Database of Kriegsmarine Admirals

[Kriegsmarine Großadmiral]

Vizeadmiral (Ing.) Walter Fröhlich (1893-1969)

-Eisernes Kreuz (1914) II. Klasse
-Spange (1939) zum Eisernen Kreuz II. Klasse
-Eisernes Kreuz (1939) I. Klasse
-U-Bootskriegsabzeichen (1918)
-Königlich Preußische Dienstauszeichnung II. Klasse
-Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
-Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
-Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938

[graveland]

Vizeadmiral (Ing.) Walter Fröhlich (1893-1969)

*Could the last ribbon on the 2nd photo be the Sudetenland Medaille?

Yep!

[graveland]

Vizeadmiral Albrecht Freiherr von Freyberg-Eisenberg-Allmendingen (1876-1943)

From the photo it looks like he wearing the Catholic Order of Malta, rather than the Preußischer Johanniter-Orden.

I agree with luftk.

[Kriegsmarine Großadmiral]

Vizeadmiral Friedrich Götting (1886-1946)

-Eisernes Kreuz (1914) II. Klasse
-Eisernes Kreuz (1914) I. Klasse
-Großherzoglich Oldenburgisches Friedrich August-Kreuz II. Klasse mit Spange “Vor dem Feinde”
-Großherzoglich Oldenburgisches Friedrich August-Kreuz I. Klasse
-Hamburger Hanseatenkreuz
-U-Bootskriegsabzeichen (1918)
-Ritterkreuz I. Klasse des Königlich Schwedischen Schwertordens (02. 08. 1918)
-Königlich Preußisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz
-Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
-Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
-Großkreuz des Königlichen Ordens der Krone von Rumänien (possibly mit Schwertern, cannot be confirmed from the photo)*

* "Not confirmed, it could also be the Großkreuz des Königlich Bulgarischen Militär-Verdienstordens mit der Kriegsdekoration".

[Cartaphilus]

I'd say that is the Bulgarian Military Merit Order, but it's rare because Götting made the war in the Baltic Sea, nor the Black or Aegean Sea, two sites that could justify a Bulgarian decoration.

[graveland]

Vizeadmiral Friedrich Götting (1886-1946)

*For more info regarding Götting's breast star see here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=233793&p=2125153&hi ... g#p2125153
Please luftk share your opinion and if you think it is the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania or Grand Cross of the Bulgarian Royal Order of Military Merit with War Decoration. Thanks

As I told you, Karlo, in my opinion is the Grand Cross of the Bulgarian Royal Order of Military Merit.

It seems on the 3rd photo below, he is wearing another medal between the Hamburger Hanseatenkreuz and Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer. Does anyone recognize it?

Royal Order of the Sword - Knight 1st Degree.

[Kriegsmarine Großadmiral]

I'd say that is the Bulgarian Military Merit Order, but it's rare because Götting made the war in the Baltic Sea, nor the Black or Aegean Sea, two sites that could justify a Bulgarian decoration.

Thank you Cartaphilus. Who knows, maybe he visited Bulgaria on some occasion and was then awarded the Bulgarian Military Merit Order. Or a Bulgarian delegation came to visit him on the Baltic coast. We can only guess for now. The most important thing is that as more members as possible agree it is the Bulgarian Military Merit Order, so the list of Götting's awards can be as accurate as possible.

[luftk]

Vizeadmiral Friedrich Götting (1886-1946)

*For more info regarding Götting's breast star see here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=233793&p=2125153&hi ... g#p2125153
Please luftk share your opinion and if you think it is the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania or Grand Cross of the Bulgarian Royal Order of Military Merit with War Decoration. Thanks
It seems on the 3rd photo below, he is wearing another medal between the Hamburger Hanseatenkreuz and Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer. Does anyone recognize it?

Yes, it is difficult to determine what this breast star is. Whatever it is it appears to be large enough to be a "Grand Cross" of some sort.

What puts me off it being the Bulgarian Order of Merit is that this order has a very distinct "star", 8 arms with many "prongs" to each arm (if that makes sense!!). This order seems to have short arms/8 points of the star, which makes me think it is the Romanian Order of the Crown. In the thread you provide the link to I can see the recessed edge you point out- though it is very difficult to see in the black and white photo. What makes this difficult is that it is a side view so the detail can become distorted unfortunately.

My opinion- Rumänien Orden der Krone von Rumänien, Großkreuz . Would this fit in with his wartime posts at the Baltic Sea?

[luftk]

Thank you Cartaphilus. Who knows, maybe he visited Bulgaria on some occasion and was then awarded the Bulgarian Military Merit Order. Or a Bulgarian delegation came to visit him on the Baltic coast. We can only guess for now. The most important thing is that as more members as possible agree it is the Bulgarian Military Merit Order, so the list of Götting's awards can be as accurate as possible.

Speaking of accuracy- we can see in the photo above that his ribbon bar has 8 ribbons.

It is strange that the Swedish Order on his medal bar is mounted before the Honour Cross, and that may the same on the ribbon bar. However, there is also a ribbon on the end, and it is possibly for a foreign award.

The view is not great but it looks like a light coloured ribbon with dark edges- possible the Spanish Order of Naval Merit BUT this is a pure guess on my part. Had he any role in the Spanish Civil War?

