Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A card-mounted group of six miniature dress medals attributed to Consul-General Dr. Richard Achenbach, Federal Ruplic of Germany, formerly decorated for his services in the Luftwaffe

Merit Cross of the Federal German Order of Merit; Iron Cross 1939-45, Federal Republic of Germany type without swastika; Medal of Merit of the German Life Saving Society; Ephemeral Knight’s Cross of the Ordre Cordon Bleu du St. Esprit; Knight’s Cross of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem (Priory of Germany); Benefactor’s Medal of the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada (Alberta & Territories Branch), bronze, mounted for display on card, together with a lapel badge, good very fine (7) £60-80

Richard Achenbach, who was born in 1916, qualified for a Glider Pilot’s badge in the Deutscher Luftsport Verband in 1934 and joined the Luftwaffe on the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939. He was subsequently awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and captured while commanding a coastal anti-aircraft battery in Normandy during the summer of 1944, following which he was held in a P.O.W. camp in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada.

Pursuing a career in the Diplomatic Service of Federal Germany after the War, he enjoyed many overseas postings which culminated in his appointment as Consul-General for the Prairie Provinces of Canada, where he remained for several months after his retirement in 1982.

In the interim, he was admitted to the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem in 1971 and awarded the Medal of Merit of the German Life Saving Society in 1978, the Federal Republic’s Order of Merit in 1979, and the Ordre Cordon Bleu du Saint Esprit in 1980, in addition to having become a Benefactor of the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada during his time in the Prairies; old with several original award certificates, a portrait photograph and a quantity of research.