ORDINUL MIHAI VITEAZUL
The Order of Michael the Brave, known in Romanian as Ordinul Mihai Viteazul, is Romania’s highest military decoration, instituted by King Ferdinand I on 26 September 1916 and awarded again during the Second World War for exceptional deeds on the battlefield by officers only, existing in three classes. While Romania was allied with Germany as part of the Axis until the coup of 23 August 1944, the order was conferred on numerous members of the Wehrmacht and other German forces in recognition of their combat achievements, particularly during joint operations on the Eastern Front. High-ranking recipients of the 1st class included Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Großadmiral Erich Raeder, Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Brauchitsch, and Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel. Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein, commander of the 11. Armee, received the order for his leadership in the Crimean campaigns, while Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel and Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt were also among the prominent awardees of the higher classes. Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock and Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus likewise obtained the decoration in connection with their commands on the Eastern Front. Other notable German officers included General der Infanterie Otto Wöhler and General der Artillerie Walter Warlimont. The 1941 model of the order, featuring the cipher of King Mihai I, was specifically used for awards to Axis allies including Germans, whereas a later 1944 version with swords was introduced after Romania switched sides and was reserved for actions against former German partners. Overall wartime awards totaled fifteen of the 1st class, seventy-six of the 2nd class, and 1,628 of the 3rd class, with a substantial portion of the foreign bestowals going to German personnel of the Heer, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine for distinguished service in theaters where Romanian and German units cooperated closely. These decorations underscored the wartime alliance and were typically presented for outstanding leadership or personal bravery in major engagements. After Romania’s change of allegiance the practice of awarding the order to Germans ceased, and the decoration itself was discontinued in 1947 before being reinstituted in modern form in 2000.
Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein (1987-1973), born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski on 24 November 1887 in Berlin as the tenth child of Prussian artillery general Eduard von Lewinski and Helene von Sperling, was adopted by his childless uncle General Georg von Manstein and took that family name, joining the 3. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß as Fähnrich in 1906 and rising through the ranks after service on both fronts in the First World War, where he was wounded and promoted to Hauptmann. Remaining in the Reichswehr after 1918, he held staff and command posts, reached Generalmajor by 1936, and as Chief of Staff of Heeresgruppe Süd under Gerd von Rundstedt planned the 1939 Polish campaign before devising the Sichelschnitt plan that became the basis for the 1940 invasion of France. As Kommandierender General of XXXVIII. Armeekorps he led the first crossing of the Seine and subsequent advances to the Loire, earning the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 19 July 1940 as General der Infanterie for his decisive leadership in the fighting along the Somme, Seine and Loire. In 1941 he commanded LVI. Panzerkorps during Operation Barbarossa, advancing rapidly toward Leningrad, then took over 11. Armee, conquered the Crimea, captured Sevastopol in July 1942 and was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall. After the failed relief of Stalingrad as Oberbefehlshaber of Heeresgruppe Don he assumed command of Heeresgruppe Süd and in February–March 1943 executed the famous Backhand Blow counteroffensive that recaptured Kharkov and Belgorod, destroying three Soviet armies and stabilising the southern front, for which he received the Eichenlaub on 14 March 1943. Continuing to direct Heeresgruppe Süd through the defensive battles from the Donets to the Polish border after Kursk, his skilful crisis management and orderly withdrawals prevented total collapse despite severe conditions, resulting in the award of the Schwerter on 30 March 1944, the same day Hitler dismissed him. After the war he was convicted of war crimes, imprisoned until 1953, published "Verlorene Siege", advised the Bundeswehr and died on 10 June 1973 in Irschenhausen.
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BREVET DE PILOT / OBSERVATOR MILITAR
The Royal Romanian Air Force Military Pilot / Aeronautical Observer Badge (Brevet de Pilot / Observator Militar), also known as the pilot’s or observer’s wing of the Aeronautica Regală Română, was the principal qualification insignia awarded to trained military aviators and aerial observers of the Kingdom of Romania from the early years of organised military aviation through the interwar period and the Second World War, evolving in design with successive reigns while retaining a consistent winged form that reflected both national heraldry and contemporary European aviation traditions; the earliest versions under King Carol I took the shape of a Blériot-style monoplane worn on the collar, but after the reign of King Ferdinand I (1914–1927) the standard pattern emerged as a pair of outstretched wings surmounted by a royal crown and bearing the inverted monogram (cipher) of the sovereign—double “F” for Ferdinand—set above a central device, with the pilot’s badge typically larger (approximately 44 mm wide by 57 mm high) and featuring a full eagle standing on a globe or sphere, while the observer’s badge was slightly smaller (around 40 mm by 49 mm) and consisted of the crowned cipher alone with upraised wings; during the reign of King Carol II (1930–1940) a new design instituted by royal decree in June 1931 replaced the Ferdinand cipher with a crowned blue-enamelled double “C” monogram of Carol, often combined with a propeller-blade sword, and was manufactured in silvered bronze with a horizontal pin fastening, measuring roughly 66 mm by 36 mm; after Carol’s abdication in 1940 and the return of King Michael I, the badge again changed, substituting the royal monogram with the Romanian national coat of arms (or later a cross under crown) while retaining the winged outline, produced in both silver and bronze, and worn on the upper right breast of the service tunic; these badges, awarded upon successful completion of pilot or observer training and serving as official proof of aeronautical qualification, remained in use until the abolition of the monarchy in 1947, after which communist-era versions replaced the crown and royal symbols with a red star while preserving the essential winged silhouette.