[graveland]

Great job, luftk, as always!

[Kriegsmarine Großadmiral]

Thank you luft, as always.
Let me try and answer on all of the things you said.

I also at first thought it could be the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania (we agree about the recessed thing). But then Cartaphilus and Gregg said they think it is the Bulgarian Royal Order of Military Merit and I agreed with them (majority opinion prevails). So I was left confused. Now that you agree with my first opinion I'm again confused But because the points of the inner cross appear to be recessed I will edit the post so that the Order of the Crown of Romania is our option (should I write it down with Swords?, read what Cartaphilus said on the thread I linked), and put the Bulgarian Order of Military Merit as the second option.
Regarding the part "Would this fit in with his wartime posts at the Baltic Sea?". Well the answer is the same as I told Cartaphilus above. Neither the Romanian or Bulgarian awards fit per se. We can only guess why he would recieve those awards as Coastal-Commander Eastern Baltic Sea. If he recieved it during the period when he was the Inspector of Torpedo Affairs (01 Oct 1936-20 Dec 1939) that's another story. But again, we can only speculate. I hope a better photo surfaces of him wearing the breast star.

Do you then agree the medal between the Hamburger Hanseatenkreuz and Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer is the Swedish Royal Order of the Sword - Knight 1st Class, like Gregg said. See photo below (I circled the Spange "Vor dem Feinde").

And since the Spanish Order of Naval Merit is only a speculation I will not put it on the list (for now). We can change it if a better photo surfaces. He had no direct involvement in the Spanish Civil War. According to his bio.
You can check yourself: http://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHRMA ... DRICH.html

[Kriegsmarine Großadmiral]

Vizeadmiral Werner Grassmann (1888-1943)

-Eisernes Kreuz (1914) II. Klasse
-Eisernes Kreuz (1914) I. Klasse
-Ritterkreuz des Königlich Belgischen Ordens Leopolds II. (14. 08. 1912)
-Ritterkreuz des Königlich Siamesischen Weißen Elefantenordens (10. 08. 1915)
-Österreichische Kriegs-Erinnerungs-Medaille mit Schwertern
-Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
-Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
-Spange (1939) zum Eisernen Kreuz II. Klasse
-Spange (1939) zum Eisernen Kreuz I. Klasse

[luftk]

Thank you luft, as always.
Let me try and answer on all of the things you said.

I also at first thought it could be the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania (we agree about the recessed thing). But then Cartaphilus and Gregg said they think it is the Bulgarian Royal Order of Military Merit and I agreed with them (majority opinion prevails). So I was left confused. Now that you agree with my first opinion I'm again confused But because the points of the inner cross appear to be recessed I will edit the post so that the Order of the Crown of Romania is our option (should I write it down with Swords?, read what Cartaphilus said on the thread I linked), and put the Bulgarian Order of Military Merit as the second option.
Regarding the part "Would this fit in with his wartime posts at the Baltic Sea?". Well the answer is the same as I told Cartaphilus above. Neither the Romanian or Bulgarian awards fit per se. We can only guess why he would recieve those awards as Coastal-Commander Eastern Baltic Sea. If he recieved it during the period when he was the Inspector of Torpedo Affairs (01 Oct 1936-20 Dec 1939) that's another story. But again, we can only speculate. I hope a better photo surfaces of him wearing the breast star.

Do you then agree the medal between the Hamburger Hanseatenkreuz and Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer is the Swedish Royal Order of the Sword - Knight 1st Class, like Gregg said. See photo below (I circled the Spange "Vor dem Feinde").

And since the Spanish Order of Naval Merit is only a speculation I will not put it on the list (for now). We can change it if a better photo surfaces. He had no direct involvement in the Spanish Civil War. According to his bio.
You can check yourself: http://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHRMA ... DRICH.html

It is impossible to determine if the breast star was with swords or not.

That medal does appear to be the Swedish Sword Order.

[Kriegsmarine Großadmiral]

Vizeadmiral Heinrich Hanke (1890-1945)

-Eisernes Kreuz (1914) II. Klasse
-Eisernes Kreuz (1914) I. Klasse
-Kolonial Abzeichen (Elefantenorden)
-Kolonialauszeichnung (Löwenorden) I. Stufe in Silber (18. 08. 1923)
-Marineverwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918)
-Kriegsdenkmünze 1914/1918 des Kyffhäuserbundes (20. 05. 1922)
-Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
-Wehrmacht Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
-Königlich Spanischer Orden für Verdienste zur See III. Klasse mit Weiß Verliehen (21. 08. 1939)
-Kriegsverdienstkreuz (1939) II. Klasse mit Schwertern
-Kriegsverdienstkreuz (1939) I. Klasse mit Schwertern (30. 01. 1942)

Hanke, Heinrich - Vizeadmiral.jpg

BX5JBX.jpg

Hanke Hoffmann.jpg

Heinrich Hanke (1).jpeg

[VJK]

Hi,

I have found Götting's connection to Romania. During the time he was placed at the disposal of the C-in-C of the Kriegsmarine, he was attached to the German Mission in Romania. Source: Gh. Buzatu, Stela Cheptea, Marusia Cîrstea, Corneliu M. Lungu ...

Best regards,

VJK