
Eduard von Lewinski 1829 - 1906 (The biological parent...)
Von Lewinski was born in Münster in the Province of Westphalia. He served in the Second Schleswig War in 1864 as captain of the 1st Garrison Company of the Guards, and received the prestigious Pour le Mérite. In the Austro-Prussian War he was assigned to the 1st Division as a staff officer.
In 1867 Lewinski was promoted to major in the General Staff. He then served in the Franco-Prussian War, first on the staff of the 1st Division and then as quartermaster general of the Army of the South. In 1871 he became chief of staff of the IX Corps. In 1872 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assumed command of the 24th Artillery Regiment.
He and his wife Helene Pauline von Sperling were the biological parents of the future Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (1887-1973), who was adopted at birth by his (childless) relatives General Georg von Manstein and Hedwig von Sperling, Helene's sister. A third von Sperling daughter, Gertrud, was married to Paul von Hindenburg....
General Georg von Manstein 1844 - 1913 (The adoptive parent...)
His adoptive father was the son, in turn, of another famous von Manstein, below photo
(Albert Ehrenreich) Gustav von Manstein 1805-1877
Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski was born on November 24, 1887, in Berlin. He was the tenth and youngest child of later General of Artillery Eduard von Lewinski and his wife Helene, née von Sperling.
A very young von Manstein in uniform standing with other family members. His biological father, sitting in the center of the image
Since the marriage of her aunt Hedwig (née von Sperling), her mother's younger sister, to the elder Georg von Manstein was childless, the newborn was given to her after his baptism as agreed.
von Manstein, a very young cadet...
After adoption he used the name von Manstein. His other aunt, Gertrud, (as we said) was married to the later Field Marshal and Reich President Paul von Hindenburg.
Erich von Manstein (born von Levinski) 1887-1973
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