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About the Duchy
The Duchy of Brunswick was one of oldest states in Germany, with an almost continuous
existence under the same ruling family dating back to the 1200s. In the post 1871 German
Empire, Brunswick was a cluster of small enclaves located in the Harz Mountains in north-
central Germany between Hannover and Magdeburg. In the 1905 census, the duchy showed a
population of 485,655, of which 136,162 were in the city of Brunswick alone. Together, the
enclaves making up the duchy amounted to 3,672 square kilometers.
The fiefdoms that comprised Brunswick came under the control of the Welf (Guelph) family
during the reign of Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony. The first Duke of Brunswick was his grandson,
Otto the Child, who was given the title of Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg in 1235. In the 1600s, the
House of Brunswick divided into an elder and a younger line. The elder line would continue to rule
Brunswick (then styled Braunschweig-Wolffenbüttel) while the younger line became Kings of Hannover
and Great Britain.
During the reign of Napoleon, Brunswick lost its independence. Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand had died of
wounds received in the battle of Jena in 1806, and the duchy was incorporated into the
Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. After a short period of Allied administration,
the "Black Duke" Friedrich Wilhelm was returned to his throne. He would die shortly thereafter in the
Battle of Quatre-Bras (1815). On the death of Duke Wilhelm in 1884, the elder line was
extinguished and the throne should have
passed to his cousin, the 3rd Duke of Cumberland. Prussia opposed this and the Federal Council of
the German Empire placed the duchy under a regency. This regency lasted until 1913 when Ernst
August, son of the Duke of Cumberland who had been prevented from taking the throne, married
Viktoria Luise, daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Six months after the marriage, Ernst August became
Duke of Brunswick and would remain on the throne until 1918.
The 3rd Duke of Cumberland had his royal titles, peerages and British citizenship stripped from him
by the Titles Deprivation Act on November 8, 1917 and his peerage was stricken in 1919. Thus his son was
not only the last Duke of Brunswick but never became the 4th Duke of Cumberland either. Ernst August
Prinz von Hannover, son of the last Duke of Brunswick, tried unsuccessfully to have his English titles
restored but did succeed in obtaining the right to British citizenship in 1956. One obstacle he faced was
that he had been an officer in the German Army in World War Two, serving with the 158th
Reconnaissance Battalion (Aufklärungsabteilung 158) and on the staff of Colonel General Erich Hoepner.
He had been wounded at Kharkov in early 1943.
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Brunswick's Army
Although small, Brunswick was in the center of Germany and thus the center of many of
its conflicts. As noted above, two dukes had died in battle in the Napoleonic Wars. Earlier
dukes had also fought in numerous campaigns and several had died in battle.
The Brunswick forces of the Imperial German Army traced their lineage to units formed in
the Napoleonic Wars. The Death's Head (Totenkopf) skull and crossbones distinctive
insignia of the Brunswick regiments dates to 1809, and was worn by the Brunswick
contingent under Wellington at Waterloo. The Brunswick death's head differed from the
Prussian version in that the crossbones were below rather than behind the skull, and the
skull was more elongated (this distinctive insignia would be continued in World War Two by the
Wehrmacht's Infantry Regiment Nr. 17).
On the eve of the First World War, the Duchy's active forces were rather small - one
infantry regiment, one cavalry regiment and one artillery battery. The units were the
92nd Brunswick Infantry Regiment (Braunschweigisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.92), the
17th Brunswick Hussar Regiment (Braunschweigisches Husaren-Regiment Nr.17),
both garrisoned in the city of Brunswick, the 5th battery of the Hannover-based 10th
Field Artillery Regiment (Feldartillerie-Regiment von Scharnhorst (1. Hannoversches)
Nr.10), and the 2nd Battery of the 46th Lower Saxon Field Artillery Regiment
(Niedersächsisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr.46), which was based in Wolfenbüttel in
the Duchy. These units were all part of the German Army's X Corps.
