ORDEN ZA HRABROST (ORDER FOR BRAVERY)
The Bulgarian Military Order for Bravery, known in Bulgarian as Военен орден „За храброст“, was established on 1 January 1880 by decree of Prince Alexander of Battenberg as the first national order of the Principality of Bulgaria under Article 59 of the Tarnovo Constitution, which permitted decorations solely for battlefield valor. Modeled on the Order of Military Merit of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, it was designed exclusively for military personnel to reward exceptional courage and heroism in combat and was first conferred on 17 April 1880 to thirty-three veterans of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The badge takes the form of a white- or red-enamelled Maltese cross with crossed swords between the arms, a central medallion bearing a crowned lion or the founder’s cypher, and the inscription „За храброст“, suspended from a sky-blue ribbon edged with silver stripes. Originally structured in four classes for officers and generals together with lower Soldier’s Crosses for non-commissioned officers and enlisted men, the order was refined in 1886 by the creation of a Grand Cross reserved for the ruling monarch as Grand Master and the division of the first class into two grades, with further wartime classes added in 1915. It was awarded extensively during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, the First World War, and the Second World War, recognizing both Bulgarian and foreign recipients for deeds performed under fire. After the abolition of the monarchy the order ceased to exist on 15 September 1946, yet it was revived by the 39th National Assembly on 29 May 2003 and promulgated in 2004 as a state decoration of the Republic of Bulgaria. In its modern form the order comprises three degrees, awarded with swords to military personnel and without swords to civilians for acts of bravery and heroism benefiting Bulgarian society and the state, and is conferred by the President. Throughout its history the Military Order for Bravery has remained the pre-eminent symbol of martial honor in Bulgaria, embodying the nation’s tradition of recognizing selfless courage on the field of battle.
SS-Obersturmbannführer Max Wünsche (1914-1995) was born on 20 April 1914 in Kittlitz and joined the SS in July 1933, graduating from the SS-Junkerschule at Bad Tölz in 1935 as SS-Untersturmführer before serving as a platoon leader in the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In October 1938 he became an orderly officer in the Führerbegleitkommando, then in January 1940 rejoined the LSSAH as platoon commander in the 15. Kradschützen-Kompanie under Kurt Meyer during the Western Campaign, earning both classes of the Iron Cross and promotion to SS-Hauptsturmführer. As adjutant to Sepp Dietrich he took part in the Balkan and Barbarossa campaigns, later commanding the SS-Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 1 and, after staff training, the I. Abteilung of SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 as SS-Sturmbannführer. During the Third Battle of Kharkov in February 1943 his battalion broke through to Alexejewka to relieve Kurt Meyer’s encircled force and, on 25 February, on his own initiative launched an enveloping armoured attack near Jeremejewka against a strong Soviet column of the 350th Rifle Division, destroying 24 long 7.62 cm guns, 13 short 7.62 cm guns, 10 4.5 cm anti-tank guns, six 12.2 cm guns, one 10.5 cm gun, 300–400 sleds and numerous other weapons while inflicting 800–900 enemy dead for only five dead and fourteen wounded of his own, actions for which he received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold that same day and the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes three days later as Kommandeur of the I./SS-Panzer-Regiment 1. In June 1943 he was appointed Kommandeur of the newly forming SS-Panzer-Regiment 12 of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend, promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer in January 1944, and led the regiment from its first combat near Authie after the Allied landings, destroying 219 enemy tanks west of Caen by early July and preventing an Orne bridgehead at Amayé-sur-Seulles and Saint-André-sur-Orne on 28–29 June, for which he was awarded the Eichenlaub on 11 August 1944. Wounded while attempting to break out of the Falaise Pocket, he was captured by British forces on 24 August 1944, held in Camp 165 at Caithness until 1948, then returned to Germany, worked as an industrial manager in Wuppertal, and died in Munich on 17 April 1995.
Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2013/03/album-foto-tokoh-third-reich-peraih.html
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