Schwarzburg silver medal for merit in war

[Frosch]

My interest in the iron cross and its 1914-1918 equivalents from the other German states stems from the desire to collect representative examples of the awards as given to the soldiers whose Militärpässe I have in my documents collection. I always try to acquire complete groups, but unfortunately most seem to be split up and I often have only the Militärpass together with the Soldbuch and sometimes also the award documents.

One of the less common awards is the silver medal for merit in war bestowed by Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt und Sondershausen. I have only one Militärpass with an entry for this award and have been looking for the medal for some time.

The soldier in question is Gefreiter Otto Chemnitz, who was born in Rudolstadt on 21 May 1895 and worked as an agricultural labourer. He was recruited into infantry regiment 96 in May 1915 and joined 10. Kompagnie 7. Thüringisches Infanterie-Regiment 96 as part of 83. Infanterie-Brigade, 38. Infanterie-Division while the unit was fighting in the sector between the Oise and Aisne in October of the same year. Except for a brief period of service with Infanterie-Pionier-Kompagnie 38 from June to September 1916, he remained with the regiment throughout the bitter fighting for Hill 304 at Verdun and the fighting for the Somme, including at Grandcourt, until he fell ill at the end of October 1916. After recovering in hospital in Germany, he returned to France in January 1917 and was assigned to 9. Kompagnie Infanterie-Regiment 467, part of 239. Infanterie-Brigade, 239. Infantry-Division in the Champagne sector. He remained with this unit throughout the fighting in Flanders in 1917 and the Spring offensive and the battles on the Western Front until he fell ill with dysentery and was sent to hospital in August 1918. He was discharged from service in December 1918 and awarded the EK II on 21 September 1917 and the Fürstlich Schwarzburgische Verdienst-Medaille in Silber on 6 December 1917.

Here are his Gefreiter promotion and award entries: