|
Date: |
|
Description: | SILBER 990
in small, faint characters
obverse design: General Erich Ludendorff, bust, full face, in uniform
obverse text: "LUDENDORFF"
reverse design: Hercules, three-quarter length figure facing right fighting the Hydra. He holds a sword behind his head with his right hand
and grasps one of the seven serpent heads with his left. In the background the horizon-line and behind Hercules, lower left of design, the
date "1914"
First World War portrait medal by Fritz Eue, commemorating General Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937), one in a large series
of patriotic medallic tributes to senior German military and naval commanders produced by the artist during the war. As Quartermaster
General to von Bulow's Second Army at the outbreak of war in 1914, Ludendorff was involved in the successful capture of the Liège
fortresses, after which he was transferred to East Prussia to act as Chief of Staff to Hindenburg. The important German defensive victory
at Tannenberg (30 August 1914) owed much to Ludendorff's skill as a planner and tactician and it is likely that the medal pays homage to
this fact. The reverse design casts him in the role of Hercules doing battle against the many-headed monster of the Allied
Powers. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | DE.A First World War & 1914 Erich portrait / personification Ludendorff | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Eue, Fritz | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
|
|