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Description: | obverse design: General Hermann von François, bust, full face in uniform and cap
obverse text: "GENERAL-v.FRANÇOIS"
reverse design: soldiers, German infantrymen, advancing from right to left on battlefield. In the left background a shell bursts before a
staked barbed-wire entanglement
exergue: "GUMBINNEN" & "TANNENBERG" & "MASURISCHE SEEN" & "GORLICE" & "RADYMNO" (embossed one above the other) & "1914-1916"
(indented)
First World War large format portrait medal (in cast iron) by Fritz Eue, commemorating General Hermann von François
(1856-1933), one in a series of patriotic medallic tributes to German military commanders produced by the artist during the war. As
commander of the German Eighth Army's I Corps in East Prussia in the early part of the war von François played a vital role in defeating
and repelling the invading Russian forces. His tenure as a senior commander ended following the Second Battle of the Mausian Lakes and some
have seen in this the hand of Ludendorff who mistrusted von François' highly-developed sense of battlefield improvisation. This medal
specifically commemorates von François' role in the German Eastern Front 'victories' of Gumbinnen (17-20 August 1914), Tannenberg (26-30
August 1914), the first and second battles Battle of the Masurian Lakes (5-13 September 1914 and February 1915), and the crucial
breakthrough offensive at Gorlice-Tarnow (May 1915). | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Eastern Front & 1914 = 1916 DE.A Hermann von portrait / personification François commemorative First World War | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Ball's of Berlin | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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