Richthofen's Medals

[Major Major]

Manfred von Richthofen was a very popular grantee of awards among the petty princes of the Reich; the cover picture of his mother's diary, Mother of Eagles, shows the cozy family picture, with the brothers and their father in uniform, and Manfred is wall to wall medals.
Where can I find a listing of what medals and orders he was awarded? Strangely, in spite of having a number of books by Kilduff and others, none of them actually seems to list them, and while I have found a source on the Net that shows the medal ribbon, it doesn't describe what they stand for.
Please help.

Joseph T Major

[USAF1986]

Hi! Here are Manfred and Lothar's decorations from Neal W. O'Connor excellent eight volume series Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany in World War I and the Men Who Earned Them.

Regards,
Shawn

Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richtfofen

Decorations & Awards:
• Prussian Pour le Mérite Order: 12 January 1917 (in recognition of his 16th aerial victory).
• Prussian Red Eagle Order, 3rd Class with Crown and Swords: 6 April 1918 (in recognition of his 70th aerial victory).
• Prussian Royal Hohenzollern House Order, Knight’s Cross with Swords: 11 November 1916.
• Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914)
• Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914): September 1914.
• Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords: 29 April 1917.*
• Saxon Military St. Henry Order, Knight’s Cross: 16 April 1917.
• Württemberg Military Merit Order, Knight’s Cross: 13 April 1917.
• Saxe-Ernestine Ducal House Order, Knight 1st Class with Swords (issued by the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha): 9 May 1917.
• Hesse General Honor Decoration, “for Bravery”
• Lippe War Honor Cross for Heroic Deeds: 13 October 1917.
• Schaumburg-Lippe Cross for Faithful Service: 10 October 1917.
• Brunswick War Merit Cross, 2nd Class: 24 September 1917.
• Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Duke Carl Eduard Medal, 2nd Class with Swords and Date: 30 December 1916 (for action on 9 November 1916). (NOTE: In 1925, von Richthofen’s decorations were placed on display at the family home in Schweidnitz. This decoration had the incorrect date of 11.11.1916 inscribed on the date bar. As noted aviation historian Neal W. O’Connor observed, “Somewhere along the line, apparently, someone bungled the job.”)
• Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
• Bremen Hanseatic Cross: 25 September 1917.
• Lübeck Hanseatic Cross: 22 September 1917.
• Austrian Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd Class with War Decoration: 8 August 1917.
• Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration
• Bulgarian Bravery Order, 4th Class (1st Grade): June 1917. (While on his way back to the front in June 1917, von Richthofen lunched with Kaiser Wilhelm II at Bad Kreuznach. In a letter home, he wrote: “I have just shot down number fifty-three. In [Bad] Kreuznach, on the way back, I was invited by His Majesty to meet the King of Bulgaria [Ferdinand I], who presented me with his Bravery Order, First Class [sic]. It is worn like the Iron Cross, First Class, and looks very nice.”)
• Turkish Imtiaz Medal in Silver with Sabers
• Turkish Liakat Medal in Silver with Sabers
• Turkish War Medal (“Iron Crescent”): 4 November 1917.
• German Army Pilot’s Badge
• German Army Observer’s Badge (NOTE: No record or photographic evidence has been seen to indicate von Richthofen qualified for this badge. However, he successfully completed the training and served for nearly five months as an observer before retraining as a pilot.)
• Austrian Field Pilot’s Badge (Franz Joseph pattern)

* On 9 May 1917, General der Infanterie Karl Ritter von Fasbender, the Commanding General of the Bavarian I Reserve Corps, submitted a proposal for Freiherr von Richthofen to receive the Knight’s Cross of the Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. On 20 May 1917, the proposal was rejected by the Orders Chancery of the Royal Bavarian War Ministry in that it did not view Freiherr von Richthofen’s performance as measuring up to the “exceptional deeds” required for a non-Bavarian to receive the order. For many years, World War I aviation historians believed Freiherr von Richthofen had received the 3rd Class with Crown and Swords of the Bavarian Military Merit Order prior to his submission for the Military Max Joseph Order. However, recent research has proved that he received the usual class of that order common for an officer of his rank: the 4th Class with Swords of the Bavarian Military Merit Order. See errata and addenda, pages 371-374, of Neal W. O’Connor’s Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany in World War I and the Men Who Earned Them – Volume VI: The Aviation Awards of the Grand Duchies of Baden and Oldenburg (Foundation of Aviation World War I, Princeton, New Jersey & Flying Machines Press, Stratford, Connecticut, 1999).

Leutnant Lothar Freiherr von Richthofen

Decorations & Awards:
• Prussian Pour le Mérite Order: 14 May 1917 (in recognition of his 24th aerial victory).
• Prussian Royal Hohenzollern House Order, Knight’s Cross with Swords: 10 May 1917.
• Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914)
• Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914)
• Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords
• Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
• Turkish Liakat Medal in Silver with Sabers
• Turkish War Medal (“Iron Crescent”)
• German Army Observer’s Badge
• German Army Pilot’s Badge
• Wound Badge in Silver

[Balrog]

did the soviets take all these medals back to moscow when they robbed the red baron's house at the end of ww2?

[Major Major]

Thanks for the information.

[AlifRafikKhan]

This card, the only one in the series showing him in full dress uniform, describes Richthofen as being 'our most successful combat airman'. It appeared after his stunning successes in April 1917, during which he shot down 21 aeroplanes and raised his score to 52. At his collar is the blue enamel and gold Maltese cross of the Orden Pour Ie Merite, Prussia's highest award for bravery. Below it are: the Iron Cross 1st Class; Knight's Cross with Swords of the Royal Order of the House of Hohenzollern; Duke Eduard Carl Medal with Date Clasp and Swords, awarded by the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Austro-Hungarian Empire's Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with War Decoration.

Source: "The Illustrated Red Baron" by Peter Kilduff

[AlifRafikKhan]

This is how Richthofen got his Oval Silver Duke Carl Eduard Bravery Medal, according to "The Illustrated Red Baron" by Peter Kilduff:

Boelcke's death left a gap in the list of living German heroes and Richthofen intended to fill it. On 9 November 1916 he shot down his eighth enemy aeroplane, a British bomber. While Boelcke and Immelmann had received the Pour Ie Merite after their eighth victories, by this time the criteria for Prussia's highest bravery award had risen and Richthofen gained only more souvenirs and his first encounter with a member of German royalty. Duke Carl Eduard of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was near the crash site of his victim when the ambitious combat pilot tore across an open field in pursuit of victory mementoes. Richthofen wrote that after obtaining his trophies he was summoned to meet an unidentified officer wearing a 'general's trousers, a high award at his neck, but ... [with] a relatively youthful face, [and] indefinable epaulettes ... ' That evening Richthofen was invited to a more formal meeting with the 32 year-old head of one of Europe's most prominent royal houses. 'It was known that the British intended to bomb his headquarters ... [and] I had helped keep the assailants away,' Richthofen wrote. 'For that I received the Oval Silver Duke Carl Eduard Bravery Medal.'

[AlifRafikKhan]

This is Richthofen's awards from his Ordenskissen, although I don't know each one of them (except the prominent ones like PlM, etc.)...

Source: http://www.frontflieger.de/4-ric18.html