Preußische Heeresbibliothek
(Preußische Armee Library)
The New Prussian Medals: An Evolution
By Unterleutnant Robert Hamper, Kommandeur, 8th Brigade, II Armeekorps
AdC to Generalmajor von Gjerde
I had recently been assigned to the 8th Brigade of II Korps, Preussisches Heer and I was exploring the NWC's sites and links. I noticed that the British Army had revamped it's medals pages and the Russians were working on theirs. With curiosity getting the better of me I did some preliminary research on the Web and found that there seemed to be adequate numbers of medals so that we, the Prussians, could undertake a similar project.
With the zeal of a raw, new recruit, I suggested to my Korpskommandeur that the Prussians could also reconstruct their site and that I was willing to undertake some of the research. A flurry of e-mails later and I was tasked by the CoA Prussia to complete this job in the finest of Prussian traditions. There were two problems however; I'd never made a web page before and I was at sea in the Gulf of Mexico! All my research would have to be Web-based.
I was faced with a bewildering assortment of questions. What medals could I find? Which would I use? How would they be awarded? In asking these questions I came across a few more difficulties. I'd only played in two Club games and they were training scenarios that weren't yet finished. How was I supposed to develop a medals page for a game and club that I was hardly familiar with? Worse, I didn't even own Prelude to Waterloo at the time; arguably the biggest source of scenarios with the presence of Prussian units.
I regarded the medals page that we were currently using. It had an assortment of medals. One was the Franz Joseph, an Austrian award. There was the Military Medal from Britain and the Military Merit Cross from Bavaria. And, our biggest award the Grand Cross Star. I moved on to the new British page and saw what they had done. They had replaced all non-British medals with ones from their own kingdom. A wise and logical move I thought. The Russians had also made a similar change and added a twist. Their medals were developed to reward their officers for playing Napoleon in Russia.
I realized that our page must also be an evolutionary move, both for the Army and the Club. Growth and change are necessary to keep interest alive and well. I wanted our medals and awards to be distinctly Prussian and to reward our officers who supported our Army both on and off the field. I remembered one of the Club maxim's: we weren't just a gaming ladder, we were a historical gaming club that tries to immerse it's members in the essence of the era.
With pen and paper I jotted down rough guidelines for my work. (i) The medals would have to be Prussian, or at the very least, German. There would be no substitutes, no medals from other nations. Our distinctness had to come to the fore. (ii) The medals had to be in issue in the period of 1800 to 1815. I insisted on this as our contribution to the Club's historical essence. (iii) Some of the medals were to be used to encourage our officers to promote our Prussian Army in the club, we weren't merely an Ally, but a great Kingdom in our own right.
There were two medals that had caught my eye from the beginning. When my research showed me that the Pour le Merite was created in 1706 (???) as an award for military bravery I was excited. The legendary Blue Max was to be one of our medals! It wasn't until later that I found out that the nickname came from it's award to Max Immelman as one of it's first recipients in World War I. You'll now find no reference to the "Blue Max" on our page; it didn't exist in 1815! Another interesting tidbit was that of the 1600 plus Pour le Merite's awarded after the fall of Paris in 1814, 1400 were awarded to Russian officers! This I knew would have to be incorporated some way. It was too significant an event to ignore.
The Eisernes Kreuz, or Iron Cross, is about as famous an award as you can find. I had no idea of it's history save that it was awarded in both World Wars. I was again rewarded by my research which showed that the Eiserne Kruez was incorporated in 1813 by King Friedrich Wilhelm as a means to reward his soldiers in the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon's France. You can't get much more Napoleonic than that! Even more interesting was the fact that the EK had classes; 2nd Class, 1st Class, Grand Cross and the Breast Star to the Grand Cross. The EK was a "step" award in that you had to have won a lower classed award before being awarded the higher one. This was something else I felt had to be incorporated in our medals.
The medals we had were now becoming a system. A means by which and officer could actually develop a "career". The Eisernes Kreuz awards became reserved for those officers who only led Prussian units to victory on the fields of battle. The Pour le Merite was used to reward officers who had accumulated a number of victories and also to reward officers of the Russian Army for a number of victories in NiR scenarios that simulate the road from Moscow to Paris. There are other awards too, both Prussian and German and most of the Coalition medals have been replaced by their Preussisches counterparts.
I consider it a work in progress and as more information comes to light, I hope that we will have a sophisticated yet simple award system that the officers of the Preussisches Heer can be proud of. Check our medals site by starting here:
http://home.avint.net/~rhamper/PM1.htm
If the Newsletter Editor allows me, in future issues I hope to give you a detailed history of some of our awards. (Editor: Go ahead Rob, we're easy)