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Description: | small sloping characters : SILBER 990
obverse design : Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen, bust, full face slightly turned to left, in uniform and cap. The bust is
surrounded by a narrow laurel wreath border which forms an ornamental edge to the piece
obverse text : "KAPITÄNLEUTNANT OTTO WEDDIGEN"
reverse design : armoured cruisers, Cressy Class, three, sinking. In the left foreground two periscopes appear above the
waves
reverse text : "ZUM GEDÄCHTNIS UNSERES SEEHELDEN"
exergue : "1914.1915"
First World War portrait medal by Fritz Eue, commemorating Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen (1882-1915), one in a series
of patriotic medallic tributes to notable German naval and military commanders produced by the artist during the war. The medal
specifically celebrates the torpedoing by the German submarine U-9 (commanded by Weddigen) of the three old Royal Navy cruisers HMS
Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy in the North Sea on 22 September 1914. The three warships were sunk within the space of an hour, 1,459
British sailors were drowned and 837 rescued. Lauded as a hero in Germany, Weddigen's naval exploits served as the basis for a number of
medallic tributes and portraits. Weddigen was killed on 18 March 1915, when the submarine he commanded, the U-29, was rammed by HMS
Dreadnought east south east of Pentland Firth (see MED 82). The reverse text is translated as 'In memory of our naval
heroes'. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Sinking of & 22/9/1914 Otto Eduard HMS Aboukir Weddigen HMS Hogue HMS Cressy commemorative Sinking of & HMS Hogue Sinking of & HMS Cressy portrait / personification Royal Navy DE.N & U9 First World War North Sea & HMS Aboukir | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Oertel (Berlin) | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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