At the outbreak of World War One, the 92nd Brunswick Infantry Regiment was
part of the 40th Infantry Brigade of the 20th Infantry Division, while the 6 squadrons
of the 17th "Death's Head" Hussars were the X Corps' reconnaissance element, three
squadrons to each of the corps' two divisions. Counting later mobilizations, reservists and
others, many more soldiers from Brunswick would serve during the course of the war, with some
15,000 losing their lives.
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Orders and Medals
House Order of Henry the Lion
Hausorden Heinrich des Löwen
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The House Order of Henry the Lion was founded on either the 24th or 25th of
April 1834. It is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful German orders
due to the delicate hand-painted detail on the arms of the cross and the center
medallion. Over the course of its life, the order was modified, with several new
classes being added to the original four (plus affiliated merit crosses). By World
War One, the order came in the following classes: Grand Cross, Cross 1st Class,
Commander 1st Class, Commander 2nd Class, Officer's Cross, Knight 1st Class, Knight
2nd Class and Cross 4th Class, plus the affiliated Merit Crosses 1st and 2nd Class and
Honor Decorations 1st and 2nd Class. One interesting aspect of the order was the
placement of swords on badges of the order. Swords were authorized in 1870 for awards
for bravery or merit on the field of battle. They were placed below the cross. In
1909, the badges were modified so that swords were worn between the arms of the cross,
as was customary with most other German orders. Illustrated below are three versions of
the order. First is a Knight 2nd Class. Second is a Knight 1st Class with Swords of the
1870-1909 type, showing the placement of the swords beneath the cross. Third is a
Knight 2nd Class of the 1909-1918 type. Two articles linked to at the bottom of this
page discuss these latter two badges.
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Reverse of the order above
Photo credit: Stogieman
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Photo credit: UBS
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Military Merit Cross, 1914-18
Militärverdienstkreuz 1914-18
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A Military Merit Cross was established by Duke Wilhelm in 1879 as a bravery
decoration for junior non-commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers. It was patterned
after the Prussian Military Merit Cross. There is no evidence that the cross was ever
actually awarded. In 1914, Duke Ernst August reestablished the Military Merit Cross,
but with a new design. Only a small number of crosses were ever made, and again there
is no evidence as to whether any were ever awarded.
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War Merit Cross
Kriegsverdienstkreuz
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One reason why no Military Merit Crosses may have been awarded is that Ernst
August had established another new decoration in 1914, the War Merit Cross (this
decoration is often called the Ernst August Cross). Initially, awards were to be limited
to Brunswick citizens who had already received the Iron Cross or an equivalent Bavarian
decoration; non-Brunswick natives serving in Brunswick units later became eligible and
eventually no direct Brunswick connection was required. On March 20, 1918, the
decoration was divided into two classes with the addition of a pinback 1st Class cross
and the redesignation of the original as the War Merit Cross 2nd Class.
At the same time, a device called the Bewährungsabzeichen was authorized for
wear on the ribbon of the 2nd Class. Bewährung literally means a "trial" or
"test" and was used in the sense of having undergone a "trial by fire" - to earn it,
a holder of the War Merit Cross 2nd Class must have had two years of virtually
uninterrupted service at the front (up to 2 months of hospital or leave time was
permitted during the period of eligibility). Additionally, to earn the
Bewährungsabzeichen, the soldier must also have been a Brunswick citizen or
served in a Brunswick unit and must have had a record of irreproachable service. The
device is referred to here as the Frontline Service Clasp as "Test" or "Trial" or (to
use Neal O'Connor's formulation) "Proved" clasp each, while more literally accurate,
sound awkward.
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War Merit Cross, First Class
Kriegsverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse
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War Merit Cross, Second Class
Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse
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War Merit Cross, Second Class with Frontline Service Clasp
Kriegsverdienstkreuz 2. Klasse mit Bewährungsabzeichen
Photo credit: Charles Caudle
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A medal bar with Iron Cross, 2nd Class and
War Merit Cross, 2nd Class with Frontline Service Clasp.
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