New Medals for German Heroes: Discuss Your ArmedForces' Top Medals/Awards/Honors Here

[mysterious]

New Medal plan for German Heroes

The German president has backed a proposal to introduce a top bravery medal for German soldiers - but no return of the Iron Cross is planned.

Horst Koehler said he would support a medal for "exceptional bravery" in the army, the Bundeswehr.

The German armed forces sport an Iron Cross symbol on their hardware - but the medal itself has been shunned since World War II.

The defence ministry said it had no plans to bring back the Iron Cross.

It rejected a German conservative MP's call for the medal to be reintroduced.

"We should reclaim the positive side of this symbol," argued Ernst-Reinhard Beck of the Christian Democrats (CDU), who heads Germany's association of army reservists.

He said that from the Balkans to the Hindu Kush the Iron Cross had come to be identified as a "sign of help and solidarity", through German armed forces deployments in trouble spots.

The Iron Cross was established originally as a Prussian military honour by King Frederick Wilhelm III in 1813.

The medal was later awarded as a top honour to German servicemen during both world wars. But it was abandoned in 1945, because of its wartime associations.

Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe, quoted by the AFP news agency, said "we are not thinking of bringing it back, though we do want to introduce a medal to honour soldiers who show courage".

The new medal's design has not yet been decided, he added.

The German military currently has four degrees of award for exceptional service.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7281434.stm

Since I haven't been able to dig up a similar thread here; this one is to be dedicated towards discussing your country's Armed Forces' Top Medals/Awards/Honors.

Personally, I don't see any harm in bringing back the Iron Cross for the Germans unless someone can shed some light on the negative aspects of doing thus..?

 

[kato]

Personally, I don't see any harm in bringing back the Iron Cross for the Germans unless someone can shed some light on the negative aspects of doing thus..?

Someone over on MP.net already mentioned it - the Iron Cross so far was only (re)instated just before a war. 1813, 1870, 1913, 1939. Unless Russia's standing at our border in 2009, very inappropriate in that regard thus.

Also, what should be remembered is that in all the above dates - except 1939 - the Iron Cross was in part a sign of Prussia's hegemonial "dominance". Definitely not fitting in modern Germany.
Unless we're bringing back the Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order as well. Which was also awarded in WW2 still btw.

As for Ernst-Reinhard Beck... ok, not getting political here, but err... let's just say politicians from that particular corner of Baden-Württemberg are sort of... notorious. Late chancellor Kiesinger, as well as Erwin Teufel and Lothar Späth are from the same corner.

 

[mysterious]

Thank for elaborating on that 'kato'. What is Germany's highest Military Honor as of now? And is that - along with other honors - only to be given in times of war duty? Does bravery have to be looked at within contexts? Pardon me if I've misunderstood you.

 

[kato]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge_of_Honour_of_the_Bundeswehr

That one, the same as mentioned in the BBC article ("four degrees of awards").

Requires "examplatory military service", the "levels" are just to signify the length of service (though that can be skipped too).

Supposedly not that hard to get.

The MoD is considering modifying this merit by
a) adding a 5th level to honour particularly meritious service
b) splitting it into a version for "operational duty" and "peacetime duty" pretty much

Since the president seems to be supporting this, this seems likely to go forward (and he's the one who decides on it, one of the rare cases where he actually has a voice).