Honor medal for bravery (Austria)
The Honorary Medal for Bravery (since 1809 Medal of Honor ) was a high military decoration of the Habsburg monarchy .
Gradations
The award created in 1789 underwent several changes to the statutes, with the Silver Medal of Bravery being divided into two levels in 1848 and a bronze Medal of Bravery being introduced in 1915. Since 1917, the two highest levels of distinction have also been given to officers . In the end the following gradations existed:
- Golden medal of bravery
- Large Silver Medal of Valor (Silver Medal of Valor 1st Class)
- Silver Medal of Bravery (Silver Medal of Bravery II. Class, colloquially also known as the "Little" Silver Medal of Bravery)
- Bronze medal for bravery
history
The award was donated on July 19, 1789 by Emperor Joseph II as a medal of honor for bravery in gold and silver for NCOs and men who had distinguished themselves in battle. With the "court war council rescript" of May 18, 1809, the statutes were changed and the former medal was renamed the medal of bravery .
On August 19, 1848, the Silver Medal of Bravery, which had previously been awarded in one step, was divided into a first and a second class by Emperor Ferdinand I , with the second class medal with a diameter of 31 mm being slightly smaller than that of the first class . On February 14, 1915, Emperor Franz Joseph I also donated the bronze medal for bravery the size of the silver medal for bravery, 2nd class. Unlike the higher levels of the medal, the bronze medal could also be awarded to members of the armies allied with Austria.
On November 29, 1915, repeat clasps were introduced, which were awarded for the multiple award of the respective award. The repeat clasps were placed on the triangular ribbon - one clasp for the two-time award of the medal of bravery, two clasps for the three-time award, three clasps for the four-time award.
From September 26, 1917, the Golden and the Great Silver Medal for Bravery were also awarded to officers . This was especially the case when brave behavior or outstanding leadership performance was not enough to be awarded the Military Maria Theresa Order . When awarded to an officer, the medals for bravery were given an edition in the form of the letter “K” (in gold or silver) on the triangular ribbon.
Appearance and wearing style
Medals
The medal is a round medal with a diameter of 40 mm and shows the image of the ruling monarch (see below). Surrounded on the back by a laurel wreath and underlaid by crossed standards and flags , the inscription DER TAPFERkeit . During the reign of Emperor Charles I , the inscription read FORTITVDINI (of bravery).
Portrait of the monarch:
- 1789–1792: Portrait of Joseph II (gold, silver)
- 1792–1804: Portrait of Franz II (gold, silver)
- 1804–1839: Portrait of Franz I (gold, silver)
- 1839–1849: Portrait of Ferdinand (gold, silver 1st and 2nd class)
- 1849–1859: Portrait of Franz-Joseph I (looking to the left, without a beard) (gold, silver I and II class)
- 1859–1866: Portrait of Franz-Joseph I (looking to the left, with a small beard) (gold, silver I and II class)
- 1866–1914: Portrait of Franz-Joseph I (looking to the right, with whiskers) (gold, silver I and II class)
- 1914–1917: Portrait of Franz-Joseph I (looking to the right, with whiskers) (gold, silver I and II class, bronze)
- 1917–1918: Portrait of Karl I (gold, silver I and II class, bronze)
During the reign of Emperor Leopold II (1790–1792) the award was not awarded.
Ribbon
The ribbon of the medal of bravery is striped ponceau red and white. It corresponds in its appearance to those ribbons that were later used for the Military Merit Cross and some other awards of the monarchy (e.g. the Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" , the Franz Joseph Order and the Civil Merit Cross ), if they were awarded for service in the war.
Carrying method
The medal of bravery was worn on the triangular ribbon on the left breast.
Pay allowance and honorary pay
Right from the start, the holders of the silver medal received half of their regular wages as a permanent allowance, the holders of the golden medal received the entire wage as an allowance, i.e. actually received double wages. The allowance was granted over the entire period of service, even if the holder of the medal later rose to become an officer. Decisive for the amount of the allowance, however, was the charge ( rank ) that the holder held on the day of the award. The allowance remained unchanged during the period of service, even if a higher wage was received later. In the event of later disability, disability benefits became the benchmark for the amount of allowances. The holders of the "Little" Silver and Bronze Bravery Awards did not receive any wages, nor did soldiers who were already officers at the time of the award.
