Die Erinnerungsmedaille der Eisernen Division

[rbminis]

One of my last purchases of 2023.

"Instituted in March 1920 by the Association of former members of the Iron Division (Das Vereins ehemaliger Angehöriger der Eisernen Division), the initiative for the institution of this award came from the commander of the West Russian Volunteer Army (russische Westarmee) Count Major-General Pavel Bermondt-Avalov.

The Iron Division was raised on January 18, 1919 in Wainoden by Major Josef Bischoff from remnants of the Imperial German 8th Army, the Freikorps Iron Brigade (Eiserne Brigade) various other volunteers. On October 06, 1919 it was absorbed by the West Russian Volunteer Army and disbanded on December 31, 1919. The Association of former members of the Iron Division was formed on March 1, 1920.

Iron Division former military personnel, non-combatants who assisted that unit in fighting Bolsheviks and those who supported post-war activities of the Association were eligible for this commemorative medal. Award documents were issued to those persons, and the medal itself had to be bought by veterans upon presentation of these certificates. Cost of medal ranged from RM6,50 to 8,00.

The round medal was 33 mm in diameter and was made of various alloys with silver finishing. Some medals are marked “A” on the jump-rink denoting the medal was made of alpaca, a type of imitation silver alloy. The Obverse had an image of a “death’s head”, i.e. scull and cross bones and bore a semi-circular legend “And yet” (“Und doch”) at the bottom as well as five small diamonds at its top. The Reverse had an image of large curved triangular Teutonic shield with vertical cross within and two groups of numerals, “19” at the left and “19” at the right, thus forming a date “1919” – the year the Iron Division existed.
The Official black 25 mm wide ribbon had two thin 1 mm wide vertical white stripes close to the edges. Unofficial ribbons had two wide 4 mm stripes.

The medal was available for private purchase in 1920-middle of 1930s until it was prohibited for wear.

Slightly more than 3,000 medals were issued."

Copied from a thread on WAF.
Ralph.

[Chopperman]

Nice medal Ralph. A great way to end the year.
I've been tempted by these but originals are hard to find.

[rbminis]

Thanks Greg!
I've been following these on WAF for a while now and found this one came up for sale.
I trusted the seller, but I contacted Brian L about it anyways. He has sent me a piece of original ribbon for it.
Been dipping my fingers into the Freikorps field a bit lately.
Ralph.

[VtwinVince]

That's a nice one, and as Greg says, you have to massively paranoid about these as they've been heavily faked.

[rbminis]

I recently received a piece of original, un-issued ribbon for this Iron Division medal.
I was told, "The ribbon comes from a stock of Imperial and Weimar ribbons that originally came from an old tailors shop in Berlin. A collector friend who acquired the stock years ago gave me a large selection from it as a gift."
Ralph.

[Kohima]

Blimey... that’s quite a scary gong.