The very rare Great War Silver Karl Friedrich Military Merit Medal awarded to Gotha bomber pilot Vizefeldwebel Eugen Stich, for his ‘many flights’ over England, including the bombing of London

Germany, Baden, Silver Karl Friedrich Military Merit Medal, obverse engraved ‘Stich’, minor edge nicks, otherwise good very fine £1,600-£2,000

An extremely rare award for the Great War, especially as it was one of only a few awards given to Gotha Bomber pilots for bombing England.

Instituted on 4 April 1807, and awarded to non-commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers for Highest act of Bravery. The medal was awarded in two classes: gold and silver. It is unique among Imperial German awards in that the recipient’s name is officially engraved on it.

Eugen Stich was a Gotha Bomber Pilot with the “England Squadron”, Kampfgeschwader 3 der OHL (Kagohl 3).

In its 111-year history, only 119 Gold and 2,792 silver medals were issued. During the Great War there were 154 awards of the Medal in 1915, 91 in 1916, 467 in 1917 and 570 in 1918, making a total of 1,282 awards. Of these 30 were awarded to Airmen, only 2 were to the England Squadron of Gotha Bombers.
Vizefeldwebel Stich was the 1,186th person to be awarded the medal.

Stich was commended by the Acting Leader of Bombengeschwader 3, Oberleutnant Richard Walter for his ‘many flights’ against England, during which it was said that Stich displayed outstanding dash and bravery. He was awarded the Silver Karl Friedrich Military Merit Medal on 18 September 1918, his was one of four that was given out to men in his Fliegertruppe, the most ever awarded during the War to that arm of the service on a single day. Stich was originally recommended for the Gold Medal, but had only just been awarded an Iron Cross 2nd Class, and his Pilot’s Badge some few weeks earlier (See Aviation Awards of Imperial Germany in World War I: The aviation awards of the grand Duchies of Baden and Oldenburg, Volume 6, by Neil W. O’Connor).

Sold with memory stick containing extensive copied research.