This regulation remained in effect until October 1, 1914, when the wage supplement was converted into a lifelong honorary salary by imperial decree. The gold award for bravery received 30 crowns a month , and the silver award for bravery 1st class received 15 crowns. Until the outbreak of the First World War, the 2nd class silver bravery award was given an honorary salary of 7 kroner 50 hellers . The bronze medal for bravery, introduced in 1915, was never associated with any honorary salary.
After the First World War, the payment of the honorary gold was maintained until 1923, but then stopped due to the mega-inflation and the currency reform of 1924/25 . It was not until March 26, 1931 that the owners of the upper classes received an honorary salary on the basis of the so-called "Bravery Medal Allowance Act" . For the gold medal for bravery there was 50, - Schilling annually , for the silver medal for bravery I class 25, - Schilling. The owners of the Kleine Silbernen went away empty-handed due to limited government revenues and allegedly low requirements in terms of award practice.
In the First Republic , persons who had received an Austro-Hungarian Medal for Bravery, the Karl Troop Cross or the Wound Medal were entitled to wear crossed swords on the ribbon of the War Memorial Medal in accordance with the ordinance (Federal Law Gazette No. 507/33) of November 10, 1933 .
After the "Anschluss" of Austria , the Golden Medal for Bravery (and only this, together with the Military Maria Theresa Order !) Was adopted as a German award in the Order Act on August 27, 1939 and the holders of the respective award received a lifelong honorary salary of 20 RM (= 30 shillings) per month . The owners were thus financially equal to those of the Prussian Golden Military Merit Cross . With an exchange rate of 1 RM to 1.50 shillings , equality meant a 40 percent reduction in the original honorary salary for the holders of the Golden Medal of Bravery. The holders of the Great Silver Medal of Bravery were given an honorary salary by decree of the Reich Minister of Labor on September 8, 1939. By means of an ordinance of the Army High Command of March 13, 1940, the owners of the Little Silver also received an honorary salary.
The Federal Republic of Germany as the legal successor to the German Reich took over the regulation of the Ordensgesetz of 1939 from 1957, but only for persons with German citizenship and with residence in Germany. Beneficiaries initially received an honorary salary of DM 25 . The holders of the Silver Medal of Bravery in both classes were permanently excluded.
However, these were taken into account by the Republic of Austria, which had paid an honorary salary since 1958: initially 100, 50 or 25 schillings, depending on the level of award. The sums have since been adjusted upwards.
See also
- Military Merit Medal ("Signum Laudis")
- Military Merit Cross (Austria)
- Civil merit cross on the ribbon of the medal of bravery
- Franz Joseph Order on the ribbon of the medal for bravery
- List of Austrian orders and decorations (ranking of awards)
Others
Since August 1995 the graduates of the Army NCOs Academy of the Austrian Armed Forces in Enns have named the individual years after the holders of the Golden Medal for Bravery.
literature
- Johann Stolzer, Christian Steeb: Austria's Order from the Middle Ages to the Present , Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt Graz, Graz 1996, ISBN 3-201-01649-7 .
Web links
- The honorary commemorative coin. Austrian Federal Army: NCO training - course names
Individual evidence
- ^ The statutes in: History of the war between Russia, Austria and Turkey, Volume 5. Vienna 1792 , p.79ff (Google Books)
- ↑ For comparison: Around 1900 a sergeant received a monthly salary of 21 crowns, a commoner received 3 crowns and 60 hellers. See: Hans Urbaner: The pay of the armed forces then and now. Heeresversorgunsschule, 2004 excerpt from Gedenk-tafel.de
- ^ Report of the National Defense Committee on the government bill: Federal law on the granting of allowances to holders of medals of bravery (Bravery Medal Allowance Act 1958) , minutes of the meeting of March 5, 1958, p. 2470ff.
- ↑ Jörg Balk: Wages of the act. Honorary salary for the holders of the highest bravery awards of the First World War according to the Order Act of 1957. Exhibition on the occasion of the LVV 2011 of the Kyffhäuserbund LV Schleswig-Holstein on May 7th, 2011 in Krummesse, Duchy of Lauenburg (exhibition catalog) ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Government bill of June 2, 1966
