Description

Gilt gunmetal cross pattée, the arms with ribbed edges and stippled fields, with loop for ribbon suspension; the face with the cipher of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz (‘FF’) centrally, the Mecklenburg-Schwerin crown on the upper arm, the date ‘1914’ on the lower arm; the reverse inscribed ‘Für’, ‘Auszeichnung im’, ‘Kriege’ (for Distinction in War) on the upper, lateral and lower arms respectively.

The Military Merit Cross was instituted by Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II on 5 August 1848 and bore that year on its lower arm. Subsequent issues were awarded in 1864, 1866 and 1870, each bearing the year of award. On 28 February 1915 Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV renewed the Cross with the date ‘1914’, to be awarded retroactively from 2 August 1914. The second class of the award could be awarded to combatants and also to non-combatants ‘for especial merit in the field of war-related charity’ (‘für besondere Verdienste auf dem Gebiete der Nächstenliebe während des Krieges’). The Cross continued to be awarded until the end of May 1929. It is becoming hard to find.