Oberst Hermann Graf (1912-1988) was born on 24 October 1912 in Engen, Baden, the youngest of three sons of a farmer who had served as an artilleryman in the First World War, and after completing Volksschule he worked first as a locksmith’s apprentice and later as a clerk at the Engen town hall while pursuing his dual passions for football (as a goalkeeper coached by future World Cup-winning manager Sepp Herberger until a thumb injury ended his hopes of a professional career) and gliding; accepted into the Luftwaffe in 1936, he completed A- and B-level pilot training before being posted in May 1939 as an Unteroffizier to 2. Staffel of I./Jagdgeschwader 51, flying uneventful patrols on the Franco-German border during the Phoney War and later serving as a flight instructor with the Luftwaffenmission Rumänien training Romanian pilots, participating in limited ground-support missions over Crete in May 1941. Transferred with III./Jagdgeschwader 52 to the Eastern Front after the start of Operation Barbarossa, he scored his first aerial victory on 4 August 1941 near Kiev while flying a Bf 109, rapidly increasing his tally amid the intense fighting over Ukraine and the Crimea to reach 42 victories by the end of the year, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 24 January 1942 as Leutnant der Reserve and Flugzeugführer of 9. Staffel, III. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 52; promoted to Staffelkapitän of 9./JG 52 in March 1942, his scoring rate exploded during the summer campaign of 1942, culminating in the award of the Eichenlaub (93rd recipient) on 17 May 1942 after 104 victories, the Schwerter (11th recipient) only two days later on 19 May after 106 victories, and finally the Brillanten (5th recipient) on 16 September 1942 after 172 victories, making him the first fighter pilot in history to claim 200 aerial victories when he downed three more aircraft over the Pitomnik airfield near Stalingrad on 26 September 1942. Withdrawn from front-line combat as a national hero and promoted through the ranks to Major and later Oberst, he commanded the high-altitude Jagdgeschwader 50 formed to intercept Mosquitoes, then served as Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 11 on the Western Front where he claimed ten four-engine bombers before being severely wounded on 29 March 1944 after ramming a P-51, and finally took command of Jagdgeschwader 52 in late 1944, surrendering with the unit to American forces on 8 May 1945 only to be handed over to the Soviets and held in captivity until 1949; after the war he worked as an electronic-sales manager, married three times (including a brief wartime marriage to actress Jola Jobst), and died of Parkinson’s disease in his hometown of Engen on 4 November 1988, having flown approximately 830 combat missions and been officially credited with 212 aerial victories, nearly all on the Eastern Front.
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ORDINUL VIRTUTEA AERONAUTICÂ
The Order of Aeronautical Virtue (Ordinul "Virtutea Aeronautică") is a Romanian decoration instituted by King Carol II through Royal Decree No. 2895 on 31 July 1930 as the world’s first military order specifically dedicated to aviators, created in recognition of the airmen of the 2nd Aviation Flotilla who had helped him return to Romania and reclaim the throne by flying him across the border in defiance of restrictions; originally comprising four ranks—Golden Cross (the lowest), Knight, Officer, and Commander—the first two of which could be awarded up to three times with a metal bar added to the ribbon for each subsequent bestowal, the order was conferred on both military and civilian personnel for distinguished service, acts of bravery, or contributions to aeronautics in peace or war, and featured a distinctive cross whose longer vertical arm formed a trefoil while the shorter horizontal arms were shaped as stylized wings, bearing on the obverse a white-enamelled shield with the Romanian eagle and the royal cypher of Carol II (later changed to that of Michael I in 1940) and the year “1930” on the reverse, with Officer and Commander grades distinguished by a green-enamelled laurel wreath between the arms and a wartime version adding crossed swords. A related Medal of Aeronautical Virtue was established on 24 February 1931 for ground personnel, and in December 1938 both the order and medal received wartime variants with gold-edged ribbons and swords; after briefly shifting places in the order of precedence, the decoration ranked among Romania’s highest honours during the Second World War, when it was awarded to numerous Romanian and allied airmen, before becoming obsolete with the abolition of the monarchy in 1947. Reinstituted after the fall of communism, the modern Order of Aeronautical Virtue retains the ranks of Knight, Officer, Commander, and Grand Officer (no longer permitting consecutive awards of the lower grades) and continues to be conferred by the President of Romania on military and civilian aviators for outstanding achievements in aviation, preserving the essential design of the original 1930 insignia while adapting it to the republican era.
Hauptmann Wolf-Dietrich Huy (1917-2003), who rose to the rank of Hauptmann in the Luftwaffe, served primarily as Staffelkapitän of the 7. Staffel of III. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 77, and was a fighter ace credited with 40 aerial victories (including 38 on the Eastern Front) in over 500 operational sorties; he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 5 July 1941 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 7./Jagdgeschwader 77 principally for his successful fighter-bomber attacks during operations in the Balkans and the Battle of Crete, where after nine aerial victories he sank approximately 34,000 GRT of Allied shipping including the freighter Hellas of 22,000 GRT and scored direct hits on the battleship Warspite, the cruiser Fiji and a destroyer, and he later received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub as the 83rd recipient on 17 March 1942 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 7./Jagdgeschwader 77 after accumulating 32 aerial victories (reaching his 38th claim around that time while operating with III./Jagdgeschwader 77 in the Crimea), before being shot down over Tanyet Harun on 29 October 1942 and spending the remainder of the war as a prisoner.
Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/09/daftar-para-anggota-wehrmacht-yang.html
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