DEATH FROM BELOW: THE FIRST ANTI-AIRCRAFT COMBAT BADGE (1917)

The rarest of them all: Badge for destruction of aeroplanes by machine-gun fire.

Our tenth aeroplane (9 June 1917)

‘Today we shot down another plane. The artillery battle raged all night. In addition to the planned fire on the trenches and the approach routes, the enemy used the light westerly wind for numerous gas shell attacks in the area in between the lines. From hour to hour the bells and alarm rails sounded the alarm against the invisible enemy, sleepily we donned our masks. It is difficult and a great responsibility to decide each time: Is the gas gone? --- It is morning. Carefully we stretch in our shot-up trench and breathe the clean air. With waving and waving of cloths we ventilate the dugout, but in the shell holes and in our low-flying wire obstacles the blue shimmering poisonous cloud continues to gleam for a long time. Woe to the messenger who has to take shelter inside against the shells. ---

In the sky a delicate haze wanders eastwards and suddenly the sentry calls for the tethered balloons to be brought down in our rear. English fighter pilots try to attack our tethered balloons under the protection of the population. Already the fire of the defensive batteries begins, whole rows of explosive clouds appear, the incendiary shells of the revolver cannons flicker through the air. The observer jumps out of the basket on his parachute and two planes plunge steeply down onto the balloon, which is trembling halfway up. Suddenly a cloud of smoke appears on the tail of one of the planes, it sways and falls to earth, enveloped in flames. The other plane tries to escape by flying low over our lines. At the call of the post, my snipers rush out of the dugout. The cover of the rifle is pulled down, the plane is at firing distance. Tack - Tack -Tack --- Clearly I see the observer returning fire on us from his machine gun. --- Tack - Tack --- In a desperate turn the pilot tries to get out of our fire. But it is too late (...) the cockades on the wings stare at us like the eyes of a dead fish. Shortly before hitting the ground, the plane glides over the nearby castle grounds, a dull thud, it's over --- When I arrive at the crash site, men from the 3rd Company are already there. The pilot was dead. The observer, however, had jumped out and grabbed his pistol. Schütze Utz quickly threw a hand grenade between his legs and he collapsed. As quickly as we could, we salvaged everything worth salvaging to preempt the artillery fire on the crash site. (…)

Another fine episode was the shooting down of the eleventh aircraft by our division. It streaked slowly and low along the road to Ypres, heavy with rain, firing at advancing infantry and artillery standing in the open field. My guns could not be readied in the heavy fire, especially as all our installations were shot up; but in the rear, two machine guns took him under crossfire and gently forced him to the ground...’ - Leutnant der Reserve Rudolf Linck, Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilung 77

You will find this in no militaria catalogue or collector’s publication: 'A special award for shooting down aeroplanes is given by the division ... to the marksmen who brought down the enemy aircraft. Our illustration shows a design by Corporal Möhler already embossed in silver. There is no regulation about the wearing of the award, but most of them attach it to the cap. -- As is well known, this division had the surprising success of shooting down 11 enemy planes in the Flanders theatre of war. The award is in recognition of the excellent performance in anti-aircraft fire and as an incentive for further successes.’ - Scharfschützen-Warte, September 1917.

A UNIT AWARD - SHOOTING DOWN AN AEROPLANE

In the German Army of the First World War, some units issued inofficial awards for acts of bravery or individual proficiency, which were seen as effective means to keep the men motivated and keen, when there was no room to bestow them with an official award. Often these took the form of Anerkennungs-Urkunden (lit: certificates of appreciation), often highly decorative documents praising bravery on patrol, or in a trench raid. Some formations, like the 238. Division, even issued wearable medals. Other, more elite formations, like the Bavarian Leib-Infanterie-Regiment issued rings. This isn’t the place to discuss these, but to present one inofficial award which is most probably the rarest of them all, the Auszeichung für Fliegerabschuss [decoration for shooting down an aeroplane].

The award was instituted by Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilung 77 in September 1917 and was issued to all those gunners who had brought down an enemy aeroplane with machine-gun fire. It took the form of a triangular cap-badge made of silver bearing the image of a stylized allied aeroplane and crosshair above the text: ‘1917 - Für erfolgreichen Fliegerabschuss, MG.SS.ABT 77’. The unit, which since its formation had fought in Flanders (Ypres/Hooge), had managed to achieve this feat 11 times before it’s transfer to the Verdun sector.

Even though the war diaries of MG.Ss.Abt 77 and some appendix volumes still exist, nothing hints at the numbers in which this attractive little badge was awarded, but it is safe to say that is very low. There were at least 11 badges (we know that), but I would be surprised if more than 20 ever existed.

Personally I have never seen an original badge, but I do have the next best thing, a photo!

Gefreiter Wilhelm Josef Buck, 3./MG.Ss.Abt 77 in September 1917.

The above photo shows Gefreiter Wilhelm Buck, after having been awarded the cap badge for shooting down an enemy aeroplane. In addition Buck was a holder of Württemberg’s highest bravery award for enlisted men, the Golden Military Merit Medal. This is probably the best depiction of the elusive award.

If any of my readers have knowledge of the existence of an original badge, I would love to hear from you. Also stay tuned for an upcoming feature on the history of Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilung 77.