While watching the Blue Max my wife asked my why a German medal had a French inscription, "Pour le Merite"(for merit or for the deserving) and what was the significance of the letter F on the medal. Apparently the medal was first struck on the order of King Frederick II of Prussia in 1740 and that French was the official language of his court. This got me to thinking. Why is it called the Blue Max instead of the Blue Fred?
shareAccording to Wikipedia, the Pour le Merite started being called the Blue Max because of (1) its bright blue color and (2) the fact that it was awarded to a famous pilot named Max Immelmann.
sharejloper is correct. In WWI, German aviator Max Immelmann was the first German flier awarded the medal. He was killed in 1916 after 15 victories. Thereafter, the award was named "The Blue Max" in honor of Immelmann.
CmdrCody
for jamdonahoo; "Pour le Merite" translates as "Order of Merit". And you are correct about the year it was first awarded. King Frederick II was also known as Frederick the Great. At the end of WWI it was discontinued. It was not only awarded to aviators but to anyone in the German military. Erwin Rommell earned his for ground heroism during WWI.
shareThe problem was that the Pour Le Merite was awarded to officers only. No sergeants or enlisted ranks could win it. You also had to be alive to get it. It was not awarded to dead soldiers. If Bruno Stachel or Erwin Rommenl were enlisted men, the highest medal they could have received was the Iron Cross 1st Class.
During World War II, Nazi Germany created the Knight's Cross so that all ranks in the German armed forces could earn it. However, if you look at the higher grades of the Knight Cross (Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds), very few enlisted ranks and sergeant got the Oak Leaves. No enlisted man or NCO won the Swords or the Diamonds. The officers got the higher grades and out of the 27 winners of the Diamonds, almost all the winners were generals including Erwin Rommel.
That's because in order to be eligible for the Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds, you had to have first received all the lower grades: to be eligible for the Knight's Cross, you had to have previously received the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st Class; to be eligible for the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, you had to have received the Iron Cross, both classes, and the Knight's Cross, and the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves.
In the American military, it's the action alone that determines the grade of decoration, so a private completely new to combat could, in theory, receive the Medal of Honor if his actions met the qualifications. In the German military, since all the prior medals had to have been received first, only officers who had served with distinction long enough were eligible for the Diamonds, and those officers tended to be general grade officers.
[deleted]
[deleted]
I think it is still awarded today; though not for military actions.
shareThe French phrase or legend "Pour Le Merite" translates as 'for merit', not 'order of merit'. It was not a medal but an order which entitled membership and recipients were conferred as members of the order. The military order hasn't been issued anywhere to anybody since the end of WWI but the civilian version is now an arts and humanities order still awarded in Germany. It still says "Pour Le Merite" on it although the design of the award has changed.
shareIs there a picture of the civilian version of the Pour Le Merite and how different is the design of the award? Is the overall design still like the orginal one when it was first created? Appreciate your reply.
share[deleted]